DDN Unveils hScaler Appliance

DataDirect Networks, Inc. (DDN) unveiled the hScaler appliance, a breakthrough over existing analytics applications.

The Apache Hadoop platform for big data with integration and flexibility optimized for the enterprise, hScaler appliance is engineered to enable IT departments to power Hadoop-based analytics without the pain or learning curve which have typically limited mainstream Hadoop adoption in the market.

A tuned and factory-configured appliance that includes an integrated ETL engine, the hScaler product offers a plug-and-play experience with a single-pane-of-glass management interface to simplify monitoring of the entire Hadoop infrastructure. In addition, by offloading data management functions to highly available storage, hScaler technology delivers better performance during a server failure as compared to commodity clusters.

In contrast to traditional approaches that build Hadoop on server-based clusters, the hScaler appliance combines the highest throughput shared storage, powered by DDN’s Storage Fusion Architecture (SFA)  capabilities, with a robust and high performance server framework. Analytics performance is increased by up to seven times, minimizing infrastructure requirements and driving down TCO.

By applying DDN’s technology innovation and expertise in deploying storage for the world’s fastest computers, DDN is resolving key scalability and systems management challenges with the hScaler product, an appliance which is IT friendly and focused on deriving business value at scale.

Precision-Engineered to Lower TCO
hScaler appliance takes a unique approach to Hadoop, with a scalable unit design that leverages the SFA12K platform, a 40GB/s IB storage appliance that crunches big data with 1.4M sustained SSD IOPS in real-time.

With four times the density of conventional systems, the hScaler appliance reduces the hardware, data center rack space and cooling overhead. Additionally, by allowing users to scale capacity and compute independently, the hScaler platform eliminates costly overprovisioning to fit workload and budget requirements.

A flexible and powerful ETL engine with over 200 data connectors streamlines data ingestion, manipulation and integration, thereby eliminating programming requirements for data scientists.

hScaler product comes prepackaged with DDN DirectMon software, a powerful, intuitive single-pane-of-glass solution for configuring and monitoring all aspects of hScaler hardware and software. This cluster management framework simplifies overall administration to further lower overhead and TCO.

The hScaler stack is supported around the clock by DDN’s experienced support and services team.
 
The hScaler appliance is scheduled for availability on March 31, 2013.
 
"DDN’s hScaler appliance represents the next step forward in the democratization of big data: It takes an advanced analytics solution that was economical for only the richest and most information-driven organizations in the world and puts it well within the grasp of enterprise CIOs. For enterprises seeking to maximize the value of their information, hScaler technology presents an opportunity to do so at a lower cost – in terms of time, money, and resources – than ever before," said Jean-Luc Chatelain, executive VP of strategy and technology, DDN.
 
"DDN has developed a Hadoop solution that is all about time to value: It simplifies rollout so that enterprises can get up and running more quickly, provides typical DDN performance to accelerate data processing, and reduces the amount of time needed to maintain a Hadoop solution. For enterprises with a deluge of data but a limited IT budget, the DDN hScaler appliance should be on the short list of potential solutions," said Dave Vellante, chief research officer, Wikibon.org.
 
"Hadoop, the transformative open source big data project, has enabled organizations to extract value from mountains of data that would have been far more difficult a few years ago. DDN’s hScaler appliance, which is coupled with the Hortonworks Data Platform, is designed to take Hadoop performance and scalability to new heights while minimizing the on-going challenges and costs of complex Hadoop infrastructure management," said Evan Quinn, senior principal analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group.