RapidMiner, a big data analytics startup, purchased former partner Radoop, giving it Hadoop processing and access to the Radoop team’s Hadoop expertise. They did not share the purchase price.
RapidMiner enables customers to create a data-analytics workflow and grab data from a variety of sources without scripting using built-in connectors, then process that data to see patterns that might require action. It then offers a more detailed view to see possible solutions to issues that arise.
For example, if it’s analyzing data from a CRM tool, says RapidMiner CEO Ingo Mierswa, it might learn from the data that the customer can expect a 30 percent churn rate in the next year, but it doesn’t stop there. He says it will then start analyzing each customer and predicting the likelihood it will churn to provide predictive actions at a detailed level.
After RapidMiner completes the analysis, customers can send the results to a business intelligence package, or deliver results as part of the workflow design.
Until purchasing Radoop, RapidMiner processed the data in-memory or executed directly in the database. With Radoop, customers now have the option of processing on a Hadoop cluster, so instead of being limited to a single machine, they can add multiple nodes, giving customers the ability to process much larger data sets than they could before (without using a partner product like Radoop).
Radoop fills in a key piece for RapidMiner, says Mierswa, and gives them access to Radoop’s expertise around Hadoop processing. “Big data is changing fast, and it’s difficult to keep up with the pace [of change] and to really develop new technology necessary for complex topics like predicative analytics without true experts.”
He added, “We are getting [Hadoop] expertise and this is important because more companies are moving to Hadoop.”
Mierswa said the company started as open source and has been able to scale its user base to around 250,000 users. A 2013 poll by data mining community KDnuggets found that almost 40 percent of respondents were using RapidMiner, up from 26.7 percent the year before. Mierswa said they are looking for the most efficient and modern ways to process data, and if it’s Hadoop, RapidMiner wants to be able to give it to them.
This purchase gives customers that option. As Mierswa pointed out, it was possible to do this before by buying the solutions separately, and as partners they were working closely together, but by combing forces, RapidMiner now offers a comprehensive solution from a single vendor.
PHOTO CREDIT: (c) Can Stock Photo
