Antonio Neri (HPE)
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has acquired the business assets of MapR amid plans to build out artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities.
Terms of the agreement will see the technology giant take control of MapR’s technology, intellectual property and domain expertise in AI, ML and analytics data management.
Founded in 2009, the California-based business specialises in the provision of a data platform for AI and analytics applications, with key customers including Audi, Cisco and HP, in addition to SAP, the US Government and Ericsson.
“The explosion of data is creating a new era of intelligence where the winners will be the ones who harness the power of data, wherever it lives,” said Antonio Neri, president and CEO of HPE.
According to Neri, the acquisition will enhance the vendor’s intelligent data platform offerings through helping customers optimise workload solutions for “mission-critical big-data workflows” - whether cloud-native or on-premises.
“MapR’s file system technology enables HPE to offer a complete portfolio of products to drive artificial intelligence and analytics applications and strengthens our ability to help customers manage their data assets end to end, from edge to cloud,” Neri added.
The move is set to complement the recent acquisition of BlueData in November 2018, through extending capabilities for “stateful container-based applications”.
Neri said the combination of BlueData and MapR technologies can “empower” data scientists and data analysts to “stitch together” AI/ML and analytics data pipelines “in minutes” across on-premises, hybrid cloud and multi-cloud environments.
“At HPE, we are working to simplify our customers’ and partners’ adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning,” said Phil Davis, president of Hybrid IT, HPE. “MapR’s enterprise-grade file system and cloud-native storage services complement HPE’s BlueData container platform strategy and will allow us to provide a unique value proposition for customers.”
From a channel perspective, MapR houses an ecosystem of partners spanning value-added resellers, independent software vendors and system integrators in the AI, ML and analytics market. Davis said HPE will on-board such partners, “as appropriate”.
