GigaOM Research has published the new Sector RoadMap report, “SQL-on-Hadoop Platforms in 2013,” by research analyst Joseph Turian, Ph.D. The report examines four disruption vectors — read performance, mind share, flexibility and compatibility, and operational Hadoop — in which vendors will strive to gain an advantage in the SQL-on-Hadoop marketplace in the next 18-24 months.

1. GigaOM Research
Sector RoadMapTM highlights
SQL-on-Hadoop Platforms
in 2013
by GigaOM Research analyst Joseph Turian, Ph.D.

2. Executive Summary
• The most successful companies will be the ones that can capture and analyze
all data available to them to improve business decision-making. However, the
sheer amount of data any given company can produce has become nearly
unmanageable.
• Hadoop promised to alleviate this problem, and to some degree, it has. Many
companies have found it easy to get data into Hadoop but hard to get data out
and in a useful form.
• This knowledge gap has prompted a number of vendors to offer SQL-on-
Hadoop solutions, which increase the accessibility of Hadoop and allow
organizations to reuse their investment learning in SQL.

3. Disruption vectors
This report examines four competitive areas — what we call disruption
vectors — in which vendors will strive to gain an advantage in the SQL-
on-Hadoop marketplace in the next 18-24 months, including:
• Read performance for interactive analytics
• Mind share
• Flexibility and compatibility
• Operational Hadoop (sometimes referred to as “one database to
rule them all”)

4. Sector RoadMap
• Number indicates company’s relative strength across all vectors
• Size of ball indicates company’s relative strength along individual vector

5. Key highlights
• Cloudera will ultimately lead the SQL-on-Hadoop market. Its open-source
solution, Impala, has strong mind share and emphasis on flexibility.
• Close followers are closed-source vendors that are building off mature
technology underpinnings, including Hadapt, EMC, Teradata, and Citus Data.
• The underdogs, JethroData and Splice Machine, are little-known closed-
source vendors that are writing everything from scratch and are betting on
unconventional technological decisions.
• Looming in the wings are Apache Foundation projects Drill and Stinger. These
SQL-on-Hadoop projects are native to the Hadoop ecosystem. They are the
least mature, but have solid momentum.

6. Conclusion and outlook
In the next 18-24 months:
• NewSQL databases will mature and attract users away from
Hadoop.
• NewSQL will be used for big data that has strong structure, while
SQL-on-Hadoop solutions will be used for semi-structured data.

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