Big data firms Hortonworks and Cloudera announce merger

Hadoop's phoney war ends with a trunkshake

The two leading Hadoop-based big data platforms, Cloudera and Hortonworks, are to merge.

In a joint statement, the two firms say the merger is "a strategic combination [that] accelerates market development, fuels innovation and produces a substantial benefit for customers, partners and community."

For the last two or three years, the main Hadoop vendors (although none of them mention Hadoop much these days) have been seeking to differentiate themselves product-wise through proprietary add-ons for Cloudera and MapR and rigorous adherence to the Apache stable in Hortonworks' case. MapR has deployed its own proprietary file system from the beginning, which has always set it apart on a more fundamental level, but for Hortonworks and Cloudera the differences between their ecosystems have always felt more cosmetic with little to choose between them on a technology basis. On that level at least, therefore, the merger makes sense.

All three are targeting the same markets of edge computing, cloud data platforms the IoT and AI-driven applications.

Tom Reilly, CEO of Cloudera, the larger of the two in terms of customer base, said: "Our businesses are highly complementary and strategic. By bringing together Hortonworks' investments in end-to-end data management with Cloudera's investments in data warehousing and machine learning, we will deliver the industry's first enterprise data cloud from the Edge to AI. This vision will enable our companies to advance our shared commitment to customer success in their pursuit of digital transformation."

Rob Bearden, CEO of Hortonworks said: "Together, we are well positioned to continue growing and competing in the streaming and IoT, data management, data warehousing, machine learning/AI and hybrid cloud markets. Importantly, we will be able to offer a broader set of offerings that will enable our customers to capitalise on the value of their data."

Shareholders in Cloudera will own approximately 60 per cent of the shares under the agreement with roughly 40 per cent going to Hortonworks stockholders.

The name of the new company has not been disclosed.

Reilly will serve as CEO, with current Hortonworks COO, Scott Davidson, remaining in that role in the combined firm. Cloudera's CFO, Jim Frankola, will remain in charge of finance while Rob Bearden will join the board of directors. Hortonworks' Arun Murthy, will keep his role as chief product officer.

The combined company is anticipated to generate approximately $720m in annual revenue and will serve more than 2,500 customers.

The transaction is subject to Cloudera and Hortonworks stockholder approval, US antitrust clearance and other customary closing conditions.

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