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Intel, BlueData partner on big data following $20m funding round

Intel and BlueData are collaborating on big data

Intel and BlueData are collaborating on big data

Hadoop specialist BlueData announced a strategic collaboration with Intel this week after the chip company’s venture capital arm helped lead a $20m funding round for the startup.

BlueData offers a virtualised Hadoop-as-a-Service  software for on-premise infrastructure that speeds up Hadoop cluster deployment and model prototyping. The company also has some IP that The partnership will see the two companies integrate BlueData’s big data software with Intel’s Xeon processor technology, which Intel said builds on its existing big data integration initiatives with Cloudera and Apache Hadoop.

“Intel architecture provides a high-performance, secure, robust foundation for big data analytics,” said Brian Krzanich, Intel chief executive. “BlueData’s innovative software delivers the simplicity, agility and efficiency of big data-as-a-service in an on-premises model. Together, we are focused on bringing big data into the mainstream and unlocking the value for our enterprise customers.”

Kumar Sreekanti, co-founder and chief executive of BlueData  said: “This strategic collaboration with Intel will help advance BlueData’s mission of making it easy to deploy big data infrastructure. Our software platform simplifies the complexity, reduces the cost and delivers faster time to value for big data initiatives.”

“Our go-to-market relationship and joint product development with Intel will allow enterprises to accelerate their deployment of Hadoop and Spark, and deliver on the promise of big data analytics,” he added.

The move comes as Intel Captial, the chip giant’s venture capital arm, led a $20m series C funding round for BlueData along with participation from existing investors Amplify Partners, Atlantic Bridge, and Ignition Partners.

As part of the funding round Doug Fisher, senior vice president of Intel and general manager of its Software and Services Group, will join BlueData’s board of directors.

The BlueData partnership is one of a number of high-profile big data deals Intel has inked as of late. Less than a week ago the firm partnered with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) to develop a big data platform that can help diagnose and treat individuals for cancer based on their genetic pre-dispositions.