Hadoop packs a powerful value prop for enterprises that have a lot of data on their hands, and deep enough pockets to afford the investment.  But while the technology itself may be accessible, the talent needed to operate it is much sparser, although the industry is quickly filling in the gaps.

MapR just announced a strategic alliance with Hadapt that will couple its Hadoop distribution with the latter firm’s own technology. The goal is to put better insight in reach of both the data scientist and the business analyst.

The MapR Distribution provides unrivaled enterprise-class Hadoop capabilities including high availability with self-healing, data protection and disaster recovery,” said Scott Howser, VP of marketing, Hadapt. “We have already brought interactive applications on Hadoop to market and now, through this partnership with MapR, we are providing customers additional ease of use, performance and reliability advantages.”

MapR’s SQL interface for Hadoop allows business users to leverage the technology in a familiar SQL setting, with all added advantages of the underlying non-relational horse power.  The two firms are integrating this functionality with the Interactive Query capabilities built into Hadapt 2.0, which in turn facilitates the analysis of structured, semi-structured and unstructured data on a single platform.

An alliance between two of the hottest startups in big data is a very notable development. Demand is souring on multiple fronts, not just in the enterprise but also in the independent developer community.

Mobile development solutions provider Appcelerator recently acquired Nodeable, a small startup that put together a pre-processing solution for Hadoop. The software structures data before it enters the analytics engine to reduce workloads, and apparently supplements Appcelerator’s plans to expand support for data-driven development across its portfolio.