HP and Hortonworks today announced a strategic partnership to address the critical big data needs of enterprise customers.

The joint commitment will help accelerate the adoption of Enterprise Apache Hadoop by deeply integrating the Hortonworks Data Platform with the HP HAVEn big data platform. The partnership is also supported by a $50 million equity investment by HP.

As part of the partnership, HP and Hortonworks have committed to integrate their engineering strategies and deepen their existing go-to-market collaboration, enabling HP customers to deploy the Hortonworks Data Platform as the Hadoop component of HP HAVEn. HP will also work to certify HP Vertica with Apache Hadoop YARN, the architectural center of Hadoop 2.0.

'The ability to understand data and put it to effective use is now more crucial than ever,' said Colin Mahony, general manager, HP Vertica. 'Hortonworks has demonstrated outstanding dedication and expertise in addressing the business and technology needs of its customers within this new era of information and data, and we look forward to partnering with the Hortonworks team to deliver innovative big data solutions to our customers.'

'We are extremely pleased to work more closely with HP to accelerate our joint customers' transition to a modern data architecture,' said Rob Bearden, chief executive officer, Hortonworks. 'Through deep integration with Enterprise Apache Hadoop, HP customers will be able to easily build their next generation of applications with the Hortonworks Data Platform.'

HP's Martin Fink joins Hortonworks board of directors

This strengthened relationship between HP and Hortonworks will also include a seat on the Hortonworks board of directors, which will be filled by Martin Fink, executive vice president and chief technology officer, HP.

Fink's research team at HP Labs, the company's exploratory and advanced research group, is responsible for anticipating IT trends to address the complex issues that customers will face over the next decades. As leader of HP's Cloud business, Fink is also driving the execution of HP's cloud strategy, helping the industry transition to cloud-based provider and consumption models. During his nearly 30-year career at HP, Fink has led the company's overall open source and Linux strategy.

'Our partnership with Hortonworks exemplifies HP's longstanding commitment to open source technology for the enterprise,' said Fink. 'I'm excited to be able to partner with the Hortonworks leadership team to help them deliver flexible, tailored, open solutions to customers on the industry's most powerful big data platform.'

About Hortonworks

Hortonworks is the only 100-percent open source software provider to develop, distribute and support an Apache Hadoop platform explicitly architected, built and tested for enterprise-grade deployments. Developed by the original architects, builders and operators of Hadoop, Hortonworks stewards the core and delivers the critical services required by the enterprise to reliably and effectively run Hadoop at scale. Hortonworks' distribution of the Hortonworks Data Platform provides an open and stable foundation for enterprises and delivers a modern data architecture with the support of key technology partners. Hortonworks also provides unmatched technical support, training and certification programs. For more information, visit www.hortonworks.com.

About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. With the broadest technology portfolio spanning printing, personal systems, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP delivers solutions for customers' most complex challenges in every region of the world. More information about HP (HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.