IBM recently announced their partnership with Palo Alto start-up Cloudera. Cloudera's Distribution Including Apache Hadoop (CDH) as well as its Manager is meshing with IBM's Big Data platform to deliver unprecedented business intelligence solutions. This is outstanding news for midsize businesses that have wanted a way to get in on big data but which lack the in-house resources (e.g., staffable supercomputers) to compile and analyze information in a meanignful way.

A New Partnership on the List

This is just another of Cloudera's partnerships, which includes one with Oracle; however, teaming up with IBM only solidifies the startling ground they have gained. The partnership promises a few advantages. First, IBM's BigInsights will run on CDH and Manager; second, the solution will include incorporated business intelligence (BI) tools along with access to IBM's Netezza, InfoSphere Warehouse, DB2, and Smart Analytics System according to the Cloudera press release. The last is not so much a concrete feature as it is speculation, which is that customers of the newly integrated big data service can "go beyond business analytics" into a new age of applications that will revolutionize data. The Bay Area start-up claims to be the leading Hadoop vendor, which is a lofty claim, but according ZDNet, CDH is indeed the most-deployed Hadoop distribution.

What It Could Mean for Midsize Business IT

Big data is an exciting topic in IT. As many have put it, it allows businesses to answer questions no one would have even bothered to ask before, which means growth for the midsize sector, provided it is properly executed. However, in order for IT professionals to fully leverage all that information, big data being what it is, you need supercomputers. This is probably not in the budget. While you can make do with the most powerful machines you can get your hands on, it only makes sense to utilize cloud-based services to get the most out of that mass of information.

That all being said, this is precisely why solutions such as Cloudera's could be the answer to the dilemma of the IT departments that just can't compete with the likes of multi-million dollar companies that have the finances to invest in big data processing.

With the emerging popularity of utilizing data at this volume, you will likely see similar solutions follow if this new integration does not suit your midsize business. Still, this partnership looks to be a promising step in spreading the reach of big data solutions to those who would otherwise struggle to compete in-house.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.