Intel has released its own version of open source software platform Hadoop. This version naturally supports optimization at for intel based processors to boost performance (and sell more intel servers). It will also include Intel Distribution for Pentaho’s range of analytics software, bringing new data mining, analysis, interactive reporting and other capabilities to the distro.

The move is interesting in that it also demonstrates how open-source software like Hadoop helps drive the success of profit-making companies that make the commercial products and provide the technical support that enterprise needs to run it. We've seen similar announcements from Cloudera, Hortonworks, which has just put out a Windows version of HDP, and EMC’s Greenplum. With Hadoop becoming a corporate standard.

Some could see this as a new move by Intel and threaten startups like Hortonworks and Cloudera, but Davis says that this is far from the case. Instead, the company is planning to share these advancements with the Hadoop community at large, having already announced a team up with Red Hat, and so eventually everyone should be able to benefit – providing yet more evidence that Intel is getting into this game solely to find new customers for its chips.