Dell Brings Big Data To Midmarket With New Kitenga Suite
The new release, Kitenga Analytics 2.0, builds upon the existing big data analysis capabilities found in the first-generation version of Kitenga, one of the several solutions Dell snapped up with its November acquisition of Quest Software.
Kitenga Analytics 2.0, which is slated for availability in the second quarter, delivers new capabilities for indexing, searching, and performing sentiment analysis on structured, semi-structured or unstructured data that is stored in both traditional relational databases and Apache Hadoop clusters. The suite will also arm users with additional support for Predictive Modeling Markup Language (PMML), a feature that will help them perform predictive analysis on data residing in unstructured sources like texts, Twitter feeds or Facebook posts.
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Dell said one of the common use cases for Kitenga has played out in the financial industry, where organizations can integrate structured transaction data with unstructured sources to identify patterns associated with fraud.
Kitenga is also specifically optimized for the midmarket, a space where it's particularly difficult for organizations to fill the critical role of a data scientist -- or a data analyst that boasts the business know-how to not only analyze data but also make business decisions based on it, explained Joanna Schloss, product marketing manager at Dell.
"We recognized at the very fundamental level that the midmarket organization isn't going to have a team of people doing analytics or have a team of data scientists. At most, they’ll have some very savvy business analysts and that kind of savvy, overworked database administer," Schloss told CRN, during an interview at the big data-focused Strata event running this week in Santa Clara, Calif.
"We're trying to extend the skill set of that potential data scientist with the platform being so easy to use," Schloss continued, noting the familiar drag-and-drop format of the Kitenga interface.
Dell's acquisition of Quest represents one of several the company has made to bolster its big data portfolio and transform itself from a PC giant to an enterprise solutions company. In February of last year, Dell acquired AppAssure, a developer of data protection software, and in May acquired Wyse, a desktop virtualization firm.
Still, Schloss said Kitenga, along with Toad for Hadoop, SharePlex for Hadoop, and other solutions that joined Dell's portfolio after the Quest acquisition, will stay front and center of the company's big data strategy moving forward.
"Dell continues to invest in the Kitenga suite," Schloss said. "We're showing it a lot of love."
PUBLISHED FEB. 26, 2013