Concurrent Open Source Project Ties SQL to Hadoop

There’s a lot of tension between folks who work with SQL databases and supporters of Apache Hadoop that is largely unnecessary. To a degree Hadoop can replace SQL databases in a lot of data warehousing applications. But SQL databases will be the underpinning of mission-critical enterprise applications for years to come.

Given that reality, it only make sense to couple SQL more tightly to Hadoop in a way that allows IT organizations to create applications that span both relational databases and Hadoop. To that end, Concurrent this week released a Lingual open source project that makes use of a Cascade application framework developed by Concurrent to allow SQL developers to build applications that incorporate Hadoop.

Obviously, there are a number of existing ways to invoke Hadoop using SQL. But Concurrent CTO Chris Wensel says Lingual provides that integration using a high-performance Cascade application framework that can support the needs of truly mission-critical applications.

Naturally, there’s a lot of interest in Hadoop these days. But most of the existing applications in the enterprise make use of SQL. Rewriting those applications isn’t practical. At the same time, Hadoop provides a way to access and store massive amounts of data in a way that reduces the need to purchase additional relational database licenses. Wensel says Lingual provides a mechanism through which Hadoop can become a part of mainstream enterprise applications.

When it comes to enterprise applications, performance has and always will continue to be everything. In order for Hadoop in the near term to become anything more than an interesting computer science project, IT organizations will be required to integrate Hadoop using one method or another that doesn’t compromise enterprise application performance in any way at all.