From the very beginning of its entry to the market, MapR[1] focused on the file system as an axis of innovation. Recognizing that the native Hadoop Distributed File System's (HDFS's)[2] inability to accommodate updates to files was a major blocker for lots of Enterprise customers, MapR put an HDFS interface over the standard Network File System (NFS)[3] to make that constraint go away.
While seemingly simple, the ability for Hadoop[4] to see a standard file system as its own meant that lots of data already present in the Enterprise could be processed by Hadoop. It also meant that non-Hadoop systems could share that data and work cooperatively with Hadoop. That made Hadoop more economical, more actionable and more relevant. For many customers, it transformed Hadoop from a marginal technology to a critical one.
Back to the file system
While MapR has subsequently innovated on the database, streaming and edge computing layers, and has embraced container technology, it is today announcing a major platform update that goes back to file system innovation. But this time it's not just about making files update-able; it's about integrating multiple file system technologies, on-premises and in the cloud, and making them work together.
Also read: Kafka 0.9 and MapR Streams put streaming data in the spotlight
Also read: MapR gets container religion with Platform for Docker[5][6]
The core of the innovation is around integration between the MapR file system (MapR-FS)[7] and Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3)[8] file system protocols. This integration manifests in more than one form, and there's some subtlety here, so bear with me.
S3, for two
The first integration point is support for an S3 interface over MapR-FS,