Big Data Deals: Accenture Teams Up With Hortonworks, Capgemini Extends Cloudera Pact

Competition for big data services is heating up as solution provider powerhouses Accenture and Capgemini made simultaneous moves Tuesday, each unveiling a partnership with a prominent enterprise big data management platform provider.

Accenture, No. 3 on CRN's 2014 Solution Provider 500 list, said it had entered into an alliance with Hortonworks, a distributor of the open-source Apache Hadoop data platform. Capgemini, No. 5 on the SP500 list, revealed an extended partnership with Cloudera, which provides an enterprise data hub also built on Apache Hadoop.

Accenture's agreement with Hortonworks will bring the two organizations together to collaborate on delivering big data solutions to clients, including helping them integrate the Hortonworks data platform with existing environments. While the two companies have been working together since 2012, the formal agreement will help ensure consistency and predictability across clients and geographies, said Jason McIntyre, managing director of Accenture Analytics’ alliance management.

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While Hortonworks isn't the only big data company that the $28.6 billion solution provider is partnering with, the pact is an important piece of the "bigger puzzle," McIntyre said, of being able to offer Hadoop solutions to customers as they look at big data as a cost-saving and business-improving technology option.

"We feel like we've been in this business a long time. We know the market, we know the players, we know their products and we've been working together with our clients for a number of years to navigate that and apply the best technology for the solutions they're looking for at that point in time," McIntyre said.

Capgemini's extension of its partnership with Cloudera, meanwhile, includes a new Enterprise Data Hub Accelerator, which provides a road map for scaling big data platforms and analytics, and Data Science-as-a-Service, which provides preventative monitoring measures using big data.

"This is a natural evolution of our partnership and a means to provide greater value to our customers," said Scott Schlesinger, senior vice president, head of North America business information management, at Capgemini. "As a result of the demand we have seen and generated, we collaborated to take the partnership to a new level, and our solutions are more aligned to meet demand."

Capgemini said it is also making significant investments in the Cloudera platform, including training current and new personnel, as well as developing new solutions and service offerings.

PUBLISHED JULY 8, 2014