Big Data Bits: MongoDB Edition + There's a Prize Inside

Small pieces loosely joined in a non-zero sum world.

Write that phrase down and wrap your brain around it because that’s how the vendors who are shaping computing’s next platform are thinking. It’s not about “I win, you lose,” but about how well we can play and build something together.

And though that idea was verbalized by Cloudera founder Mike Olson (who borrowed from David Weinbereger’s book "Small Pieces Loosely Joined") at MongoDB World this week, we got an idea of how it might play out in computing’s third era as we watched MongoDB’s customers talk about game-changing solutions they built leveraging the world’s leading NoSQL database and other leading and emerging technologies.

MongoDB, it should be noted, is Open Source, not only in near dogmatic belief, but also in spirit. It’s interesting to note that it partners with proprietary vendors like Teradata and Microsoft because that’s what some of its customers want.

That being said, here’s a quick review of the announcements made at Mongo DB World this week.

MongoDB and Google Hook Up

For a long time Amazon Web Services (AWS) was a developer’s “go to” for building applications on the Cloud, so it was a no-brainer that the two vendors worked together to make that happen. Later MongoDB partnered with IBM’s SoftLayer, and earlier this week they announced that they had built a developer-friendly experience on Google Cloud’s Google Compute Engine.

Is it a big deal? For developers who want to build applications on Google Compute Engine it is. And because Google seems to finally be getting serious about encouraging developers to leverage its cloud it could be a big win. Look for more on this in Big Data Bits next week.

MongoDB Paves the Way for Azure Loyalists

No, the world isn’t ending, but MongoDB and Microsoft did announce a fully managed, highly available MongoDB-as-a-service offering available as an add-on in the Microsoft Azure Store.

It’s interesting to note that, different as the two companies and their dogmas may be (MongoDB is bit of an Open Source zealot, Microsoft is mostly proprietary), both companies are looking to be as inclusive as possible by offering developers options.

So MongoDB developers who want to build on Windows will now be able to.

Remember that mantra? “Small pieces, loosely joined.”

Whether they articulate it or not, software providers are beginning to get it.

Pentaho Shortens Path to Value

Data doesn’t mean much unless you can extract value from it and that’s not always easy. Pentaho aims to make it easier.

At MongoDB World they announced a new analytics platform that integrates with MongoDB’s database platform, or, as they put it “specifically, Pentaho supports MongoDB versions 2.4 and 2.6.” This allows enterprises to perform analytics on MongoDB data directly "at the source," without having to program custom connectors between the database and data analytics tools.

CumuLogic Announces DBaaS Platform, MongoDB Edition

Some highly regulated companies find it necessary to run MongoDB internally. CumuLogic’s Database as a Service (DBaaS) Platform makes this easier by bringing the capabilities of public Database-as-a-Service solutions to datacenters.

The CumuLogic DBaaS Platform, MongoDB Edition transforms an organization’s approach to delivering data services to application development teams by automating the provisioning and operations of multiple database technologies, via a self-service portal. It allows IT Ops to retain control of the underlying infrastructure for governance and security.

Cloudant at MongoDB World?

When IBM first acquired Cloudant, we wondered how it would fit in -- after all, IBM via its SoftLayer relationship had just gotten cozy with MongoDB to provide a Database as a Service play that was widely seen as a Cloudant competitor. Both Cloudant -- which is based on the Apache CouchDB project and is the creator of the open source BigCouch project -- and MongoDB provide NoSQL document databases that use JSON-formatted information.

We thought that IBM might give MongoDB the boot, but we were wrong. It wasn’t as clear at the time that the days of the “I win, you lose” world were numbered, that IBM would offer Bluemix PaaS, etc. As we know now, winning isn’t about competition, it’s about “small pieces woven together.”

For MongoDB Users - ObjectRocket Offers a Freebie

We’re not going to pontificate about this, when we say free, all you’re going to do is rush to click the button. Here it is, click “Learn more” once you’re there. 

Title image by Herman Turnip (Flickr) via a CC BY 2.0 license