Analyst(s): Paul Nashawaty
Publication Date: October 16, 2024
At the EVOLVE24 New York conference, Cloudera announced significant advancements to its hybrid cloud platform, reinforcing its position as the only true hybrid solution for data, analytics, and AI. With enhanced capabilities such as a unified platform, hybrid control plane, and federated data access, Cloudera is helping enterprises manage data seamlessly across on-premises, cloud, and multi-cloud environments.
What is Covered in this Article:
- Cloudera’s vision for hybrid cloud and its new advancements
- Key capabilities, including a unified platform and hybrid control plane
- The importance of federated data access and Graviton support
- Industry perspectives on true hybrid cloud
- Cloudera’s future investments in data, analytics, and AI
The News: At EVOLVE24 New York, Cloudera revealed several new advancements to its hybrid cloud platform, solidifying its status as the industry’s only true hybrid cloud solution for data, analytics, and AI. These enhancements include a unified platform with a single codebase that works across on-premises, cloud, and multi-cloud infrastructures, a hybrid control plane for monitoring and optimizing deployments, and support for federated data access. Additionally, Cloudera’s platform now supports ARM-based systems such as AWS Graviton, enabling more flexibility for enterprises in managing workloads across diverse environments.
Cloudera Delivers on True Hybrid Cloud Vision at EVOLVE24 New York
Analyst Take: Cloudera’s continued investment in its hybrid cloud platform reflects the growing demand from enterprises for seamless data and analytics management across multiple environments. Its unique approach—where data and workloads can move freely between on-prem and cloud systems—solves a crucial problem many organizations face when dealing with siloed data. This positions Cloudera as a leader in the hybrid cloud market, providing businesses with the tools needed to optimize performance, improve cost efficiency, and enhance scale as needed. As AI becomes more integrated into business processes, Cloudera’s emphasis on AI governance and data mobility ensures that enterprises remain agile in the face of change.
The Importance of Hybrid Cloud in Today’s Business Landscape
At the recent EVOLVE24 New York event on October 10, 2024, Cloudera showcased its vision for the future of data, analytics, and AI through its revolutionary hybrid cloud platform. With the growing reliance on hybrid environments, Cloudera’s platform positions itself as the only true hybrid solution that delivers unified experiences across on-premises, cloud, and multi-cloud infrastructures. This approach unlocks the full potential of enterprise data and enables organizations to extract valuable insights, scale their operations, and boost productivity.
The hybrid cloud has gained substantial traction due to its flexibility and the ability to manage an enterprise’s complete data footprint. In today’s fast-paced business environment, companies are increasingly looking to harness the power of data. However, data often remains siloed within different infrastructures in cloud environments or on-premises systems. These data silos inhibit an organization’s ability to move, scale, and optimize workloads effectively. Cloudera’s platform addresses this challenge by providing seamless data mobility and unifying data across environments.
According to Cloudera’s findings, 93% of data leaders recognize that multi-cloud or hybrid capabilities are crucial for organizational adaptability. This realization has prompted enterprises to seek solutions that can break down data silos and create unified analytics experiences across different infrastructures.
Cloudera’s Unique Approach to Hybrid Cloud
Cloudera’s platform distinguishes itself as the only offering on the market that enables the smooth movement of data and workloads across all environments, including on-premises systems and cloud infrastructures. By allowing enterprises to keep data where it resides, Cloudera empowers organizations to analyze data estates in place, facilitating better insights and decision-making. This platform is also critical in integrating the latest advancements in AI, such as Generative AI (GenAI), into business operations, helping enterprises extract more value from their data.
During EVOLVE24, Cloudera previewed several vital capabilities that will shape the future of hybrid cloud, emphasizing flexibility, scalability, and governance. These advancements are designed to provide businesses with a unified data architecture that can adapt to changing needs while maintaining high performance and security.
Key Capabilities of Cloudera’s Hybrid Cloud Platform
Cloudera’s hybrid cloud platform offers a range of key capabilities designed to unify data management and analytics across diverse environments. These include a unified platform with a single codebase, a hybrid control plane for centralized management, and federated data access to ensure seamless data and workload movement. These features provide enterprises with the flexibility, scalability, and governance needed to optimize performance and stay competitive in today’s data-driven landscape.
- Unified Platform – At the core of Cloudera’s offering is a unified platform that eliminates the boundaries between cloud and on-premises environments. The platform operates with a single codebase, enabling workloads, capabilities, and governance processes to function seamlessly, regardless of where deployed. As enterprises grow and their data needs evolve, the platform can scale to meet those demands without compromising performance or security.
- Hybrid Control Plane – The hybrid control plane, also known as a “single pane of glass,” provides enterprises with a comprehensive view of their hybrid deployments. It enables organizations to manage, monitor, and govern their infrastructure across all environments, facilitating continuous optimization based on business needs.
Whether it’s cost efficiency, performance improvements, or compliance requirements, the hybrid control plane empowers businesses to adjust their infrastructure dynamically. - Open Data Lakehouse on Hybrid Architecture – One of the standout features of Cloudera’s hybrid platform is integrating an open data lakehouse architecture. This architecture combines the flexibility and scalability of data lakes with the high performance of data warehouses.
It allows businesses to store and analyze vast amounts of structured and unstructured data across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, unlocking new opportunities for innovation. - Unified Security and Governance – As businesses adopt hybrid infrastructures, maintaining consistent security and governance across different environments becomes a top priority. Cloudera’s platform ensures that security policies, governance frameworks, and data lineage processes remain uniform across all infrastructures.
This consistency enables organizations to stay compliant with industry regulations while ensuring data integrity and trust throughout their operations. - Federated Data Access – Federated data access is another critical capability of Cloudera’s hybrid platform. It ensures that users, data, and analytics can move seamlessly between different infrastructures without disruption.
This flexibility allows businesses to deploy workloads where they are most efficient while maintaining a unified experience for data access and analysis. As enterprises expand their hybrid environments, federated data access will ensure agility and innovation. - Graviton (ARM) Support – Cloudera’s platform also supports deployments on ARM-based systems, such as AWS Graviton, in addition to traditional x86 environments. This capability gives businesses more flexibility in deploying workloads across cloud, hybrid, and on-premises infrastructures.
The support for ARM-based systems ensures that Cloudera’s platform can scale efficiently and take advantage of the cost savings and performance benefits offered by modern hardware architectures.
The Industry’s Perspective on True Hybrid Cloud
Adopting hybrid cloud infrastructure has become increasingly common in enterprises looking to modernize their data management strategies. However, many organizations struggle to achieve a true hybrid approach that integrates data and analytics assets across different environments.
Cloudera stands out as the only vendor currently delivering on this promise. By providing a scalable and flexible data architecture, Cloudera enables enterprises to manage their data and analytics journey from start to finish, regardless of the infrastructure they use. This holistic approach ensures that businesses can adapt to changing needs, scale their operations, and maximize the value of their data at every step.
Cloudera’s Commitment to Supporting Enterprises
Dipto Chakravarty, Cloudera’s Chief Product Officer, highlighted the importance of preparing for an increasingly hybrid world. Enterprises require a flexible, scalable data analytics and AI framework to support their growth and evolving needs. As organizations embrace hybrid infrastructures, Cloudera’s investments in innovation ensure that businesses can thrive in this dynamic environment.
The company’s commitment to supporting enterprises on their hybrid cloud journey is evident through its continued investments in new capabilities and partnerships. Cloudera is focused on helping businesses break down data silos, unify their analytics and AI efforts, and drive competitive differentiation in an increasingly complex market.
Looking Ahead
As businesses adopt hybrid infrastructures, the demand for solutions that can handle the complexities of multi-cloud and on-premises environments will only grow. Cloudera’s platform positions itself at the forefront of this transformation by offering a unified, scalable, and secure solution for managing data, analytics, and AI across all environments.
Cloudera will continue to invest in new capabilities that enhance its hybrid cloud offering. The company’s vision is to provide enterprises with the tools they need to harness the full potential of their data and stay ahead in an ever-changing landscape. With its unique approach to hybrid cloud, Cloudera is helping businesses turn data into a competitive advantage, unlocking new opportunities for innovation and growth.
Looking forward, Cloudera’s hybrid cloud platform is more than just a technological innovation—it is a strategic enabler for enterprises looking to succeed in the data-driven world. By delivering unified experiences across all environments, Cloudera empowers organizations to scale their operations, optimize their infrastructure, and drive meaningful business outcomes. Cloudera’s platform will play a critical role in shaping the future of data, analytics, and AI as the industry evolves.
What to Watch:
- Cloudera faces strong competition from AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, which are also expanding their hybrid and multi-cloud capabilities.
- The rise of open data lakehouses and the integration of AI into business processes will influence the adoption of hybrid cloud solutions such as Cloudera’s platform.
- As businesses increasingly prioritize flexibility and scalability, platforms that support multi-cloud strategies will be more in demand.
- The growing adoption of ARM-based systems could benefit Cloudera but may intensify competition as other cloud providers enhance their ARM support.
- Depending on how these issues evolve, AI regulation and data governance could boost or limit the adoption of Cloudera’s hybrid offerings.
See more about ‘Cloudera Delivers on True Hybrid Cloud Vision at EVOLVE24 New York’ on the Cloudera website.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
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Author Information
At The Futurum Group, Paul Nashawaty, Practice Leader and Lead Principal Analyst, specializes in application modernization across build, release and operations. With a wealth of expertise in digital transformation initiatives spanning front-end and back-end systems, he also possesses comprehensive knowledge of the underlying infrastructure ecosystem crucial for supporting modernization endeavors. With over 25 years of experience, Paul has a proven track record in implementing effective go-to-market strategies, including the identification of new market channels, the growth and cultivation of partner ecosystems, and the successful execution of strategic plans resulting in positive business outcomes for his clients.
