Cloudera to open UK office next year

17 Oct 2012

Speaking to IP EXPO Online, Cloudera chief architect explains why the time is right for the company to set down roots in Reading.

Look out, Europe. Big data specialist Cloudera has its eye on you. Speaking exclusively to IP EXPO Online, Doug Cutting, the company's chief architect and co-creator of the open-source Apache Hadoop framework on which its products are based, revealed plans for a new office, due to open in Reading, UK, in early 2013. Apart from a small office in Tokyo, he says, it's Cloudera's first foray outside of the US.

"I see a lot of interest and significant early adopters in the UK. And from there, we can build out into Europe," he told IP EXPO Online. One customer is online gaming company King.com; it uses Cloudera Enterprise to analyse gamers' behaviour across multiple platforms. In this way, for example, it can see which platform they use (Facebook or Android, for example) to play the popular Bubble Witch Saga game, which levels in the game they achieve and how long they spend on each level.

According to Cutting, UK-based public sector organisations are also very interested in Cloudera's approach to Hadoop, which involves bundling the free software with its own management tools, consultancy services and support and training products. "They're keen to use it, but they're trying to figure out how to use it effectively and without appearing like Big Brother - scandals are not good, politically speaking," he says.

But for Cloudera to gain real traction in Europe, its biggest challenge will be the region's shortage of skills in big data in general and Hadoop in particular. "It's a real issue," he acknowledges, but adds that it's a worldwide issue and that Cloudera University, the company's programme of online and in-person training in Hadoop and data science techniques, which it launched in October 2011, now provides training to some 1,500 people every month.

"I like to talk about 'latent data scientists'," says Cutting. "These tend to be people that have some computer science background and some business school training. With people like that, you don't need to send them away for a four-year degree course. You just need them to develop some specific skills," he says.

In addition to partnering with some of the world's biggest IT companies - among them IBM, Hewlett-Packard, EMC, Dell, Cisco and Oracle - Cloudera recently signed a pan-European agreement with IT services company Logica. "We feel that it's time to really grow the business now," says Cutting. "We took our time in the US to understand how to make this business work, to hire engineers, to ramp up sales. Our emphasis now is on executing in the same way in new regions."

We couldn't let Doug Cutting go without asking about a certain yellow fabric toy elephant. Belonging to his baby son, this elephant gave Hadoop its name - but where is that elephant now? It turns out that Hadoop is kept in Doug Cutting's sock drawer, and his son, now 12 years old, is demanding recompense for 'inventing' the name. "He wants more recognition and maybe some royalties, too," laughs Cutting. "I've promised him that I will at least fund his college education." If the Cloudera projects continues to be successful, he says, Hadoop the Elephant may end up in a Silicon Valley museum.