SAS Data Loader for Hadoop Unveiled

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 18 –– The increasingly popular Hadoop framework is a cost-effective big data architecture. But making it work for business requires secure access, simplified data integration and data quality. To meet these needs, SAS introduces SAS Data Loader for Hadoop.

SAS Data Loader for Hadoop enables business users to manage, transform, cleanse and prepare data. These tasks are critical for obtaining accurate results without burdening IT. By helping overcome the noted Hadoop skills gap, it speeds access to big data and increases productivity. SAS support for Hadoop spans the entire data-to-decision process, helping organizations know more, faster and make better decisions.

The software is based on industry-leading SAS capabilities in data quality and data integration running on Hadoop. Its intuitive, wizard-based graphical user interface lets business analysts and data scientists easily move and transform data without specialized skills. SAS Data Loader runs in a web browser, streamlining design, orchestration, and execution of complex transformations inside Hadoop. Without it, these functions require highly technical expertise.

“Adoption of Hadoop is gathering pace, but companies are struggling to find personnel with the proper skillset to maximize its value and clean up dirty data,” said Krishna Roy, Analyst at 451 Research. “This has led to an increased demand for software that enables self-service access and preparation to data stored within Hadoop without burdening IT. SAS is well positioned to meet customer data preparation, data quality and data integration needs with SAS Data Loader for Hadoop and other tools developed specifically for Hadoop.”

SAS Data Loader for Hadoop speeds delivery of trusted data by pushing data quality processing to Hadoop, where it can be used more frequently and in larger sets. The strategy improves data governance compliance while meeting the ever-changing needs of business.

In addition to empowering business users, SAS lets data scientists bring the processing to the data, reducing data movement and making data preparation less resource-intensive and more efficient.

SAS and Hadoop

SAS support for open source Hadoop spans the entire analytics life cycle, including data preparation and management, data visualization and exploration, model development and deployment, and monitoring. Products such as SAS Visual Analytics and SAS Visual Statistics run in Hadoop environments. SAS maintains strategic relations with key Hadoop providers, such as Cloudera and Hortonworks and Data Loader for Hadoop is certified by both companies.

“Quickly getting quality data into a Hadoop-based enterprise data hub is critical to exploit data assets,” said Tim Stevens, Cloudera Vice President of Business and Corporate Development. “SAS Data Loader for Hadoop eases data movement and transformation, dramatically reducing time to analysis. Cloudera and SAS together bring more data and analytics so business analysts can find key insights through sophisticated data exploration.”

Said John Kreisa, Vice President of Strategic Marketing at Hortonworks: “SAS Data Loader for Hadoop is a simple yet powerful way for customers to easily clean and load new data sets into the Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP). As an HDP certified and YARN Ready technology, SAS Data Loader gives customers the ability to turn their data into insights for increased competitive advantage with high workload efficiency and optimized resource allocation.”