Simba Introduces ODBC Driver for Spark SQL

VANCOUVER, B.C., Dec. 3 — Today Simba Technologies Inc., the worldwide leader in Big Data connectivity, announced the new Simba Technologies Spark ODBC Driver, an innovative SQL Connector for Apache Spark, the powerful open-source processing engine for Hadoop data built around speed, ease of use, and sophisticated analytics. The Simba Technologies Spark ODBC Driver brings the strength of Apache Spark to developers, data scientists, and IT leads looking to harness the power of Big Data in the innovative enterprise.

“The Apache Spark cluster-computing framework offers significant query-performance improvement over MapReduce,” notes Simba Technologies CTO George Chow. “But as pioneering as Spark’s in-cluster-memory data-query model is, the framework requires a driver to connect the data with a visualization or reporting tool. And that’s where the new Simba Technologies Spark ODBC Driver makes its mark: enabling anyone to use Spark’s powerful engine on their data from their desktop apps.”

Built upon the SimbaEngine SDK driver development platform — the industry’s leading ODBC toolkit for high-performance ODBC driver development — Simba’s Spark ODBC Driver with SQL Connector lets enterprise analysts leverage existing SQL expertise. The Simba Technologies Spark ODBC Driver acts as a translator, mapping SQL queries to Spark SQL, the SQL-like Apache Spark interactive query language. As with the HiveQL query language upon which it’s based, Spark SQL is not fully compliant with the ANSI SQL-92 standard. The Simba Technologies Spark ODBC Driver fills that gap, providing direct standard SQL-92 access to Spark distributions.

Databricks — the company founded by the creators of Apache Spark — employs Simba Technologies Spark ODBC connectivity in its flagship Databricks Cloud, the cloud platform built around Apache Spark.

“Databricks Cloud delivers managed Spark clusters, production pipelines, and data exploration and visualization capabilities in a single unified platform that simplifies Big Data for enterprises,” says Arsalan Tavakoli-Shiraji, customer engagement lead at Databricks. “Additionally, users can connect their favorite BI tools to Databricks Cloud using ODBC connectivity from Simba Technologies to get their data quickly, easily, and seamlessly.”

Databricks isn’t the only Big Data innovator choosing Simba Technologies for Spark connectivity. Tableau Software embeds Simba ODBC connectivity with its Tableau Desktop for the Mac offering, and now also uses the 64-bit Spark ODBC Driver from Simba Technologies for its native connectivity to Spark SQL.

Simba Technologies Spark ODBC Driver Quick Facts:

• Delivers direct BI connectivity to data without extraction
• Supports all major on-premise and cloud Spark distributions
• Includes catalog and schema support
• Only direct, universal ODBC 3.52 data access solution for Spark
• Full compatibility with leading analytic/reporting apps, including Alteryx, Microsoft Excel & Access, Tableau, and more

“Developers want the performance power of Apache Spark, IT leads want the flexibility to support multiple data sources, and data scientists want the convenience of SQL-query capability,” says Simba Technologies CEO Amyn Rajan. “With the release of the Simba Technologies Spark ODBC Driver, Simba once again drives Big Data Connectivity technology forward with the first innovative commercial solution to deliver direct SQL BI connectivity and universal ODBC data access for Apache Spark.”