Fujitsu has launched a new entry in its Primeflex range of workload-specific appliances, designed for analytics with Hadoop.

Primeflex for Hadoop is being offered both as on-premise hardware pre-loaded with Cloudera and Datameer software, and as an upcoming service within the Fujitsu Cloud.

“With the Primeflex for Hadoop Big Data appliance, Fujitsu is offering compelling new economic arguments for customers who have already realized that accessing Big Data presents them with huge business advantages, but were put off by the high cost of entry, and the difficulty in actually deploying data analytics to produce meaningful output," said Harald Bernreuther, director for Global Infrastructure Solutions at Fujitsu.

"By creating a dedicated Primeflex integrated system for harnessing Big Data, as an enterprise data hub, we are making Big Data more accessible and easier than ever.”

Hadoop-in-a-box
Fujitsu announced the plan to bring all of its integrated systems under the Primeflex brand in the middle of November.

Primeflex appliances are essentially pre-tested Fujitsu Primergy servers configured for specific workloads - for example running VMware's EVO: RAIL or Microsoft Windows Server 2012.

Each appliance bundles the necessary compute, storage, connectivity and software, with optional support and lifecycle management provided by Fujitsu. The company also offers pre-tested 'Reference Architecture' blueprints that allow for more customisation.

Fujitsy says its integrated systems can offer faster deployment times and easier maintenance than an in-house system integration project. Customers can even choose to use them on a pay-as-you-go basis.

With its latest entry, Fujitsu added Hadoop to the list of supported platforms. This appliance was made for customers in finance, marketing and IT departments who want to analyse large quantities of data using Cloudera's distribution of the open source framework, with the added benefit of analytics engine made by Datameer.

Primeflex for Hadoop is available either as a four-server entry system or as two types of 19" racks for larger deployments.

Fujitsu has also established a European Big Data centre of expertise that will serve as a testbed for Primeflex systems,  especially those designed for Hadoop, Terracotta BigMemory and SAP HANA.

The on-premise versions of the Hadoop appliance are available immediately, while the cloud-based version will be launched in early 2015.

According to Transparency Market Research, the market for Hadoop soulutions will be worth US$21 billion by 2018.