03 March 2017

CenturyLink and Cloudera have partnered to launch a new managed service for data integration and analytics consulting.

Big Data as a Service (BDaaS) combines CenturyLink’s network, cloud and application services with the secure Apache Hadoop-based data management and analytics platform from Cloudera.

According to the partners, many organisations lack the in-house resources, expertise and strategy needed to successfully leverage their ‘Big Data’, especially as IoT places more demands on their IT infrastructure.

It’s claimed BDaaS delivers a “compre-hensive” managed service backed by infrastructure that can handle data-intensive workloads, including surges. CenturyLink says this enables rapid analyses of large and complex data sets. It adds that BDaaS is enhanced by adding consulting services supported by Cloudera’s certified data scientists and Hadoop solution administrators, developers and architects.

As part of the new service, CenturyLink offers a quick start programme that includes specialised workshops. These guided sessions are designed to determine use cases and conduct needs assessments in order to create customised solutions that align with the customer’s aims.

Users will also benefit from real-time deployment support. CenturyLink says they can quickly implement projects in a proof of concept, then scale into production. The firm’s engineers offer assistance in building data platforms for identified use cases including areas such as data ingest, storage, and access methodologies.