August 6, 2020 Machine Learning UDF’s in Avalanche, VectorH, and Vector – Creating UDF’s in Database – Part 2 In the first part of this two-part article, we created the model. In this installment, we will create the UDF’s in database. We can convert the model to Python, and I used m2cgen to transpile the sklearn model to Python model I will be making 3 types of UDF’s, Python UDF JavaScript UDF Saving… Read More
August 6, 2020 Machine Learning UDF’s in Avalanche, VectorH, and Vector – Introduction and Creating the Model – Part 1 Recently in Avalanche, VectorH 6.0, and Vector 6.0, Actian introduced a capability for Scalar user-defined functions (UDF’s). This has given Avalanche, VectorH, and Vector a new dimension to run Machine Learning (ML) models in Python and JavaScript within database. More about UDF’s can be found in our documentation. Model creation is simple with so… Read More
June 7, 2020 Actian Vector for Hadoop Enables Fuller SQL Functionality and More Current Data In this second of a three-part blog series (part 1), we'll explain how SQL execution in Actian Vector in Hadoop (VectorH) is much more functional and ready to run in an operational environment, and how the ability for VectorH to handle data updates efficiently can enable your production environment to stay current with the… Read More
June 6, 2020 Actian Shows Exponential Performance Advantages Over Other SQL on Hadoop Alternatives Imagine if reports that currently take many minutes to run in Hadoop could come back with results in seconds. Get answers to detailed questions about sales figures and customer trends in real time. Make revenue predictions based on up-to-date customer metrics across a spectrum of sources. Iterate more quickly simulating different business decisions to… Read More
June 5, 2020 Actian Vector for Hadoop File Format is Faster and More Efficient In this third and last part of the series on Actian Vector in Hadoop (VectorH), we will cover how the VectorH file format supports the performance and efficiency of our data analytics platform to accelerate business insights, as well as some of the other enterprise features that can help businesses move their Hadoop applications… Read More
September 13, 2018 Analyze and Act on Transactional Data in the Moment with an Operational Data Warehouse We all hear about how forward-thinking companies, small and large, need to be more customer focused, even customer obsessed, to be successful in this hypercompetitive world. Data drives knowledge about your customers’ needs and behaviors, so you can actively tailor your messaging and offers to rise above the competition and win their business. This… Read More
July 11, 2018 Actian Vector Data Ingestion The usefulness of an analytic database is closely tied to its ability to ingest, store, and process vast quantities of data. Data is typically ingested from multiple sources such as operational databases, CSV files, and continuous data streams. In most cases, daily data loads are measured in tens or hundreds of millions of rows,… Read More
September 19, 2017 Vector in Hadoop 5.0 – New Features You Should Care About Today we announce the introduction of the next release of Actian Vector in Hadoop, extending our support of Apache Spark to include direct access to native Hadoop file formats and tighter integration with Spark SQL and Spark R applications. In this release, we also incorporate performance improvements, integration with Hadoop security frameworks, and administrative… Read More
August 2, 2016 Hadoop Short Circuit Reads and Database Performance If you've been working with Hadoop then you've likely come across the concept of Short Circuit Reads (SCRs) and how they can aid performance. These days they are mostly enabled by default (although not in "vanilla" Apache or close derivatives like Amazon EMR). Actian VectorH brings high performance SQL, ACID compliance, and enterprise security… Read More
June 20, 2016 Performance Troubleshooting Tips for Actian Vector in Hadoop Actian Vector and Vector in Hadoop are powerful tools for running queries efficiently. However, most users of data analytics platforms seek to find ways to optimize performance to gain incremental query improvements. The Actian Service and Support team works with our customers to identify common areas that should be investigated when trying to improve… Read More
May 26, 2016 Fashion Retailer Maximizes Profits Through Data Driven Insights Kiabi, a global retailer of ready-to-wear fashion at affordable prices based in France needed to replace a legacy data management platform that was unable to support real-time analytics in a high-volume global retail environment. A proof of concept test demonstrated that the Actian Analytics Platform was clearly the performance leader to meet this customer’s real-time data… Read More
May 9, 2016 Accelerating Spark with Actian Vector in Hadoop One of the hottest projects in the Apache Hadoop community is Spark, and we at Actian are pleased to announce a Spark-Vector connector for the Actian Vector in Hadoop platform (VectorH) that links the two together. VectorH provides the fastest and most complete SQL in Hadoop solution, and connecting to Spark opens up interfaces… Read More
May 3, 2016 Amazon EMR as an Easy-to-set-up Hadoop Platform Recently I helped a customer perform an evaluation of Actian Vector in Hadoop (VectorH) to see if it could maintain “a few seconds” performance as the data sizes grew from one to tens of billions of rows (which it did, but that’s not the subject of this entry). The customer in question was only… Read More
May 2, 2016 Taking Advantage of Ordered Data Actian Vector and Vector in Hadoop (VectorH) have a lightweight, but very potent, feature that can give a significant performance boost when querying data that possesses some kind of ordering. This entry takes a look at this feature and describes how to use it. The feature utilises what are referred to as MinMax structures.… Read More
April 28, 2016 Actian Developer Tools available on Github The Actian technology teams have recently posted a number of technical tools and snippets to the Actian account on Github that will be of interest to customers, partners and prospects. We encourage all of you to take a look and make contributions of your own – either to enhance these tools, or else to… Read More
April 27, 2016 Hadoop at 10 Wow – 10 years of Hadoop, what a ride. Actian has been working in the Hadoop ecosystem almost since the beginning, starting in 2007. Actian started working with Hortonworks the moment they launched in 2011. As a pioneer in this space, we have witnessed the whole “boom”. And while Hadoop is continuing to show… Read More
April 14, 2016 Analytics Cube and Beyond Big Data engineering has invented a seemingly endless supply of workaround solutions. These are for both scalability and performance problems. Ultimately, our approach to solving these problems dictates how sustainable they will be. This post compares some modern best practices with pre-processing cube environments. 3 Ways A Hadoop Database Competes With Cube Analytics Software… Read More
December 27, 2017 High-Performance Realtime-Analytics on Hadoop Data The Challenge I have spent many years working with Actian's customers on database solutions and thought it'd be useful to discuss a recent customer experience at a large media company (I will call it "XYZCo"). This experience is similar to what I continue to see with other customers and the lessons learned apply to… Read More
September 20, 2017 Join Actian at Strata Data New York 2017 Join us at the Strata Data New York conference next week at Jacob K Javits Convention Center to learn how our data management and analytics products can help you manage and analyze hybrid data to better gain business insights. This O'Reilly conference takes place September 25-28, with an opening reception from 5-6:30pm Tuesday in… Read More
June 27, 2016 Efficient ETL in an Analytical Database? Recently I worked on a POC that required some non-standard thinking. The challenge was that the customer's use case did not only need high performance SQL analytics but also a healthy amount of ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load). More specifically, the requirement was for ELT (or even ETLT if we want to absolutely precise).… Read More
May 4, 2016 Pssst .. Have you heard about VectorH? Hello World! We’ve been busy building some innovative features into the Actian Vector in Hadoop (VectorH) product and we would love to tell you all about them. So, the list of the features and innovations that we have done recently for VectorH… wait .. do you even know what VectorH is about? Yes, it’s… Read More
September 5, 2014 An Analytical Mind: A Smart Interview with Peter Boncz on Vector Processing Known as the Father of Vector Database Processing, Peter Boncz is the Senior Research Scientist at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), Professor at VU University Amsterdam, and Chief Technical Advisor to Actian Corporation, the first company to assemble an end-to-end big data analytics platform that runs natively on Hadoop. He architected two breakthrough database… Read More
