Apache Phoenix

Apache Phoenix is an efficient SQL skin for Apache HBase that has created a lot of buzz. Many companies are successfully using this technology, including Salesforce.com, where Phoenix first started.

Internally, Phoenix takes your SQL query, compiles it into a series of native HBase API calls, and pushes as much work as possible onto the cluster for parallel execution. It automatically creates a metadata repository that provides typed access to data stored in HBase tables. Phoenix’s direct use of the HBase API, along with coprocessors and custom filters, results in performance on the order of milliseconds for small queries, or seconds for tens of millions of rows.

Regardless of these helpful features, Phoenix is not a drop-in RDBMS replacement. There are some limitations:

1. Phoenix doesn’t support cross-row transactions yet.
2. Itz query optimizer and join mechanisms are less sophisticated than most COTS DBMSs.
3. As secondary indexes are implemented using a separate index table, they can get out of sync with the primary table (although perhaps only for very short periods.) These indexes are therefore not fully-ACID compliant.
4. Multi-tenancy is constrained—internally, Phoenix uses a single HBase table.

Unlike Impala, however, Phoenix is intended to operate exclusively on HBase data; its design and implementation are heavily customized to leverage HBase features including coprocessors and skip scans.

Top-3 differences between Impala and Phoenix

1. The main goal of Phoenix is to provide a high-performance relational database layer over HBase for low-latency applications. Impala’s primary focus is to enable interactive exploration of large data sets by providing high-performance, low-latency SQL queries on data stored in popular Hadoop file formats. Hive is mainly concerned with providing data warehouse infrastructure, especially for long-running batch-oriented tasks.
2. Phoenix is a good choice, for example, in CRUD applications where you need the scalability of HBase along with the facility of SQL access. In contrast, Impala is a better option for strictly analytic workloads and Hive is well suited for batch-oriented tasks like ETL.
3. Phoenix is comparatively lightweight since it doesn’t need an additional server.

Next Cloudera release CDH 5.5 will be packaged with Apache Phoenix to leverage. I'm waiting !!!

Amazon Physical Store

In the recent Wall Street Journal (WSF), Amazon.com Inc. plans to open a store in the middle of New York City.

Itz the first brick-and-mortar outlet in its 20-year history and an experiment to provide the type of face-to-face experience found at traditional retailers.  Physical store is contradictory strategy of online Amazon store.

Operating stores also carries risks. Until now, Amazon largely has avoided some costs associated with retailing, including leases, paying employees and managing inventory in hundreds of stores. Those expenses could imperil the company’s already thin profit margins.

If it is successful, however, the New York location could presage a roll-out to other U.S. cities, according to the people familiar with the company’s thinking.

Amazon took some inspiration from a trial by the U.K.’s Home Retail Group PLC, allowing customers to order eBay goods online and pick them up in its Argos stores. By year’s end Argos expects to provide the service at 650 stores from 65,000 eBay sellers.

Other primarily online retailers have opened physical storefronts, including clothier Bonobos Inc., eyeglasses purveyor Warby Parker, and subscription beauty-products service Birchbox.

One philosophy is striking in my mind.  Life is a circle, which will repeat/rotate the trends.

Virtusa acquires Polaris

Today, Virtusa announces definitive agreement to acquire a majority interest in Polaris Consulting & Services, Ltd.

Virtusa and Polaris collectively will have approximately 18,000 employees, generating $826 million of pro forma revenue for the twelve months ended September 30, 2015.

Upon the closing of the Polaris transaction, the combination of Virtusa and Polaris would create a leading global provider of IT services and solutions to the banking and financial services industry segment. The acquisition would combine Virtusa’s deep domain expertise in consumer and retail banking with Polaris’ proven strength in corporate and investment banking. This combination would provide an end-to-end portfolio of differentiated solutions to the global banking and financial services industry segment, improving the combined entity’s competitive position, and expanding its addressable market.

Virtusa expects to realize over $100 million of cumulative revenue synergies over the next three fiscal years from the business combination.

Ref: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/virtusa-to-acquire-53-of-polaris-consulting/article7846701.ece

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