Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS), a global software company that simplifies and enables the development and deployment of business applications, is offering a limited-availability preview program of its latest data connectivity innovation to be added to its premium data connectivity driver portfolio. The new, high-performance DataDirect® Connect® XE for ODBC driver for Hadoop Hive will enable reliable, secure and highly-scalable connectivity to multiple distributions of Hadoop.

In today’s world of massive volumes of data (aka “Big Data”), organizations are increasingly using Apache Hadoop open source software to allow them to more easily process these huge amounts of data. Also, many organizations are using Apache Hive™ data warehouse for data summarization, query and analysis. However, data comes in many forms and organizations need the ability to perform additional analysis in real-time using their existing SQL-based business intelligence and data analytics tools. This means they need a highly flexible and rock-solid connection to these tools. Without such connectivity, companies’ analysts and decision makers are locked out of the insights contained in the Hadoop-based data warehouse.

The new DataDirect Connect for ODBC driver for Hadoop will deliver the same breadth, quality, and efficiency that more than 300 OEM partners and hundreds of thousands of users of the comprehensive DataDirect data connectivity portfolio already enjoy today. For the corporate user, this driver will unlock reams of business intelligence and provide business analysts the information they need to make accurate decisions quickly and easily. For ISVs and OEMs, this connectivity now means that they can have one driver, with DataDirect quality, performance and advanced features to enable their applications to connect to most major distributions of Hadoop, including Apache Hadoop, MapR Apache Hadoop and Cloudera’s distribution of Apache Hadoop.

The DataDirect Connect for ODBC driver for Hadoop is expected to ship at the end of October 2012, with preview access available for a limited number of participants beginning in September. More information on how to get a jumpstart using this driver can be found at: http://bit.ly/MZ4IWZ.

Michael Benedict, vice president and business line manager, Progress DataDirect, said: “The open source Apache Hadoop and Hive frameworks are incredibly good resources for companies to quickly and affordably store and process massive amounts of data in a distributed computing environment, opening the possibility to consume and monetize Big Data in ways not previously possible. However, core limitations remain around the commonly overlooked challenges of connectivity required for mass adoption and utilization of any data store.”

Among its extensive product features, the DataDirect for Connect ODBC driver for Hadoop will offer support for the most popular Hadoop distribution frameworks, including Apache, Cloudera, MapR, and Amazon EMR. It will also provide Windows, RedHat, Solaris, SUSE, AIX, and HP-UX platform support.

Benedict also noted: “We received many requests from our customers and partners to build and offer a ‘DataDirect quality’ premium driver that will support all major distributions of Apache Hadoop Hive in a way they could not cost effectively do through other options available today. We acted on these requests to enable our vast end user community to more effectively consume data with their existing BI and analytics platforms, and to enable our OEM partners to support different distributions of Hadoop across all their supported platforms.”

Progress Software is the software industry’s leading comprehensive provider of software for connecting the world’s most critical business applications to data and services, running on any platform, using proven and emerging standards. Developers worldwide depend on DataDirect products to connect their applications to an unparalleled range of data sources using standards-based interfaces such as ODBC, JDBC and ADO.NET, XQuery and SOAP. More than 300 leading independent software vendors and thousands of enterprises rely on Progress Software to simplify and streamline data connectivity for distributed systems and to reduce the complexity of mainframe integration.

About Progress Software Corporation
Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS) simplifies the development, deployment and management of business applications on-premise or on any Cloud, on any platform and on any device with minimal IT complexity and low total cost of ownership. Progress Software can be reached at www.progress.com or 1-781-280-4000.

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Progress, DataDirect, and DataDirect Connect are trademarks or registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Apache, Hadoop, and Hive are trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation. Any other names contained herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.