Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) is buying Big Data and analytics specialist Pentaho to boost its Internet of Things (IoT) prospects.
The deal, worth a reported $500 million according to Bloomberg, will help HDS customers derive more value from Big Data and the IoT, the company claimed.
It will create a shared, open source analytics platform with Pentaho, allowing developers to build on top of it.
Kevin Eggleston, senior VP of social innovation at HDS, said: "Data remains an untapped resource for many organisations and businesses with the realisation of the value of that data remaining a challenge.
"The combination of Hitachi's broad industry expertise, advanced information technologies, and now Pentaho software and the talented team of experts, will enable us to give customers a more complete solution to manage their data."
HDS sees Pentaho's platform as a unique offering in the Big Data realm, citing the platform's spectrum of tools covering analytics, visualisation and exploration, on top of predictive capabilities, all built into the platform.
However, that platform is also open, and offers data and analytics solutions as an as-a-service' model.
Partners and developers can embed their own tools on top of the platform, too.
Quentin Gallivan, Pentaho CEO, said: "We are pleased to join the HDS family and truly believe our complementary set of solutions will accelerate the adoption of Big Data deployments and IoT applications."
The two companies already have an OEM agreement, and HDS believes Pentaho's vision to derive more value from Big Data chimes well with its own push to capture some of the IoT market.
The deal is set to be completed in June.
