MapR Technologies, the Hadoop start-up, says it's got a "comprehensive set of data connection options for Hadoop enabling a wide range of data ingress and egress alternatives for customers." Fancy vocabulary that.

It means direct access from databases, files, data warehouses and applications.

The widgetry includes direct file-based access using standard tools and file-based applications; direct database connectivity; Hadoop-specific connectors via Sqoop, Flume and Hive; and direct access to popular data warehouses and applications using custom connectors.

MapR has also cuts alliances with Pentaho and Talend to provide direct integration with its Hadoop Distribution and entered into a partnership with data warehouse and business intelligence platform vendor Tableau Software to ensure customers benefit from its data connection options. These partners join Informatica to deliver connectivity alternatives for Big Data analytics.

Pentaho is integrating the MapR Distribution natively with its Apache-licensed Kettle, which adds visual tools to input, extract, manipulate, report, visualize and explore data in Hadoop, as well as providing scheduling, job orchestration, workflow, scalable deployment across entire Hadoop clusters, and native connectivity to HDFS, HBase, Hive, Pig and MapR's NFS.

It also provides a seamless on-ramp to Pentaho Business Analytics, an end-to-end solution that lets users access, discover and analyze their data so they can make information-driven decisions that impact their organization's performance.

MapR also directly integrates with Talend Open Studio for Big Data, the Apache-licensed Big Data integration solution recently certified for use with the MapR Distribution. It offers native connectivity to HDFS, HBase, Hive, Pig and Sqoop as well as MapR's Direct Access NFS for high-performance streaming.

Providing integration of Hadoop various databases, packaged applications, files, legacy systems and SaaS and social media platforms, the MapR integration extends to the Talend Platform for Big Data, an enterprise solution for data integration and data quality for Big Data environments.

The new MapR ODBC driver will let Tableau access data stored in Hadoop. Customers will simply point Tableau to the MapR Distribution and instantly create reports, data visualizations and dashboards without any programming or coding. Native Tableau connectivity to MapR will be generally available later this spring.

Besides specific connectors and partnerships, MapR figures it's got the most complete ODBC driver for the widest support of applications for data analysis and reporting. Developed with Simba, which originally developed ODBC and data connectivity solutions with Microsoft, MapR enables virtually any ODBC-enabled application to connect and access data on its Hadoop/Hive implementation. No special add-in or optimizations are needed, unlike ODBC drivers supplied with other distributions.