Cloudera & Hortonworks

We put these two rivals together because they're hurtling down a similar path. They are the two highest profile big data startups peddling Hadoop-related technology, and they're competing to show that each "gets" the channel.

In April, both Palo Alto, Calif.-based startups expanded their channel ecosystems and claimed they'd managed to increase the number of solution provider, ISV and OEM partners they work with.  And both talked about using recent venture capital infusions to build their channel programs.

Cloudera added new partner-focused training and certification to its Cloudera Connect Partner Program. Tim Stevens, business and corporate development vice president, said Cloudera now has the largest Hadoop partner ecosystem with around 950 resellers, systems integrators, OEMs, ISVs, hardware partners and cloud service providers.

Hortonworks, meanwhile, has inked reseller deals with Microsoft, SAP, Teradata and HP, all of which sell it as a complement to their own big data offerings. Microsoft uses Hortonworks' Hadoop in Windows Azure HDInsight, its cloud-based Hadoop service.

Both Cloudera and Hortonworks will need to build and leverage a channel of partners in order to take their businesses to the next level, and that's going to be mean opportunities for solution providers with big data skills.

Cloudera in April raised a monster $900 million Series F round that included $740 million from Intel, which dumped its own Hadoop distribution in favor of Cloudera's and now owns 18 percent of the startup. Hortonworks has raised $198 million to date, including a $100 million Series D round in March.