Actian Corporation, the firm formerly known as Ingres, has unveiled two new platforms aimed at helping firms tackle the challenges of the ‘Age of Data’ by offering tools for big data analytics and integrating data between enterprise applications and services.

Available now, the Actian DataCloud and ParAccel Big Data Analytics pull together technologies the firm has gained from a rash of recent acquisitions, including ParAccel, Pervasive Software and Versant Corporation, as well as Actian’s own Vectorwise database.

The Actian DataCloud is, as its name suggests, a cloud-hosted platform intended to offer seamless data integration between on-premise enterprise applications and cloud-based services.

It offers three tiers, based on the level of control and customisation customers require: Invisible Connect provides pre-built one-click integration, while Basic Connect lets customers conduct some self-serve mapping, and Advanced Connect provides for full customisation, data profiling and data matching.

Actian DataCloud is actually hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), using that platform to deliver scalability on demand for customers, the firm said.

Meanwhile, the ParAccel Big Data Analytics platform is a suite of tools designed to deliver real-time analysis of large data sets from which customers can derive useful business intelligence.

However, while there are already many solutions for big data and analytics, Actian chief executive Steve Shine told V3 that its new solution is designed to handle the entire data lifecycle of these large datasets, and to deal with constant, ever-changing data feeds.

“We spoke to customers and realised that the [Vectorwise] database alone wasn’t what they wanted. Data has a lifecycle, and you have to look at that lifecycle from the source through the enrichment and optimisation stages through to analysis. You need to do massive Hadoop-level processing, and then serve up the results in the right way,” he said.

“We had the database, but we also needed the data integration and the connector capabilities, that’s why we acquired Pervasive, because they had these connectors to SAP and other enterprise applications and data sources,” Shine explained.

The purpose of the new platform is to enable any company to be able to exploit big data and make use of the vast amounts of digital data feeds that are becoming available, from sources as disparate as social networks or connected sensors.

“The Age of Data is only just getting started. The volume of digital data out there is going to increase exponentially, and we want anyone to be able to take advantage. Big data applications are only just the beginning,” said Shine.

While Actian’s DataCloud is a hosted service, the firm expects the ParAccel Big Data Analytics platform will mostly be deployed on-premise, although it could be hosted, Actian said.

However, the firm has taken care to ensure all of the components to ensure they can be deployed on standard servers and are architected to scale to meet customer requirements, according to Shine.

“What we’ve done is make sure every part can run on commodity hardware and is optimised for the latest processors and clustering,” he said.

For the Actian DataCloud, customers will be charged on a simple metered per-transaction basis, but the ParAccel Big Data Analytics platform is a different matter. The exact implementation of this will depend greatly on a customer’s exact requirements and the volumes of data they need to handle, and so a certain amount of customisation will be necessary.

“A big part of our business model is partnering with system integrators who specialise in serving the needs of pharmaceutical companies or the retail industry, for example,” Shine said.

Customers will also still be able to license individual components such as Vectorwise, if they desire.