Apache's Hadoop cloud computing framework achieves 1.0 status

Apache's Hadoop, one of the most exciting open source projects of the decade, has reached version 1.0 designation.

It's no small milestone. The open source cloud computing framework, which began with technologies created by Yahoo and Google, and is now used by major enterprises including Amazon.com, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix LinkedIn and Twitter, has been six years in the making.

The Apache Software Foundation today announced that version 1.0 includes all of the previous "big data" cloud computing features for scalable, distributed computing as well as  support for HBase transaction logging, strong authentication via Kerberos, Webhdfs and performance enhanced access to local files for hBase.

The platform, Apache noted, "enables data-intensive distributed applications to work with thousands of nodes and exabytes of data ... it enables organizations to more efficiently and cost effectively store, process, manage and analyze the growing volumes of data being created and collected every day ... and connects thousands of servers to process and analyze data at supercomputing speeds.

It is released under the Apache License 2.0 and is set to make the "transition from web to enterprise technology in 2012," noted James Governor, co-founder of RedMonk. This means customers -- as well as data providers -- will be able to deploy a very cost-effective open source cloud computing platform in house.