The Red Hat model

Different enterprises are approaching open-source integration in different ways. Some, like SAP, have opted to use their own in-house expertise to develop products with Hadoop or R functionality, while others, like Teradata [NYSE: TD], hand over much of the work to firms like Revolution Analytics Inc., a company that is somewhat like the Red Hat Inc. of big data. The company offers a commercialized version of R geared towards enterprises, much as Red Hat does with Linux.

A small company standing among big data giants, the firm specializes in modifying R for distinct business processes, says David Smith, vice-president of marketing and community at Revolution Analytics. "In particular," he says, "we make it run with really big data sets."

Using open-source in their products is a way for companies to differentiate themselves in the market, says Smith. "By definition," he says, "it means that you're not doing what your competitors are doing."