Hadoop MapReduce: The quintillion data analyzer

With the continuous advance in computer technology over the years, the quantity of data being generated is growing exponentially. Major sources of these data include social media, retailer databases, financial and medical institutions among others. These data come in different formats which include audio, video, text documents, and web pages etc. some of which are structured, semi-structured or unstructured. This poses a great challenge when these data are to be analyzed because conventional data processing techniques are not suited to handling such data. This is where Hadoop MapReduce comes in. Hadoop MapReduce is a programming model for developing applications that process large amount of data in parallel across clusters of commodity hardware in a reliable and fault-tolerant manner. This report covers the origin of Hadoop MapReduce, its features and mode of operation, describes how it is being implemented, as well as reviews how some Information Technology companies are making use of it.