Intel Just Poured $740 Million Into Cloudera. But What Is It? Cloudera is getting a lot of investor love, with Intel taking an 18 percent stake in the company. Here's a bit more about what the company does.

By Benjamin Kabin

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Cloudera just raised a whole bunch of money -- $900 million, to be exact.

Intel alone invested $740 million for an 18 percent stake and says it's going to make the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company its main distributor of Hadoop software.

So, what is this company that's getting so much investor love? And what is Hadoop, for that matter?

Related: How 2014 Will Be The Year To Monetize Big Data

Cloudera gives clients a place to store process and analyze Big Data. The company helps its clients use Hadoop to derive value from large quantities of information that cannot easily be handled by traditional data processing systems.

Hadoop is an open-source software developed by Google to make sense of large quantities of different types of complex data. Cloudera and rivals such as Pivotal and HortonWorks use the software as part of their approach to helping clients manage Big Data.

Related: 5 Ways Data Can Help You Stay Ahead of the Game

Intel was promoting its own custom version of Hadoop but will no longer do so as a result of the deal.

Cloudera, now valued at $4.1 billion, is expected to go public later this year.

Related: IBM to Open Up Jeopardy Winner Watson's 'Brain' for Everyone

Benjamin Kabin

Journalist

Benjamin Kabin is a Brooklyn-based technology journalist who specializes in security, startups, venture capital and social media.

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