Hadoop and MapReduce have long been mainstays of the big data movement, but some companies now need new and faster ways to extract business value from massive -- and constantly growing -- datasets.

Because big data is much more than Hadoop and its ecosystem. For example, though the media has equated big data with Hadoop for years, data scientists have not.

Fortunately, there are alternatives to Hadoop when it comes to big data projects. While not applicable to all situations, I've found that a Hadoop alternative can save time, money and slash risk.

With big data such a hot area, solution providers need to keep up with the key players. Here are 11 start-ups building businesses around Hadoop.

NEWS ANALYSIS: Apache Hadoop is opening up lots of possibilities for analyzing big data, but there is also complexity in the applications and techniques for managing that data effectively.

Hadoop, architected around batch processing, remains the poster child for big data, though its outsized reputation still outpaces actual adoption, as 451 Research survey data shows.

Hadoop and the Big Data RevolutionIt’s in the nature of hype bubbles to obscure important new paradigms behind a cloud of excitement and exaggerated claims. For example, the phrase “big data” has been ...

In the big data battle for architectural supremacy, the cloud is clearly winning and Hadoop is clearly losing. Customers are shying away from investing in monolithic Hadoop clusters in favor of more ...

Hadoop on Windows, or on Azure, could speed adoption of big data analytics by making access and analytics using familiar Microsoft tools, more widely available.

>See also: Big data projects planned in the boardroom for 2017 As data becomes digital, financial institutions can no longer ignore the importance of harnessing information. Major Banks, insurers and ...