associated vendors were satisfied with being a niche player in the marketplace even
though Hadoop had entered into even higher ground than Teradata.

IBM and Hadoop

After Hadoop proved that it was a viable commodity, IBM recognized that by partnering
with Hadoop, it could “piggyback” its way back to the higher ground. With the advent of
big data, IBM has once again achieved the high ground of large-scale database
management systems.

Holding the High Ground

The advantage of holding the high ground is of inestimable importance. So many
opportunities fall open when the vendor has the high ground. The vendor is free to exploit
hardware, software, consulting opportunities, and more.

Chapter 4.1: A Brief History of Big Data