Apache HBase vs HPE Ezmeral Data Fabric

Apache HBase is a distributed data store for applications that need random, real-time reads and writes with strict consistency. It runs on Hadoop and HDFS, with automatic failover and sharding, and is designed to scale across commodity clusters. The project describes hosting tables with billions of rows and millions of columns. Clients can connect through a Java API or REST and Thrift gateways. Highlighted workloads include time-series and metrics, IoT telemetry, ad tech and personalization, message and audit logs, security analytics, and genomics and research. HBase is free and self-hosted, with Linux and API platforms listed; version 3.0.0 is listed as a release artifact. Operators must configure authentication and authorization because the default configuration does not enable them. Security guidance covers Kerberos, SASL, access control lists, visibility labels, and optional TLS, and recommends keeping services within a trusted network perimeter rather than exposing them to the public internet. Operating a distributed deployment requires systems, software, and networking skills.

HPE Ezmeral Data Fabric consolidates data from on-premises systems, multiple clouds and edge deployments into one logical store. It supports files, object data, NoSQL databases and streams, with transaction support, strong consistency, multi-region support and horizontal scaling. Application developers can use standard APIs, languages and protocols. Its object store provides S3 API access, WORM compliance, events delivered to data streams and compatibility with open-source AWS S3 and Minio SDKs. Analytics integrations include Apache Spark, Apache Drill, Presto and S3 Select, while certified open-source tools and engines can run directly on the fabric for in-place analytics. Security capabilities include FIPS 140-2 Level 1 support when FIPS mode is enabled and dynamic masking of designated fields in JSON queries. A community edition is available, and an enterprise 30-day trial license can be requested. The community edition has limited nodes, no high availability or technical support, lacks advanced storage options such as snapshots and global replication, and is not intended for production. Pricing is on request; as-a-service monthly charges depend on storage use and selected tier.