Databricks, the leader in unified analytics, honored the BlueGranite data and analytics consulting firm this week as its first-ever U.S. System Integrator Partner of the Year at the 2019 San Francisco Spark + AI Summit, the largest global data and machine learning (ML) conference.
BlueGranite, a forward-thinking Azure Databricks pioneer, was recognized for its staunch platform advocacy, client success with data and artificial intelligence (AI) engagements on Databricks, and its deep bench of certified developers.
From left to right: Jason Brugger, Ali Ghodsi, Matthew Mace,
Josh Fennessy, Shannon St. Clair, and Leo Furlong.
Since Microsoft announced Azure Databricks’ general availability in 2018, BlueGranite (Microsoft’s 2018 U.S. Big Data Analytics Partner of the Year) has championed the first-class Apache Spark-based service, speeding time to value and improving performance of modern data platform and AI solutions for clients. BlueGranite has also been pivotal in managing inaugural relationships between Microsoft, Databricks, and major retail, financial, government, healthcare, and educational sector clients.
“We awarded BlueGranite the 2019 National U.S. System Integrator Partner of the Year award to recognize the company’s deep commitment to Databricks. BlueGranite’s rapid adoption and championship of the Azure Databricks unified analytics platform is removing big data and AI barriers for our mutual clients, accelerating innovation and insight.”
—– Shannon St. Clair, Director of Consulting & SI Partners, Databricks
Databricks, built specifically for Apache Spark workloads, provides a cloud-based environment for data scientists, data engineers, and business analysts to perform quick, interactive analysis, build models, and deploy workflows. The secure platform facilitates easy collaboration, making cloud-based data and AI simple by providing a single, notebook-oriented workspace environment that makes it easy for data scientists to create Spark clusters, ingest and explore data, build models, and share results with stakeholders.
“We are thrilled to be recognized for our Azure Databricks’ advocacy and client success,” Matthew Mace, BlueGranite CEO, said. “We were fortunate to select Microsoft as our sole cloud partner, and just as fortunate that we chose to align with Databricks; these companies’ tools are helping our mutual clients innovate more effectively and efficiently execute their strategies for data platform modernization and AI adoption.”
Nearly a quarter of BlueGranite’s staff has already stepped up this past year to earn their Databricks’ Apache Spark Certification. BlueGranite has also hosted a dozen nationwide Azure Databricks workshops and webinars – sharing detailed architecture overviews, hands-on labs, and use-case discovery with more than 600 participants across the Unites States – helping organizations master the transformative technology and supporting them when they need it.
The high-value Azure Databricks enterprise software is in the midst of explosive growth and adoption.
“Our team members and clients are really geared up about this platform,” Mace added. “Azure Databricks provides many of our clients the ability to quickly spin up and try out the technology, testing a specific use case to see for themselves if Azure Databricks will provide value. If not, they can turn off the service with no additional cost, which is a huge benefit of the cloud. There’s no software or hardware to buy. We’re there to help our clients with these proof-of-value engagements, assisting with architecture design, enterprise adoption strategy, and the build, deployment, and operationalization of these modern data and AI solutions.”
About BlueGranite
We use innovative Microsoft and Databricks’ technologies and other industry leading tools to help organizations quickly uncover business insights, building robust modern business intelligence and predictive analytics across all types of data. Contact BlueGranite today to explore how cloud-scale analytics with modern data platform, BI, and AI solutions can revolutionize your organization.
About the Spark + AI Summit 2019
The annual Databricks Spark + AI Summit brings together developers, data engineers, data scientists, and decision makers from across the globe to dig into the latest Apache Spark and ML technologies.