Data lake vendor Onehouse has announced the release of Open Engines, a new capability on its platform that enables the deployment of open source engines on top of open data. This move is expected to break down the barriers between compute and storage, providing a more modular approach to data management.

Available in private preview, Open Engines initially supports Apache Flink for stream processing, Trino for distributed SQL queries for business intelligence and reporting, and Ray for machine learning (ML), AI, and data science workloads. According to Onehouse founder and CEO Vinoth Chandar, the industry has made significant strides in making data open with file formats, but achieving open compute on open data has been a challenge. Open Engines aims to remove this final barrier, providing a truly universal data lakehouse.

Industry analysts have welcomed the move, with James Curtis, senior research analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence, noting that Onehouse's carefully curated choice of engines raises enterprise awareness that not every problem requires a single solution. Usman Lakani, principal advisory director at Info-Tech Research Group, added that Open Engines introduces a more modular approach by breaking the Siamese connection between compute and storage, enabling organizations to adopt a "horses for courses" approach and select the best engine for their specific needs.

The current problem, according to Gaetan Castelein, chief marketing officer (CMO) at Onehouse, revolves around the fact that there is no single query engine that can best support all use cases and workloads, especially with the rise of machine learning, AI, and real-time analytics. Open Engines addresses this challenge by providing a managed service that allows organizations to deploy multiple engines without the added administrative burden.

Kyle Weller, VP product at Onehouse, emphasized that each engine has a unique specialty, and having the optionality to bring these engines together and match them to specific use cases is critical. Open Engines provides a one-click deployment for Trino, Ray, and Flink clusters, with plans to add more engines in the future.

The release of Open Engines is seen as a significant step towards providing flexibility and choice in data management. As Lakani noted, "In the marketplace of ideas and inventions, systems need to be flexible and not impose restrictions on enhancing the art of the possible." Open-source software has been at the forefront of this philosophy, and Onehouse's move is expected to chip away at the vendor lock-in that has limited the potential of data.

Curtis added that the choice of engines is not new, but what matters is what this choice leads to. Onehouse's approach is to provide an open platform that is more inclusive to different engines and table formats while maintaining a focus on data as a first-class citizen. This is ultimately where enterprises are challenged – getting value out of their data.

The introduction of Open Engines is expected to have significant implications for the data management industry, providing a more modular and flexible approach to data management. As Onehouse continues to add more engines to its platform, it will be interesting to see how this move shapes the future of data management and analytics.