On May 21, Hortonworks made available for download the 1.1 release of Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP) for Windows, an open-source implementation of Apache Hadoop.

Hortonworks made available for download a beta of the Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP) for Windows on February 25. At that time, Hortonworks announced the HDP work was an extension of its two-year-old Hadoop partnership with Microsoft. (HDP didn't exist yet when Microsoft and Hortonworks initially announced their partnrship.)

In 2011, Microsoft announced it was partnering with Hortonworks to create both a Windows Azure and Windows Server implementations of the Hadoop big data framework. At that time, Microsoft officials committed to providing a Community Technology Preview (CTP) test build of the Hadoop-based service for Windows Azure before the end of calendar 2011 and a CTP of the Hadoop-based distribution for Windows Server some time in 2012. Microsoft delivered public test builds of Hadoop for Azure -- known officially as Windows Azure HDInsight Service -- and Hadoop for Windows -- HDInsight Server for Windows -- in October 2012.

HDP allows users to deploy Hadoop on Windows Server in their own datacenters -- the same way they can already deploy HDP 1.2 on several Linux distributions. Microsoft and Hortonworks are touting HDP for Windows as offering an easy migration path to HDInsight.

HDP is the foundational layer for Microsoft's HDInsight offerings, according to Hortonworks officials. Microsoft's HDInsight platforms include tight integration with a number of Microsoft services and products.

Microsoft officials have not provided an updated delivery target for the final versions of its HDInsight platforms for Windows Server or Azure.

The HDP 1.1 release is available for immediate download from the Hortonworks site.