Revolution Analytics

Revolution Analytics

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Statistical software
Predecessor	REvolution Computing
Founded	January 1, 2007 (2007-01-01) in New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Founder	Richard Schultz, Martin Schultz, Steve Weston, Kirk Mettler
Fate	Acquired by Microsoft in 2015; later phased out by 2021-2023
Successor	Microsoft (as parent company)
Headquarters	Mountain View, California , United States
Area served	Enterprise, academic, and analytics sectors worldwide
Key people	Norman H. Nie (former CEO), David Rich (former CEO), David Smith (VP of community)
Products	Revolution R Open, Revolution R Plus, Revolution R Enterprise; later rebranded as Microsoft R Server and Microsoft R Open
Owner	Microsoft (since 2015)
Parent	Microsoft
Website	www.revolutionanalytics.com

Revolution Analytics—originally known as REvolution Computing—is a company specializing in statistical software, focusing on both open source and "open-core" implementations of the R programming language tailored for enterprise, academic, and analytics sectors. Established in 2007 under the name REvolution Computing, the firm initially concentrated on providing support and services for R, adopting a business model akin to Red Hat’s approach with Linux, while also enhancing R’s capabilities for parallel processing. In 2009, Revolution Analytics attracted $9 million in venture funding from Intel and a private equity partner and appointed Norman H. Nie as CEO. By 2010, the organization rebranded to Revolution Analytics and shifted its strategy to offer its flagship product, Revolution R, free to academic users, while delivering commercial clients solutions designed for big data management, high-performance computing, and multi-core processing environments.

On January 23, 2015, Microsoft revealed it had acquired Revolution Analytics for an undisclosed sum, incorporating the company’s offerings into its broader data analytics suite. Nevertheless, by 2021 Microsoft phased out the R distribution originally obtained through this acquisition. Later in 2023, Microsoft also terminated the Microsoft R Application Network—a proprietary package repository that evolved from Revolution Analytics’ technologies such as ScaleR—signaling a strategic realignment in Microsoft’s analytics business direction.

Founding and venture capital

REvolution Computing was established in New Haven, Connecticut in 2007 by Richard Schultz, Martin Schultz, Steve Weston, and Kirk Mettler. Among the founders, Martin Schultz held the position of Watson Professor of Computer Science at Yale University. The company advanced R’s functionality by incorporating parallel computing, significantly accelerating analytical processing speeds. Early adopters like Pfizer utilized REvolution R to enhance performance on cluster computing systems. While fundamental improvements to R were released under the GNU General Public License (GPL), REvolution provided commercial support and services that found early traction within life sciences and pharmaceutical industries. The firm expanded its footprint in 2008 by opening an office in Seattle.

In 2009, REvolution Computing raised $9 million in venture capital from Intel and North Bridge Venture Partners. Intel had previously invested in 2008 and contributed personnel who served as advisors or staff members. Subsequently, the company rebranded as Revolution Analytics and appointed Norman Nie—the founder of SPSS—as CEO. This leadership change signified a strategic pivot toward developing a comprehensive software suite aimed at commercial markets, moving beyond just augmenting R’s single-threaded architecture with parallel processing capabilities. In February 2012, David Rich took over as CEO from Nie.

High performance computing, big data and the shift to analytics

Unlike analytics solutions from SAS Institute, R does not inherently support datasets exceeding available main memory capacity. In response, Revolution Analytics introduced ScaleR in 2010—a package within Revolution R Enterprise designed to handle big data through a high-performance disk-based storage format known as XDF (distinct from IBM’s Extensible Data Format)—and to facilitate high-performance computing across extensive clusters. This launch marked a strategic transition from consulting services toward offering customized code and modular package pricing models. ScaleR is compatible with Apache Hadoop and other distributed file systems; Revolution Analytics collaborated with IBM to enhance Hadoop integration within Revolution R. Additional packages supporting Hadoop and MapReduce functionality are accessible via the community repository CRAN.

Market position

In comparison to other developers of analytics software, Revolution Analytics is relatively modest in size; its anticipated revenue for 2010 ranged between $8 and $11 million, although no official financial statements were disclosed. Founder Norman Nie attributed the swift expansion of R within academic circles to its status as a comprehensive programming language, distinguishing it from other analytics solutions. David Smith, the company's vice president of community, highlighted that the industry's transition away from proprietary, "black box" analytics toward open-source alternatives creates advantages for companies like Revolution Analytics. This strategic positioning enhances the firm's ability to grow its presence in the competitive analytics and big data sectors.

Products

Revolution Analytics markets Revolution R through three distinct editions. The Revolution R Open edition is a no-cost, open-source distribution of R, optimized for improved performance and reproducibility. Revolution R Plus offers additional benefits such as technical assistance and legal protection covering Revolution R Open and related open-source software. The Revolution R Enterprise edition incorporates proprietary features designed for statistical analysis of Big Data and is available via subscription for various platforms including workstations, servers, Hadoop clusters, and database systems. Academic institutions and participants in Kaggle competitions can obtain free single-user licenses.

In January 2015, Microsoft rebranded multiple Revolution Analytics products tailored for Hadoop, Teradata Database, SUSE Linux, Red Hat, and Microsoft Windows, broadening their commercial approach by making essential R-based tools freely accessible to developers:

• Microsoft R Server (previously Revolution R Enterprise for Hadoop, Linux, and Teradata) delivers enhanced enterprise-grade support and flexible purchasing options; it is also accessible to students through Microsoft DreamSpark.
• Microsoft R Server Developer Edition, a complimentary version offering functionality comparable to the full commercial product.
• Microsoft Data Science Virtual Machine, an analytics platform originally created by Revolution Analytics.
• Microsoft R Open, the rebranded form of Revolution R Open.

These product offerings have fortified Microsoft's foothold in the analytics arena by expanding availability to sophisticated data science resources, thereby fostering growth in big data analytics and encouraging enterprise-level adoption.

See also

• Business models for open-source software

External links

• Revolutions, official blog of Revolution Analytics
• About page for Revolution Analytics
• MRAN, distribution portal for Revolution R Open
• Interview with Jeff Erhardt, COO of Revolution Analytics, discussing R, Hadoop, and business analytics