WANdisco confirms 1m-dollar big data contract brace

WANdisco has confirmed that two recent contract wins were its largest ever deals for its Fusion 'big data' software product, worth a combined value of "well over $1m".

The AIM-listed company said the two deals, with a US life insurer and a European mobile network, were to help the companies meet tough minimum service levels and provide reliable backup and recovery systems.

One contract was a new client, said to be one of the largest life insurers in the US, which selected WANdisco's Fusion in order to ensure it meets the stringent regulatory and business requirements for guaranteed data consistency and availability across multiple data centres that use Apache's open-source Hadoop framework.

The other contract was an extension with one of Europe's leading mobile carriers.

"These customers operate in regulatory and business settings with the most demanding SLAs for availability, scalability and performance," said WANdisco's chief executive David Richards.

"They also want flexible, future-proof solutions that impose minimal administrative overhead and avoid vendor lock-in, given the dynamic nature of the Hadoop market.

"Their decision to purchase after extensive evaluation is further proof that WANdisco Fusion is the only solution available that not only meets, but exceeds large enterprise requirements for moving Hadoop from the lab into full-scale production."

The company, which initially announced the deals on Christmas Eve, has also been winning other, smaller deals in Big Data in similar sectors since it released interim results in September, but has not provided details on value or volume, often driven by clients' regulatory requirements or cost-saving imperatives.

A recent note from UBS forecast full year results, due on 16 March, would show bookings of $14.7m, of which $7m would be in Big Data.

Shares in the company were nevertheless down 4.7% to 82p by 0955 GMT on Tuesday.