I've got an opinion piece up at GigaOm on the topic of why building your own big data stack can be a better option than using an "off-the-shelf" system.  Here's an excerpt from the piece:

Today, many conversations within the big data community are centered around the rise of the standard, big data stack, which includes utilities like HDFS, HBase, and other increasingly-popular applications. While settling on a standard big data stack is deeply important to the big data industry as a whole, I’m nonetheless questioning the operational and competitive consequences for companies who choose to buy into this standard without first considering the value of building their own proprietary solution.

Read the rest of the piece to find out what competitive and operational advantages (as well as disadvantages) our own stack offers us.