In the world of NoSQL databases, the products that have dominated the conversation are MongoDB and DataStax Enterprise, a leading distribution of Apache Cassandra. But a couple of headlines this week bring into focus a perhaps less-splashy, though rather tenacious player: Apache HBase, which is included with most major Hadoop distributions.

Mongo challenges
The important stories? The seven-year old MongoDB named its third CEO, and HBase-focused startup Splice Machine received $3M in new funding.  There’s nothing in either of these developments, on their own, or even in combination, that proves HBase is gaining ground on MongoDB. After all, outgoing MongoDB CEO Max Schireson attributes his stepping down to the personal toll of travel between the company’s dual headquarters in Palo Alto and New York, and other demands of the job.

But the occurrence of these two news items in the same week, at the very least…