In my last post I slammed Oracle for trying to be all databases to all people. And, as you start to think about it and put things in context, you must remember that Oracle became a leader because of its ability to run on any platform.
Oracle has publicized recently that it wants to be just like Cisco and Apple. But, how do you do this and still remain platform- agnostic? It’s impossible. The magic of these companies and others, like Netezza, who realize the value of appliances is that they have integrated the software, hardware and storage. This ensures that each component interoperates with maximized efficiency and optimal performance. I think we can all agree that being hardware agnostic is diametrically opposed to producing integrated appliances like: Apple, Cisco, Netezza and others.
Now let us take into account that Oracle has an optimized architecture for OLTP, but BI and analytics, as previously discussed, require a parallel architecture to provide the best possible performance. Now, eliminate the complexity of managing a massively parallel environment, which Netezza has achieved, and you have the lowest possible TCO. Netezza responded to increasing data volumes and growing demand for analytics because the “Oracle’s” of the world could not provide these capabilities cost effectively.
To the folks in Redwood Shores - maybe you should focus on what you do best and stop trying to be all databases to all people. You could certainly succeed with end-to-end offerings that provide turn-key operational environments. When it comes to analytics, though, pay attention to the comment from IBasis in a recent video interview - “Oracle is OK for people who do not know any better.”.
It is a sign of strength, not of weakness, to admit that you don’t know all the answers.
- John P. Loughrane
We’ve just recorded the second in the series of three podcasts featuring industry expert, Mike Ferguson, Managing Director of Intelligent Business Strategies, Ltd. Mike and I spent some time discussing in more detail the types of business requirements that appliances serve and how they have become a mainstream technology for the enterprise. Take a listen and if nothing else, you’ll gain some knowledge first hand from an expert whose opinions are driven by extensive research and intense interviews with real businesses who have real challenges.
I read a whitepaper recently from Teradata entitled “Exadata is still Oracle” http://exadata.teradatanow.com. This is no revelation, but it is does send an important message to potential buyers about being sure and evaluating other choices before buying one of Oracle’s proposed “magical” machines.
It does take into account the persistent question when considering Oracle - is the shared everything architecture the right choice for business intelligence and analytics? Recently Oracle has been highlighting wins of Exadata against TD and that is only because they can’t cite any technical wins against NZ. Teradata understood this challenge and realized that MPP was the key component to providing any kind of performance for analytics against large volumes of data. However in order to produce an appliance, the complexity of MPP needed to be hidden and, more importantly, the human intervention needed to be nearly eliminated to earn the name “appliance”. Teradata got it half right, but still requires very skilled personnel to implement and support the operational aspects of a Teradata implementation. Teradata were innovators for realizing that accessing and analyzing collected transactional and sub-transactional data would require a different approach that focused on parallelization and data scanning, but they have been unable to eliminate the complexity and peripheral costs associated with implementing and managing this sort of solution.
Now Oracle, with all its dominance and shared everything approach, has architected itself into an operational database corner. Starting with the wrong architecture has meant adding all kinds of objects and configuration tasks that created a monster of complexity. Is it even reasonable to think that one database can be multi-purposed without extreme complexity? If Oracle is serious and legitimately wants to compete in the business intelligence and analytics space they had better use a different product because one product cannot be optimal for both OLTP and ad-hoc, iterative analytics.
The innovation by Netezza revolutionized the method for I/O, which has always been the bottleneck of using a traditional data warehouse infrastructure. The use of an FPGA acting on the data as the disk is spinning has removed the latency created by moving data in blocks from storage - to server - to database memory before being able to respond. When you think about what makes Netezza superior to all other data warehouse systems, in the end it is simply a matter of moving the problem to the data and not moving the data to the problem.
All of that being said, I will conclude by saying that Oracle just does not get it! Teradata knew that MPP was critical. Netezza innovated even further with streaming I/O. When dealing with terabytes and now petabytes of data when it comes to moving data - less is always more. If you put a Netezza appliance on your data center floor to compare against either of these traditional data warehouse systems it will win hands-down. I encourage you to put aside the politics and make the right decision to provide your business with superior capabilities that truly do change the game of business intelligence.
Data-intensive organizations worldwide agree, appliances from Netezza are better suited to support changing workload requirements, flexibility and performance expectations. Take a look at what iBasis has to say about making the move to Netezza.
Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike Ferguson, Managing Director of Intelligent Business Strategies, Ltd. It was great to hear Mike’s perspective on how data warehouse requirements are changing and driving the increased demand for appliances. This is the first in a series of three podcasts on the topic. In his first interview, Mike discusses the ways in which various workloads are driving the need for appliances and also explores the ways in which businesses are responding to the challenging economy today. Take a listen and if nothing else, you’ll gain some knowledge first hand from an expert whose opinions are driven by extensive research and intense interviews with real businesses who have real challenges.
I had almost forgotten about Steve Jobs and his comment about two rocks tied together sinking twice as fast. IBM is pretty dismissive about this marriage, and rightfully so when you consider the history of SUN and Oracle. SUN was floundering in recent years as a hardware company and now software-only Oracle is going to know what to do with it - that seems unlikely. The bigger question now is who in their right mind is going to buy Exaggerdata on HP when it is very likely that it will be gone once this deal is consummated?
It is, however, nice to see that they have realized in order to build or offer an appliance you need to own the whole stack. Larry continues to validate the approach of the only true analytic appliance vendor, Netezza.
If you are someone who thinks that Oracle is the best solution for data warehousing or any analytic database implementation then you may also be a believer in the philosophy - if it’s hard, complex and expensive then it must be the best.
I don’t get it and never will. However, if anyone out there that thinks they can take this old database guy, who has used every one of these complex traditional databases, and convince me that this is a better appliance option then Netezza I really do want to talk to you. Call me on my cell at 508-308-5905. But, when the phone doesn’t ring I will know exactly who it is.
It has come to our attention in recent days that there is curiosity about who is really behind the Data Liberation Movement. As you may have read in our blog postings and issues of Policy Truth, data warehouse appliance leader, Netezza Corporation is the sponsor of the DLM. As described in our Mission, the purpose of the DLM is to ensure data rights for all. And, the initiative is focused on setting guidelines that foster transparency and full disclosure in the evaluation of the components of business-critical analytic solutions. We believe strongly in transparency and want to be clear about who’s behind this effort, so that the public and our growing membership base can be confident and aware of the cause they’ve joined.
We believe that dataliberators.com is a forum for those interested in these topics to readily engage among an audience of peers. If being clearer about the roots of the initiative helps our members make the best use of the site, then we proudly bring our Netezza name to the face of the Data Liberation Movement.
Thanks to all for your continued support and stay tuned for more from the DLM with a podcast featuring Mike Ferguson on evaluating data warehouse appliances that will be available next week.
To all DLM members who have been loyally following the Movement, I have have an announcement to make. I have decided to return to Oracle because of their exceptional technology, unique value proposition and innovative appliance team. They even offered me an office space right inside one of the empty ‘Exaggerdata’ cabinets! Ok fine, I just can’t do it. Some things are just too unbelievable, even for April Fools Day.
Now back to business. It looks like Oracle has released a smaller version of ‘Exaggerdata’. According to my sources, this is the machine that was sent to early beta testers. I guess after trying to sell the big box they quickly realized that ain’t happening, so here we go. Can anyone point to someone who’s using this technology? If yes, is it based on the merits of the technology or the credits given by the vendor?
If you, the readers of this blog, are considering testing data warehouse appliances, remember to always demand onsite, fully-transparent testing and full disclosure in all negotiations. The true appliance company believes this is the only way that you are able to make the best decision for your business.
Question everything! Demand your data rights! Freedom is a just an onsite POC away!
The latest issue of Policy Truth is pretty clear - we simply cannot be fooled by the hidden costs related to the setup and use of any system, especially the HP Oracle Database Machine. Is it truly an appliance that is packaged, maintained, updated and managed as a single entity? When a single component fails will the support be seamless with a single point of contact? I have a sneaking suspicion that the answer is “no”.
When I think of an appliance what comes to my low-capacity, highly-utilized and somewhat challenged brain is that I plug it into the wall and potentially connect it to another source, like water or a SAN in the case of a data warehouse appliance. It should be as simple as installing a washing machine or even a coffee maker. After the installation is complete I expect to add my ingredients: clothes, coffee or even data. Once complete, I’ll make a few adjustments and push the start button.
That’s simplicity and is exactly how the Netezza appliance works, but caveat emptor when it comes to something that Redwood Shores calls a database machine! The truth is you still need to reconfigure your partitioning, analyze your indexing strategy, build cubes and perform all your physical mappings. Even more then that, you’ll need to move to 11g and we know what a nightmare it is to upgrade from one version of Oracle to another.
You can certainly choose not to take my advice, but as the leader of the DLM, I want to be sure you know the truth and understand what goes into the true TCO of appliances. My life as a technologist has been focused on choosing the right tool for the right job - with the least amount of impact to my business. When it comes to deep analytics and high-performance business intelligence, businesses today must be prepared to respond to the volatility in the economy and maintain a competitive advantage. Tuning is not the answer. The ability to ask any question at any time, without limits, is the answer today’s leading businesses need and TCO is more important today then it has ever been.
You the user are in control so get involved, demand the truth and full disclosure, ask the tough questions and require onsite testing. And if a vendor says “no” to any of your demands simply tell them “when the phone doesn’t ring, you’ll know it’s me”.
