HP will be entering the data warehouse space with Neoview, a data warehouse platform that integrates hardware, software, and services.
According to Geoff Kereluik, HP Canada’s vice-president of marketing and alliances, the suite includes the appliance, the server system, database, software, and services (including basic integration and maintenance).
Gartner research director Mark Beyer said that HP’s recent acquisitions will bolster its foray into this new space. “They have a good base from which to build a data warehouse management system — the Tandem NonStop codebase. They didn’t pick it up wholesale; they took the best of it and advanced it on its own, including capabilities for mass retrieval and parts of the operating system,” said Beyer.
“They have a significant advantage in their acquisition of a significant data warehouse implementation company, Knightsbridge Solutions. They have a lot of knowledge about HP’s competition. They know Teradata implementations, they know Oracle implementations, and they know IBM implementations.”
Beyer said that HP could also benefit from its diversity — being both a hardware and software vendor will ease the transition into the market as it doesn’t have to “build up from zero to enter the appliance market like Data Allegro and Nettezza had to do,” he said.
HP also already has an existing customer base, according to Beyer. “HP is a popular platform for deployment of data warehouse solutions today,” he said.
Jennifer Francis, vice-president of market development for business intelligence software vendor Cognos, said HP will meet with a lot of success due to its longstanding relationships in the industry.
Scott Van Valkenburgh, the director of global platform and ISV partners with business intelligence software vendor SAS, agreed, saying that those relationships can be leveraged into moving customers over from competing vendors.
Getting customers to switch vendors could be tough, though, said Beyer, as HP has traditionally been seen as a hardware rather than a software firm.
“Pricing and throughput will challenge Teradata, but because of market skepticism, HP won’t overwhelm Teradata,” Beyer said.
