Netezza keeps getting better… and better – now with more deployment options

Robb Sinclair
April 21, 2022
Advanced Analytics | Blogs | Cloud

When you read my earlier blogs on Netezza “Netezza is making a comeback”, “Netezza is extending its comeback” or “Netezza and Data Platform Workloads Understood” you will understand that Netezza is one of the simplest, most cost effective, and stable tools in the data engineers and data driven organization’s toolbelt.

Let’s put a misconception to bed right here and right now.  Netezza is NOT Dead! Every time that I see the “Netezza is end of life” shill posts – it reminds me of that old Monty Python skit – “you won’t catch me dying – you would have to kill me before I die”.

Netezza Performance Server is NOT going end of support. The current version (Mako) of the Netezza platform WILL go end of support in April 2023 – similar to any software versions. Windows 2000 was not the end of Windows, just the end of Windows 95.

The new Netezza versions, Hammerhead (on-premise) and NPSaaS (fully managed on cloud) are better, stronger and faster than prior versions, and have a smaller rack footing and a smaller energy footprint (on-prem). People love the speed, agility and simplicity that Netezza offers.

Having described Netezza and the deployment options in the prior blogs as traditional on-prem and for each of the public cloud (see Netezza is extending its comeback). We will now double down and explore two new options to get all the benefits of Netezza in the form factor that you need.

Netezza’s has always met and exceeded the needs of its extremely loyal customer base. The thought of changing the Netezza platform to include the IBM Cloud Pak for Data value, drove some of these customers to consider alternatives. We call these the “don’t change what is already working” or the “just the simple beauty of Netezza for me, please!” crowd.

What they found was that there are three viable routes to move to other solutions however, viable is not the same thing as easy.

  1. The first route was to look at similar Postgres data appliances.
  2. The second route was looking at refactoring to meet a cloud-based Postgres system with impacts to data loads and analytics data consumption.  
  3. The third route was to move into platform specific solutions from each of the cloud vendors (and then face schema, data integration and reporting rewrite projects).

A customer’s reasons for considering a change from Netezza can vary. For some customers, it could be an opportunity to look around and see what else is out there. Is the grass truly greener on the other side with what competitors have to offer? For others… was the value of the Cloud Pak for Data platform and its add-on services getting lost within their organization?

Perhaps, a customer was already using the plumbing and framework of a given cloud vendor. Why not put a cloud-based data warehouse into their pre-existing cloud environment? Or perhaps there was so much hype from the new kid on the block, who is cloud only, that an appropriate TCO and value assessment that would have revealed Netezza to be the better choice was not done.

So, IBM using its ability, speed, and access to a larger partner network responding to customer feedback, has developed a new set of offerings that not only address the commentary previously mentioned but also provide the flexibility of choice that customers desire. I am pleased to amplify that Netezza Performance Server will now be available in a simplified version that matches the prior Mako appliance but with architectural enhancements such as improvements to storage and compute. This new option is a simplified platform that does not take advantage of RedHat OpenShift or Cloud Pak for Data, and addresses the needs of the “change is to be feared” and “just the simple beauty of Netezza for me” crowds.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT in case you missed the news – IBM Netezza Performance Server now comes in a fully managed service offering for public cloud. Now that NPS comes in a containerized, public cloud and managed offering – I can state there is no other data platform for complex and high performance compute intensive data that is this flexible and  allows for combining several elements to build a truly hybrid data solution. There is nothing else like this on the market.

Why now and why the urgency?

April 2022 will mark the one-year countdown to the Netezza Mako appliance version. (Again the current Mako appliance – not the whole Netezza offering. Can I hear it in the back?!!!)

In April 2023 Mako will no longer be supported. One year does not give those that are now considering moving from Mako much time to evaluate options. Transitioning an existing Mako workload to a non-Netezza platform requires a significant amount of time to procure, deploy, migrate or transform all of the data pipelines and value chains (data integration, schema, functions and procedures, reporting and ad-hoc routes of data access).  We have mentioned this fact in prior blogs (see Netezza is extending its comeback). If we are transitioning from Mako into Netezza Performance Server, this not but a simple upgrade that will lower risk substantially.

I encourage all current Mako customers to connect with us or your IBM sales team to understand your options. Remember the value and simplicity Netezza brings! make the right decision and move forward with one of Netezza Performance Server’s multiple deployment options.

Watch this video for more information:

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