BILLERICA, Massachusetts, October 14 /PRNewswire/ --

- New version enables easier deployment of a wider variety of blazingly-fast "Teramarts(TM)" that work in conjunction with existing enterprise data warehouses

A new version of Vertica's grid-based, column-oriented analytic database lets companies meet more aggressive business intelligence service level agreements and give more people faster access to larger volumes of data by making it possible to apply next-generation analytic database technology to a wider variety of workloads. Vertica(R) Analytic Database 2.5 also simplifies co-existence with or migration from existing data warehouse systems, allowing users to quickly gain ultra-fast data access by offloading slow queries to Vertica-based teramarts and avoiding the huge cost, pain and delay of a wholesale data warehouse upgrade.

New features of the database include extensive SQL syntax support, ability to support any type of database schema design, improved compatibility with Oracle and SQLServer SQL dialects, and new manageability features. These enhancements enable Vertica 2.5 customers to support a wider variety of analytic workloads than was possible with earlier versions of Vertica. It also includes a new Intelligent Query Router facility that allows Vertica 2.5 to pass queries to legacy data warehouses containing data that has not yet been migrated to Vertica. This allows customers to deploy the benefits of Vertica faster by moving just their most urgent queries and data to the new database at first, and then migrate others over time. The net result: businesses can breathe new life into their existing enterprise data warehouses while modernizing their infrastructure painlessly and affordably.

"Columnar databases can provide significant benefits when it comes to managing large volumes of analytic data that need to support faster, more ad-hoc user access," said Philip Howard, research director, Bloor Research. "But performance is not the only consideration: total cost of ownership and the ease with which you can upgrade systems are also important factors and, in this case, grid-based solutions that utilize commodity hardware are definitely worth consideration. This means that Vertica, which offers a grid-based columnar database, is well positioned."

Vertica Analytic Database 2.5 builds on Vertica's expertise in giving more people faster access to larger volumes of data so they can out-think and out-execute their competitors. Vertica Analytic Database 2.5 runs on low-cost, highly scalable "green grids" of industry-standard hardware, or online in the cloud, without costly DBA requirements. Yet it delivers up to 200 times faster performance running on hardware configurations costing significantly less. Since its debut in February 2008, companies like Mozilla, JP Morgan, Comcast and Verizon are tapping Vertica to enable fast, complex ad hoc queries against terabytes of detailed business intelligence and operational analytic data.

Healthcare analytics company, HMetrix, is using the Vertica Analytic Database to analyze large volumes of Medicare, Medicaid and commercially insured administrative information to help employers, hospitals, insurers, pharmaceutical companies and government agencies develop strategies that increase the quality of patient care and economic outcomes. "Analyses that took an hour to run on our former data warehouse database now take no time at all with Vertica -- they recalculate as quickly as spreadsheets," said George Chalissery, CEO of HMetrix. "Vertica Analytic Database 2.5 allows us to examine information much more dynamically and achieve faster results for our clients, with no added complexity and staffing requirements. It allows us to focus on the analysis that matters to our clients, not the technology."

Feature snapshot

Vertica Analytic Database 2.5 is the only analytic database built from scratch to handle today's heavy business intelligence workloads. In customer benchmarks, Vertica has answered queries against terabytes of data 50 to 200 times faster than competing row-oriented databases and specialized analytic hardware -- using less hardware and disk space at a fraction of the cost of other products.

Vertica database innovations include: -- A unique shared-nothing, column architecture -- The ability to scale smoothly from 100s of GBs to 100s of terabytes of data -- The ability to compress data up to 90 percent to reduce storage costs -- Availability as software only, as an appliance or online in the cloud -- Automatic database design, recovery and replication to reduce admin costs -- Ability to work with SQL OLTP databases, ETL and reporting tools New features in Vertica 2.5 include: -- Query Routing to facilitate migration of applications from existing data warehouses to Vertica -- Expanded SQL support, with nested sub-queries, new SQL joins, SQL functions and more -- Ability to support any type of schema design -- Improved compatibility with Oracle and SQLServer SQL dialects -- Enhanced manageability including support for hot backups, event monitoring, database profiling and multi-tenant databases

"Demand for information within companies is exceeding supply. Aging enterprise data warehouses have hit the wall in both query speed and the volume of data that they can handle. The result is lost productivity, or worse... lost business," said Vertica Systems CEO Ralph Breslauer. "Vertica Analytic Database 2.5 will enable our customers to unlock even larger stores of analytic data for better data-driven decision making within more areas of the business."

Availability

The Vertica Analytic Database 2.5 is available immediately.

About Vertica

Vertica Systems is the market innovator for high-performance analytic database management systems that run on industry-standard hardware. Co-founded by database pioneer Dr. Michael Stonebraker, Vertica has developed grid-based, column-oriented analytic database technology that lets companies of any size store and query very large databases orders of magnitude faster and more affordably than other solutions. The Vertica Analytic Database's unmatched speed, scalability, flexibility and ease of use helps customers like JP Morgan Chase, Verizon, Mozilla, Comcast, Level 3 Communications and Vonage capitalize on business opportunities in real time. Vertica is headquartered in Billerica, Mass. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.vertica.com.

Web site: http://www.vertica.com

Ed Marshall of Beaupre & Co. Public Relations for Vertica Systems, +1-603-559-5816, emarshall@beaupre.com