Lucky 13 for Teradata users?

By Stephen Withers
Monday, 03 August 2009 09:38

Technology

Teradata claims the latest release of its software has nearly 100 new features and delivers significant performance improvement.

Teradata 13 is the company's most significant and advanced release of the data warehousing system, according to company officials.

Overall improvements of up to 30 percent for query processing are claimed. Certain tasks are said to run up to 20 times faster, and data can flow into the database up to twice as quickly without affecting analysis tasks.

One new feature that accelerates particular processes is the in-database processing of geospatial data. Instead of requiring the use of a separate data mart, this capability allows the answering of such questions as "How far will customers of various demographic segments who have purchased over $200 in the store over the past three months drive to take advantage of promotions?"

According to Scott Gnau, head of development at Teradata, this change means some geospatial queries can be processes up to 20 times faster.

A similar performance boost will be seen in certain types of standard business analytic queries as the new software eliminates the unnecessary scanning of data.

The software also incorporates an improved query optimiser that automatically determines the most efficient way of processing queries.

"Teradata 13 will entice new customers because it offers significant performance, a unique set of features, and it is easy to use," said Jeff Carter, Teradata's vice president, database engineering.

"Teradata 13's features, performance enhancements and integration are focused on one thing, data warehousing."