Exploring the Best Options for Data Warehousing Beyond Teradata
In the realm of data warehousing, Teradata is certainly a notable contender. However, it is not the only effective solution available. Another very good choice is the Informix Advanced Enterprise Edition alongside its Informix Warehouse Accelerator (IWA). IWA is a powerful in-memory columnar query accelerator designed to process complex queries against vast data sets up to 120 times faster than a standard RDBMS, without altering the SQL or the applications that use it.
Why Choose Informix with IWA?
The Informix Warehouse Accelerator (IWA) stands out due to its unique architecture and capabilities. Here are some key reasons why it is a compelling option:
Performance Boost: IWA can accelerate complex queries against massive data sets, achieving up to 120 times faster processing than a traditional database system. This is demonstrated through real-world examples, like a query that took over 2 hours on a 16-core Sparc system running on a Sun system, whereas the same query processed in under 4 minutes on an 8-core Xeon system with IWA enabled. Scalability: IWA is highly scalable, allowing it to distribute data marts across multiple nodes. This means there is no practical limit to the amount of data that an IWA cluster can process. Management Ease: With straightforward management, users can define and create their data marts using methods such as XML definition files, IBM schema tools, or query probing, which dynamically builds a data mart schema based on frequently used queries.Benefits and Capabilities
The advantages of using Informix with IWA extend beyond just raw performance. Here is a detailed overview of its benefits and capabilities:
1. **Simplicity in Use**
Define Data Marts: Define your data marts using XML definition files, IBM schema tools, or by capturing and probing queries that require faster processing. Create Data Marts: Create data marts using the XML schema file produced from the definition process. Load Data: Load data from the base engine into the data mart with a single command. Synchronization: Set whether to synchronize the data mart with the live database or use periodic full or partial refreshes. Client-Side Configuration: Configure the client environment to indicate whether to accelerate queries or process them using the base engine. This can be done through environment variables or user-specific startup routines.2. **Optimized Performance**
When a query can be accelerated by IWA, it simply runs faster. For example, a query that initially took 4 hours to run on a 16-core Sparc system with 12GB of memory was processed in a mere 4 minutes using IWA on a single node of an 8-core Xeon Linux system with half the memory of the client's original system. Without IWA, the same query would have required 4 hours despite full parallel query processing.
Conclusion
While Teradata is a well-respected solution in the field of data warehousing, the combination of Informix Advanced Enterprise Edition and IWA offers a compelling alternative for organizations seeking top-tier performance and scalability. Whether your needs involve complex queries, massive data sets, or simply the need for a faster, more efficient data warehousing solution, Informix with IWA is definitely worth considering.
About the Author
As a seasoned SEO specialist at Google, the author has extensive experience in benchmarking database solutions for performance, scalability, and efficiency. This expertise has led to the recommendation of Informix and IWA as a superior option for those looking to enhance their data warehousing processes.