Going on tour with Stephen is tough on family life. My kids can't remember what I look like – and it's going to take some serious grovelling to get my wife to forgive me for the fact that I will be en route to Tel Aviv for the last leg of the Road Show on, of all days, Father's Day.
The great thing about being on tour is meeting all of you. Teradata customers – drawn as you are from some of the largest and most innovative companies in the world – are a diverse and eclectic bunch, with a fascinating range of business challenges and opportunities. Best of all, you're not shy and you're not afraid to tell us what you like - and what you want more of. That feedback is invaluable and we are genuinely grateful to all of you for helping us to stay number one in the industry.
Snake Oil
One of the conversations that I have had with many of you over the course of the last several weeks concerns a certain Oracle ad - reproduced below - that ran in the European edition of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently.
The ad is interesting on several levels: for what it says about Teradata; for what it doesn't say about Oracle; and because it illuminates some key differences in Corporate culture between our two organizations. It's also entirely specious – and if you're concerned that the philosophical parts of this post will either bore you, or represent a pointless exercise in self-justification, then feel free to skip straight to the penultimate section of this essay in order to cut straight to the chase.
What the ad says about Teradata
As a Teradata employee, once I got over my natural indignation that Oracle were calling our baby ugly, I actually found the ad incredibly flattering. Oracle want the market to compare Exadata with Teradata, because they understand that Teradata is the clear market leader. We knew that already, but it's always nice to be reminded!
Remember also that not so long ago Oracle were rubbishing the idea of a shared nothing database architecture - and claiming that Teradata was “proprietary". Now pretty much all the data warehouse platform vendors – Oracle included – go to market with an “MPP-like" architecture, packaged and sold as a vertically integrated appliance, with the operating system and RDBMS included, pre-installed and optimized for the hardware configuration concerned. Never mind that Exadata is actually a Frankenstein-like monster, neither truly shared nothing nor truly shared everything - even at the hardware level, never mind the software level – attempted imitation is nevertheless the sincerest form of flattery.
What the ad doesn't say about Oracle
Oracle want us to believe that they are an engineering-led company, delivering “breakthrough technology". Let's examine that assertion.
There is much to admire about Oracle. The company's gross margins are industry-leading; their proven ability to repeatedly and seamlessly acquire and integrate other technology companies is truly awe-inspiring; and the ERP marketplace in particular has clearly benefited from the increased level of competition that Oracle's move into enterprise application software a decade or more ago heralded. The Teradata ERP application of choice, you may be interested to learn, is Oracle's.
But engineering-led? Innovative? I think that the evidence actually suggests that this is a marketing-led company. Twenty-five (25!) years after Teradata first commercialised MPP database technology; thirteen years after IBM entered the market with DB2 Parallel Edition; and eight years after Netezza's incorporation, Oracle finally concluded what had been self-evident to the other players for some time - that the market wants to buy MPP data warehouse appliances – and duly produced a nearly-parallel product of its own.
And what new innovation have we seen from Oracle in this space in the three years since it introduced Exadata? Exadata Version 2 gave the world a server change (basically a consequence of Oracle's acquisition of SUN); a flash-based cache (interesting only if your workload can be relied upon to reliably score cache hits, which is unlikely for complex, real-world data warehousing); and a compression scheme which boasts that it is columnar, but which passes only one of Stonebraker's tests for a true column store." In roughly the same period of time, we have added advanced geo-spatial capabilities to Teradata (13.0); the industry's first robust implementation of full temporal semantics and an advanced compression scheme of our own (13.10); multi-temperature storage that automatically migrates “hot" data to high-performance SSD-based storage and “cool" data to more cost-effective storage (Teradata Virtual Storage and the 6680 platform), etc., etc., etc. And as Teradata CTO Stephen Brobst has been explaining on tour, Teradata 14.0 – available for beta test now and generally available at the end of the year – is arguably even more innovative (hint: 6/6).
What the ad says about our different Corporate cultures
Teradata, by contrast, is not a marketing-led organization. Our leadership team reflects the twin priorities of the organization: engineering and deployment excellence. When we have money to invest, the first instinct of the entire organization is to spend on R&D - and on the Sales and Professional Services organizations that are required to identify and successfully deliver solutions to the complex analytical business challenges faced by leading global organizations. The rest of the organization – marketing included – has to make do with whatever is left over. All of which is why you don't often see us running full-page ads in expensive publications like the WSJ and The Economist.
Of course, we could play the same game as Oracle. See below an ad that we could run in the WSJ and elsewhere, if we chose to. But honestly it's not really our style – and we're not persuaded that you want us to invest a ton of money in this sort of advertising (and then pass the costs back on to you).
Will you get a 600x performance improvement by moving from Oracle to Teradata? Well this customer did. But notice that I don't tell you anything that would enable you to compare your situation with theirs; I tell you nothing about this customer's database, their workload, the version of the Oracle DBMS software that they were using – or the hardware that they were running on. And of course that's the whole point; adverts like these aren't intended to inform, but rather to mislead.
Debunking Oracle's Softbank Mobile claims
So is it true? Did Softbank Mobile (the company described in the advert and referenced elsewhere in Oracle's marketing literature) really migrate from Teradata to Exadata - and see improved performance, plus a reduction in data centre space, power and cooling requirements into the bargain?
Yes. All true, just as Oracle says it is.
What Oracle conveniently neglects to mention is the following.
The Teradata system in question was obsolete - and the improved performance that the customer saw was a function of the progress of Moore's law in delivering more computing power, not any advance in Oracle's software technology. Moore's law represents a rising tide which is lifting all of the boats - even the ones powered by DBMS technology like Oracle's, which is neither designed nor optimized for data warehousing. Unfortunately for Oracle, data volumes and analytical sophistication are both also increasing exponentially, which means that throwing hardware at a software problem is an increasingly unreliable route to goal. And Moore's law is no longer sustained by faster processors, it's sustained by putting more processing cores on the same chip - which means that nearly-parallel software isn't nearly good enough any more.
(Just to underline this point, note that the oldest nodes in the Teradata system replaced at Softbank were 5300 nodes, built around the Intel Pentium III 1.4 GHz processor; whilst Exadata V2 systems are built around the Intel Xeon 5670 processor. Now look at the chart below – and note that the y-axis scale is logarithmic. The SPECint rating of the two processors concerned are the leftmost and the rightmost data points of the solid line, respectively. Should we be in the least bit surprised that a system built around the later Intel chip is “8x faster" than a system built around the Pentium III processor? Or should the newer system have in fact been able to do rather better than that, all other things being equal?)
Throwing hardware at a software problem is also not environmentally sustainable. When inviting Teradata customers to “save the planet" by “dumping Teradata", Oracle doesn't address the fact that the obsolete Teradata hardware at Softbank could in fact have been replaced with a two cabinet Teradata 2650 Data Warehouse Appliance solution. And that a two cabinet Teradata 2650 Data Warehouse Appliance solution actually consumes less energy and requires less cooling than does a single Exadata V2-2 cabinet (Moore's law again), whilst performing substantially better for a typical data warehousing workload (smarter software that is really parallel, not nearly parallel).
Oracle also doesn't want to burden you with the knowledge that at around the same time that Softbank Mobile (Japan's #3 mobile telco) moved from Teradata to Exadata, Japan's #2 mobile telco was migrating in the opposite direction. Or to bring to your attention that the number of Teradata customers that have migrated to Exadata in the three years since the product was launched can be counted on the fingers of one hand – with fingers to spare, mind – and that in the same period, 15 times as many customers have ditched Oracle for Teradata. For clarity: not 15; rather 15x.
Note also that Oracle fails to expand on the “8x performance" headline by telling you anything about the data model, workload, level of user concurrency, etc., etc. concerned. You have no way of extrapolating the headline number to understand what mileage you might achieve in your environment – which is just the way Oracle likes it. And is another reason that we don't run “our" version of “their" ad, shown above – because without that sort of information, these comparisons are fairly meaningless. A survey by the advertising agency Y&R and reported recently in the Economist shows that the proportion of brands that consumers trust fell from 52% in 1997 to 22% in 2008. When you understand just how fast-and-loose some big Corporations are playing with marketing and advertising, perhaps that isn't so surprising.
By the way, it's not just the Teradata hardware that was obsolete at Softbank; the Teradata database software in use there was five major releases older than the current Teradata software release. Since we continue to invest aggressively in software performance optimization in every release of the database – achieving, for example, an average 30% performance improvement for the same workload running on release 13, compared with release 12, for free, just through software – this is further evidence that Oracle's simplistic, old-to-new comparison approach is worthless.
And one more thing
Softbank made their decision in 2009. We disagree with their reasoning – and were especially disappointed that we were not given the opportunity to compete or benchmark with a new Teradata system. But we respect their right both to make the decision that they did - and to lend their name to Oracle's marketing and advertising claims (another member of the Softbank family is a major Oracle distributor in Japan).
What is perhaps more surprising is that Oracle keeps repeating this story like its news, two years after the event. Is that all you have to show for your “billion dollar pipeline", guys? Really? If this is the most compelling evidence that Oracle can offer in support of their claim that they are taking market share from us, well, clearly they are not actually taking market share from us.
And on that note, adios and buenas noches from Madrid.
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melanie schwartzman
June 21, 2011
Hey Martin.. great piece of work.. well done.. you have done Teradata proud..:-)
Andreas Walter
June 23, 2011
Very well stated, Martin!
Emilyn Fostanes
June 23, 2011
This is really good! Thank you.
Wei Zheng
June 24, 2011
Very persuasive analysis. Teradata is indeed a humble leader.
Eddy Balan
June 24, 2011
I still have that newspaper and I was wondering when the response will come. Thanks for avenging us…
Jonas Santiago
June 24, 2011
Brilliant. Great work there Martin!
yannis marigo
June 28, 2011
Just follow the leader !
Steven Boyland
June 28, 2011
Excellent truthful look at what Oracle is doing and not doing with full transparency! Your dialog really brings to light the differences between marketing vs. reality. Everyone should be interrogating Oracle’s claims to the same degree you bring out this conversation.
Thom Snyder
June 28, 2011
Martin, Brilliant, funny, educational…way to hit it out fo the park!
Cesar Lagera
June 29, 2011
Very well said, Martin! Great job!
Asifuddin MD
June 30, 2011
Well written !!!
Nadeem Ahmad Khan
June 30, 2011
We are not just claiming but we have proven and proving as leader in Enterprise Datawarehousing. But this article have give me more confidence. Well done…
K Madhu Sudhan Reddy
June 30, 2011
Well Said
Mike Ong
June 30, 2011
Very nice! Great work! I now know i made the right choice moving to Teradata.
Dermot OSullivan
June 30, 2011
Oracle is a marketing machine but over time the consolidation in our industry will backfire. No longer will CA, Oracle, IBM, or HP be able to squeeze margins by acquiring an ISV and dumping its operations and support staff. I truly believe that the lack of technological innovation or even simple quality support of customers will erode the base and we will see a swing back towards best of breed vendors. Having been on both sides I much prefer to sell something I can believe in and get a good night’s rest! Thanks again Martin!
David Roth
June 30, 2011
Excellant Disection! Once again, goes to show that what is not said is sometimes most important.
Usman Ali
June 30, 2011
Great article with a positive attitude.
Jason Silverman
June 30, 2011
Kudos to you sir, very nice rebuttal.
Mario DiBenedetto
June 30, 2011
You forgot to mention that the same old Teradata platform could have replaced with less than 3 cabinets of the Teradata 2650 with better performance and less of an energy footprint. Oh, and did we forget the difference in the number of DBAs required to operate the 2 systems.
Mubashir Basu
June 30, 2011
Excellent,very well written!!!
Asif Abbasi
July 2, 2011
Excellent article, and very nicely put. Not defensive, not aggressive, but right there in the middle, with facts …. Thanks
Awais Kaleem
July 4, 2011
Well said! If only this was published in the same WSJ.
Jawwad
July 4, 2011
Great stuff, gives a lots of information. Thanks, Jawwad
Akbar Moghal
July 4, 2011
Extremely thoughtful and honest reply to Oracle’s “as usual” bashful marketing. Oracle is a good company but I think they are now trying to do too many things. I wish them well but it definitely pays to be honest at all times. That is the simple truth of life. Great job Martin. Wish you well. I used to work for Teradata in Pakistan and have heard similar ‘fluff’ a lot, so I have learnt to ignore their marketing gimicks. Take care. Akbar
Thomas K Plammootil
July 5, 2011
simple but striking… great stuff…
mark mitchell
July 5, 2011
Martin, Excellent analyis, very well written.
Orbenia
July 5, 2011
excellent! it shows us that Teradata is the best choice. Good Job Martin!!!
Mohan Wagh (Teradata Employee)
July 6, 2011
Against the tag-line used in the Oracle advert. i.e. “Save the planet, dump your Teradata”, I believe that Teradata should initiate impeachment proceedings against the advertiser & the publisher with European Commission for Consumer Affair under “Misleading and Comparative Advertising”. Also we can notify “European Advertising Standards Alliance” on the derogatory tag-line used in the advert. Such types of covert tactics, as Oracle is using, should be dealt with legally.
Paul Johnson
July 6, 2011
Hi Martin, the big shame for me is that it takes a very clued-up Teradata insider to help people see past the Oracle marketing hype. As we both know all too well, it’s either MPP or it’s not. You can’t have ‘almost MPP’. Trying to parallelise any database, Oracle included, is a massive undertaking with a slim chance at best of successfully shaking off legacy general purpose underpinnings. See you at Partners
Ramakrishna Vedantam
July 7, 2011
Thanks for the bold statement. Competition should start working on basics. Most of the companies were not even born when the R&D fruits were initiated way back in 1979. Teradata is the king..sorry the Emperor.
Jakub Jochec
July 10, 2011
That’s quite general problem in IT not only in Oracle vs Teradata. As my good friend once said… IT is partly like building industry, but mostly like acting…
Lee Arnett
July 11, 2011
This year Oracle has an ad on page 1 of the WSJ more than once per week! One time I did see an ad for Teradata in the WSJ… it was by GE Financial about their Teradata partnership. I would think we could afford an ad once in a while. I think a little back-and-forth with Oracle would raise our name recognition. Since there is no bad press, I guess Oracle is raising our name recognition.
Paul Boisvert
July 13, 2011
Good reading Martin, thank you! While you are right about there being a lot to admire about Oracle (like how they can write a check to buy other companies), let’s remember that our stock’s share value has grown 2x+ compared to theirs since we became an independent company.
Ramanjaneya
July 18, 2011
Excellent……..great work. Educational and gives confidence to everyone that Teradata is exceptional.
Tony Brown
July 19, 2011
Very nice article. For me as a Teradata employee it says so much about the comparative cultures of the two organisations…I know where I’d rather work.
JoSeTxU
August 1, 2011
This article is a superb show of knowledge, good manners, clear thinking, … It is a gentle slap on Oracle and its way of distorting reality. It clearly shows that Teradata is not only the market leader, but strives daily to remain so through innovation, vision and execution. Thank you very much, Martin, for this inspiring article that shows what’s the spirit of Teradata.
Sai Nandagiri
August 3, 2011
excellent.. well said
David Mc
August 11, 2011
I agree that this is a very well written analysis, but with that said the issue is that the number of people that will see the Oracle ad versus the ‘truth’ is several order of magnitudes different. Good guys often finish last.
Samrat
August 13, 2011
Great article and a very good analysis!
Massimiliano Fantuzzi
August 26, 2011
Excellent explanation, Martin ! I am Oracle expert and I was pretty sure that behind the aggressive ad, Oracle forgot to mention how deep was the software AND hardware gap: the advertisment shouts so strong claim, reminding me about another famous “save the planet”-like slogan, the IBM “smarter planet” one. By that time I was working in IBM so I have been immediately influenced by Oracle’s target, it appears to make sense if you are not so “behind the scenes” or a DBA/DWH person. As You mention, all customers facing the big decision “exa or Teradata” should allow a Teradata sales consultant to prove the power of the true MPP solution. Afterall, I decided to join Teradata company and I am ready to contribute to ORA->TERADATA migration services ! I am sure it is the right choice !! Last one: TD offers POCs to their customers, why ORA does’t ?? An what about the Data Modelling ? That’s the reason for our success, 15x 600x
Kevin Hu
August 27, 2011
excellent response to the misleading ad and extreamly good information for us.
umer niaz
November 23, 2011
Excellent explaination Martin !! Oracle is a big name in the industry and it should avoid negative marketing tactics…
Paul Dancer
November 24, 2011
Oracle can’t have read this, they’ve awarded the CIO of SoftBank (Shinichi Ata) their CIO of the year award…. And they’ve reprinted all the same rhetoric..
RPTF
December 18, 2011
Excellent analysis, it shows the great difference between the vision of both companies and especially the quality and focus of its services and employees. Recently, I have the opportunity to realize a POC (Proof of Concept) with Oracle Exadata, IBM Smart Analytics and Teradata. The purpose of this proof was to construct a modernization project of infrastructure for a complex Data Warehouse environment. I was the team manager that administers Data Warehouse environments which involves large and complex elements. To be specific, these environments had more than 12.000 users and more than 14.000 reports run per day. I have a substantial experience in Oracle Databases,Unix Servers and tunning and I was very impressed about the technology and maturity of Teradata. I believe that this company presents focus and is extremely competent. Besides, Teradata has a very good process to migrate from Oracle to Teradata database. What about the POC´s Result? The approach will be made only within the results. Aspects like the huge difference in the architecture, product maturity and vision of future th BI were excluded of this particular comment, but are fundamental when choosing a solution specialist as an Appliance. In the ETL process, Teradata had more than 12x better performance than Exadata. I didn’t really expect this considerable difference. I mean, I was totally surprise, because the process used in the test was not so complex, I expect results more equilibrated. In the SQL generated by Microstrategy, Teradata had more than 6x better performance than Exadata. Once more, I didn’t expect this difference, because the test was actually simple, without a big concurrency. As I know well the Oracle database, wonder and when you’re with the actual load, what happens? Incorrect results? Loss of records in the ETL process? I ask this because I have been through these situations. The use of parallelism, star trasformation(parameter), and bitmap indexes in this database is problematic. There are many bugs whit this combination. My evaluation? Teradata is the best solution and is very ahead of other vendors. The more complex environments and tests are, better will be the results compared to other solutions. All technical questions have been answered and it’s shown obvious and excellent knowledge of the consultants and great confidence in the product.
Junaid Rafiq
December 18, 2011
another great sarcastically humble punch in the face of a billion dollar glory hunting firm from a small focused group of specialized & dedicated people
SM
December 18, 2011
Great analysis & a thought provoking presentation. Perhaps this will let the world see that competition is not won by gimmicks but by genuinely topping the lot with innovation. No doubt Oracle grosses higher when it comes to popularity and operational RDBMS’s, but data warehouse/ analytics is a different ballgame altogether. Teradata definitely got the grasp and delivers it really parallel, not nearly parallel!