EMC also announced the Greenplum Data Computing Appliance which packages software and hardware, including EMC storage, naturally, in one box. Appliances are a hot topic in data warehousing today offering workable options for organizations that need a simpler deployment of data warehousing that does not require the difficult integration of software and hardware that custom platforms require or for those seeking to achieve the ultimate in performance due to tight hardware-software integration. Additionally, the Greenplum DCA offers a solution to the need to offload disruptive analytic workloads from the EDW - as they are optimized for reporting, not advanced analytics.
Overall, market potential and the need to have a technology that is necessary to play in the data warehousing space are likely the key factors that led EMC to acquire Greenplum. Greenplum has been named as the foundation of EMC's new Data Computing Division and the company is already shifting resources its way, as the division has grown by 30% in personnel since EMC acquired Greenplum.
By acquiring Greenplum, EMC has opened up another front in the information infrastructure space. The data warehousing platform market share battle is likely to be fierce, metaphorically bloody, and very public since a lot of people including analysts and investors will be watching. Competitors include Oracle, which is strongly pushing its Exadata products based on Sun hardware assets. IBM offers a strong portfolio of products including the Smart Analytics Systems and the Smart Analytics Optimizer based on columnar database technology, and recently acquired Netezza, a well-regarded player in this market. Moreover, long-time players like Teradata are not standing idly by, and other players -- big such as HP and small such as Aster and Kognitio -- will not willingly cede the market to their rivals.
That said, for years now EMC has proven to have a green thumb when it comes to acquisitions. That is reflected not only in the acquired company itself, but also in how successfully the company helps its acquisitions achieve a growth potential that they would not have been able to reach on their own. The process has tended to be easier when EMC acquired leaders in the field such as VMware and RSA which did not face the same degree of competition as there is in data warehousing. If EMC can prevail in the face of such fierce, well-funded efforts by competitors, then Greenplum will provide a rich harvest for EMC's information infrastructure strategy.
EMC is currently a client of David Hill and the Mesabi Group.
