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It was the first platform to offer large-scale data warehousing, the first to enable Data warehousing as a Service (DaaS) for organisations and one of the first to move onto an entirely software-based model. Kognitio has been responsible for innovating and advancing numerous data warehousing concepts and practices that are considered the leading edge in the field of business intelligence.
“In the whole history of WX2, the decision to move to a software-based solution was undoubtedly one of the most important,” said Roger Gaskell, CTO of Kognitio. “As the hardware became available that was powerful enough to perform the processing we needed, it became logical to move to away from our own, proprietary hardware. We could then focus on our core talent: making sure our product is plug-and-play, and can return ultra-fast results on queries any time, any place, anywhere, while at the same time reducing the work required by the IT department. Our customers can rely on us to make complex analysis of their data possible within seconds, whether it’s from thousands of set-top boxes or millions of telecoms customers, no matter how unstructured it might be.”
WX2 uses massively parallel processing to provide a high-quality, fast data warehouse. Essentially, a large number of machines run in synchronisation with one another, using their combined power to run a far larger data warehouse than would otherwise be possible. The power this method provides means that there is no need to rigidly stratify the data warehouse and vet data as it is entered: all of the data can be accessed and queried, all of the time, as soon as it is added to the warehouse, greatly decreasing set-up times. WX2 is flexible in its operation and implementation. WX2 can act and operate as a disc-based database or it can reach impressive and unmatched speeds by accessing data in-memory on the parallel machines, WX2 is able to produce results exponentially faster than using disc-based methods as with other systems. As a result, query times are reduced from hours to seconds, and from weeks to hours.
The power of these massively parallel processing systems means that WX2 is ideal for providing Data warehousing as a Service (DaaS), essentially relieving the customer and their staff of the responsibility for building and maintaining a data warehouse and placing it in the hands of Kognitio’s expert consultants. As a result, organisations can rely on a best-of-breed data warehouse manned by expert personnel without requiring a significant capital expense or the acquisition and maintenance of a specialist skill set that may or may not exist in the current organisation. Customers that have expected implementing data warehousing to be a 6-month to 2-year project have seen DaaS from Kognitio up, running and returning analysis within an afternoon.
Over its history, WX2 has gone through several iterations and evolutions and is currently on its 4th generation. The first-generation Information Processing Engine was upgraded in 1993 to the 9000 series. At this point, WX2 was a hardware as well as software-based technology, with the technological and maintenance issues that entailed. The next major update, in 1997, moved the technology on to Intel processors away from InMOS, making for a more standardised approach but still remaining somewhat tied to physical boxes. In 2003, the fourth generation WX2 was announced, moving for the first time to an entirely software-based platform and massively reducing the price and increasing the potential of data warehousing. Customers of WX2 include Kelkoo, LMG, National Center for Genome Resources (NCGR), TRA and British Telecom, who has been a customer since 1997.
“WX2 has been our primary enabler as a company, helping us drive forward innovations such as DaaS,” said John K. Thompson, CEO US Operations, Kognitio. “Customers come to us because they can either integrate the product seamlessly with their own hardware or rely on us to provide top-of-the-line DaaS. Our customers depend on us to make complex analyses simple, enabling them to make fact-based decisions. WX2 forms the basis of a range of business decisions because once data is loaded into WX2 it can be accurately analysed within seconds. WX2 is perfectly placed to continue in leaps and bounds over the next 20 years, and beyond.”
About Kognitio
Kognitio (kognitio.co.uk) is an innovative, technology-rich company, providing leading-edge solutions to business problems that require the acquisition, rationalization and analysis of large or complex data. Kognitio's WX2 is the industry’s fastest and most scalable analytical database on the market, giving firms the ability to turn their raw data into valuable business insight fast, and empowering its customers to realize comprehensive answers to critical business questions.
Globally headquartered in Bracknell, UK, with North American headquarters in Chicago and offices in New York, Kognitio delivers competitive advantage to its clients across a wide range of industries, including telecommunications, financial services and utilities. More information is available from the company’s website.
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