What is Parallel Data Warehouse?

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What is SQL Server® 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse?

SQL Server® 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse is a highly scalable data warehouse appliance that delivers performance at low cost through a massively parallel processing (MPP).  SQL Server® 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse is the integration of DATAllegro’s MPP Data Warehouse software and methodology with the SQL Server 2008 platform that offers customers:

• Massive scale at low TCO: Parallel Data Warehouse will enable customers to scale up to 1 Petabyte at low cost
• Hardware flexibility through a choice of industry-standard hardware from Dell, HP, Bull, EMC and IBM
• An Appliance-like experience for Data Warehousing that simplifies deployment and management
• End to end Business Intelligence platform through tight integration with Microsoft BI tools
• Hub-and-spoke architecture: An industry-leading growth path for enterprise data warehousing, where investments can be re-purposed rather than discarded

What does SQL Server® 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse cost?

Parallel Data Warehouse brings unprecedented value to high end Data Warehousing with prices starting at $15,000 per TB including the cost of hardware.  This offers customers the most compelling value in the industry.

How can customers buy SQL Server® 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse?

Parallel Data Warehouse will be sold through preferred Hardware Vendors – HP, Dell, Bull and IBM.  When customers order Parallel Data Warehouse the hardware Vendor will preinstall the software and ship the complete appliance.  So customers will not build the appliance themselves.

When will Parallel Data Warehouse be available for purchase?

Technology Previews for Parallel Data Warehouse started in August 2009.  Already 10 customers from 7 industries are participating in Parallel Data Warehouse’s first technology preview. These early adopters are delighted with initial performance results.  Participants are loading data at rates of 1 TB per hour and processing query executions at over 1.5 TB per minute.  Microsoft has successfully ported DATAllegro’s MPP data warehouse onto SQL Server 2008 with Windows Server 2008 as the operating system, enabling queries to run up to 5 times faster on the new port.Parallel Data Warehouse availability is currently planned for the first half of calendar year 2010. For more information on registration for the technology previews, email mdsontap@microsoft.com.

How many customers are in the Technology Program for Parallel Data Warehouse?

20 – 30 customers in total.  There are now 21 spots available in the second CTP for Parallel Data Warehouse.

How long will each Technology Preview Parallel Data Warehouse run for?

Each Technology Preview of Parallel Data Warehouse will run for 4 – 6 weeks.

What is required of CTP customers for Parallel Data Warehouse?

Customers who enroll on the CTP for Parallel Data Warehouse will be required to provide data, queries and data models. They will also provide a Subject Matter Expert or DBA to answer questions from the Microsoft team. The customer will define priorities for testing and areas of interest and will be required to attend a 2-3 day MTP session.

What are Microsoft’s commitments to CTP customers?

Microsoft will host the CTPs so customers will not buy any new hardware.  In addition Microsoft will offer high touch support and will work with the customer to define the scope and success criteria.

What about international customers?

International customers will be hosted remotely at the Customer Advisory Team (CAT) Lab or Microsoft’s Data Center in Aliso Viejo.

Is there a TAP Program for Parallel Data Warehouse?

The Parallel Data Warehouse Technology Adoption Program (TAP) will start early in CY 2010.  For more information on registration for the technology previews, email mdsontap@microsoft.com.   TAP Customers should meet the same criteria specified above for the Parallel Data Warehouse CTP program.

What is required of TAP Customers?

Customers of Parallel Data Warehouse’s TAP will be required to buy the required hardware. They will also be required to provide:

• data, queries, existing data models, etc
• existing benchmarks
• subject matter experts, DBA or other resources to work with the Parallel Data Warehouse TAP team