KB Toys Selects Netezza Data Warehouse Appliance as Its Enterprise Data Warehouse Platform

Business Wire, Jan 22, 2007

Netezza Performance Server[R] System Enables Business Users Across the Enterprise to Fully Leverage Data for Merchandising and Operational Decisions

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- Netezza, the global data warehouse appliance market leader, today announced that KB Toys has selected the Netezza Performance Server[R] (NPS[R]) appliance as its data warehouse platform. The NPS system enables KB Toys to leverage its business intelligence fully, by performing analytics on large volumes of data at the store and product level.

"We have a small staff responsible for developing, maintaining and supporting our data warehouse platform," said Frank Andryauskas, CIO at KB Toys. "We chose Netezza for its low total cost of ownership, low maintenance and high performance. The inherent simplicity and ease of use of the Netezza appliance will allow us to analyze the data we need quickly and easily, without requiring the administration necessary with other systems. We will initially be using the Netezza appliance as a data warehouse for merchandise analysis, while laying the foundation to expand into an enterprise data warehouse."

KB Toys' decision to partner with Netezza for its data warehousing needs was also supported by the appliance leader's impressive best-of-breed partnerships. Netezza partners with many major business intelligence companies including MicroStrategy, QuantiSense, SAS, Unica and others. These relationships enable customers to easily integrate Netezza into their existing environments and quickly deliver business value. At KB Toys, Netezza and QuantiSense worked together to provide a solution for a very powerful retail-specific data warehouse and reporting tool that could be implemented rapidly.

"The ability to quickly retrieve and analyze large volumes of detailed data by hundreds of concurrent users was a major factor in selecting Netezza as our data warehouse system," said Tim Armstrong, Director of Analytical Business Solutions, KB Toys. "With Netezza, we will have faster insight into our data from multiple departments throughout the Company. This increased visibility will enable our whole team, from executives to analysts, to make better, faster decisions and capitalize on new opportunities."

"In order to stay competitive in the marketplace, retailers like KB Toys must be able to perform advanced analytics on a wide range of supply chain and merchandising data," said Andy Winans, vice president, Retail & CPG, Netezza. "As retailers continue to grow their businesses, the amount of marketing and consumer data available to them increases exponentially. The large and growing list of retail customers who are achieving success with Netezza is proof that we offer the performance and scalability retailers need at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions."

The Netezza Performance Server system is the market-leading data warehouse appliance built specifically to analyze terabytes of detailed data 10 to 100 times faster than existing data warehouse options, at half the cost. The NPS system stores, filters and processes terabytes of records within a single unit, analyzing only the relevant information for each query. Netezza has placed the CPU power next to the data, allowing the NPS system to speed through processes that would occupy most data warehouse systems for hours, or even days, thereby enabling dramatic increases in productivity across the organization.

Customers who have recognized the benefits of Netezza's approach include Ahold, Amazon.com, Cingular Wireless, CNET Networks, Debenhams, Department of Veterans Affairs, Epsilon, Orange UK, Premier, Inc., Ryder System, Inc., Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation, The Carphone Warehouse and The TJX Companies.

About KB Toys

KB Toys, Inc. is the nation's largest mall-based specialty toy retailer, operating nearly 600 stores in the United States, Guam and Puerto Rico. Headquartered in Pittsfield, MA, the privately-held company has been delighting children and parents alike with the fun of toys for generations.

About Netezza Corporation

Netezza, the global data warehouse appliance market leader, enables enterprises to make all of their data actionable - quickly, simply and affordably. The Netezza Performance Server family of products delivers breakthrough performance, unmatched ease of deployment and operation, and innovative flexibility and scalability at a fraction of the cost of traditional data warehouse solutions. By architecturally integrating database, server and storage within a single appliance, the NPS system delivers 10 to 100 times the performance at half the cost of existing systems. Based in Framingham, Mass., Netezza has offices in Washington, DC, the United Kingdom and the Asia Pacific region. The Company is backed by leading venture capital firms, including Matrix Partners, Charles River Ventures, Battery Ventures, Orange, Sequoia Capital and Meritech Capital Partners. For more information about Netezza, please visit www.netezza.com.