Netezza Performance Server Data Warehouse Appliance Replaces IBM to Analyse Terabytes of Customer Data Crucial to Driving Sales

Bracknell, Berkshire.—Netezza Corporation today announced that the Dutch holiday company, Center Parcs, has selected the data warehouse appliance from Netezza to more quickly analyse terabytes of customer data and improve its use of customer, product and relationship information. The Netezza Performance Server® (NPS®) system replaces an IBM AS400 as its enterprise data warehouse, and was chosen for its performance speed as well as for its short implementation time scale.

Richard Verhoeff, Director of Technology at Center Parcs explained, “Our business relies heavily on marketing campaigns to drive sales, as the majority of our guests are repeat visitors. So, our supporting technologies have to help us focus on getting the right offer, to the right customer at the right moment,” he continued. “Our incumbent data warehouse needed a lot of tuning to achieve a decent performance, and as we had many databases and spreadsheets we regularly had to invest in additional adapters to make it all work. Using Netezza, we have achieved some great increases in processing of data. Now we can do things like data mine our database of 40 million customer names much quicker – literally a four hour or even overnight query on the old AS/400 is down to minutes. We now have access to the very latest customer information in real time and can take action much more quickly. Over the coming months, we may consider using the NPS system to handle data generated by our web sites and by RFID tags in the parks, as we’re confident it can handle the volume without affecting performance. ”

Dave Kloc, General Manager for Netezza, Northern Europe added, “Not only will the Center Parcs system allow the business to operate at a faster pace and become responsive to customer demands, but the transition will be very quick and straight forward. Because the NPS system works with existing applications, the company will continue to work within its SQL and Business Objects environment, which means no changes to applications and no requirement for end user training. Center Parcs was particularly impressed that the NPS system could be installed in just a couple of days, and would save the company valuable IT resource by eliminating database tuning. The company can be quicker to market with products and offers than ever before.”

The NPS system is already in production in parts of Center Parcs’ operation, and will eventually be used to support the company’s sales efforts across Belgium, The Netherlands, France and Germany. Communication with Center Parcs’ guests takes many forms e.g. booking incentives during off-peak periods; informing guests of Village improvements; and encouraging repeat bookings. The company's database provides a foundation for all strategic mailing activities and by utilising customer profiling tools such as geodemographics and customer lifetime values, the marketing process may be executed with precision.

The Netezza Performance Server system is the market-leading data warehouse appliance built specifically to analyse terabytes of detailed data. The NPS system stores, filters and processes terabytes of records within a single unit, analysing 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 organisation. Customers who have recognised the performance benefits of Netezza’s approach include Amazon.com, The Carphone Warehouse, Debenhams, Orange UK and Virgin Media.

About Center Parcs
Center Parcs revolutionised the holiday market in Holland over 30 years ago by offering short break holidays (i.e., midweek breaks from Monday to Friday and weekends from Friday to Monday) on a year round basis, in addition to longer stays during traditional holiday periods. The company has since grown to also cover France, Germany, Belgium and the UK.

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® (NPS®) 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 Asia Pacific. 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.co.uk.

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