Releases

posted on 03 March 2008 18:41

Framingham, Mass. — March 3, 2008 — Netezza Corporation (NYSE Arca: NZ), the global leader in data warehouse and analytic appliances, today announced that Helzberg Diamonds has chosen the Netezza Performance Server® (NPS®) appliance for its enterprise data warehouse (EDW) platform.

Helzberg Diamonds operates more than 260 stores across the U.S., offering a wide selection of diamonds and precious gems in addition to watches for both men and women. The company has chosen Netezza for operational business intelligence (BI) applications, including real-time, point-of-sale reporting to aid in customer relationship management.

"We replaced our existing IBM infrastructure with Netezza due primarily to the significant performance gains demonstrated by the NPS system during an extensive evaluation period," stated Greg Backhus, director of data warehousing and business intelligence at Helzberg Diamonds. "Our incumbent data warehouse was struggling to process data in an acceptable timeframe, especially during our peak seasons. We look forward to leveraging the power of Netezza to optimize our operational BI and maximize customer satisfaction throughout Helzberg stores nationwide."

"The ability to run real-time reports at the point-of-purchase is becoming increasingly critical to remain competitive in today's retail market," added Andy Winans, vice president of retail and CPG at Netezza. "More and more leading retailers are launching enterprise data warehouses on Netezza for operational BI analytics that strengthen customer satisfaction and retention programs."

The Netezza Performance Server family of data warehouse and analytic appliances is designed specifically for high-performance, terascale analytics, and architecturally integrates a relational database, server and storage into a single compact and power-efficient unit. The system's advantage comes from its patented streaming architecture. Netezza has placed processing power next to the data, so analysis occurs at the source at streaming speeds, delivering an unprecedented 10-100 times the performance of traditional systems at a fraction of the cost. Analyses that took days now take just seconds. This means a dramatic increase in productivity across the enterprise and faster time to value for business initiatives. Netezza appliances are changing the way organizations leverage information, creating a powerful analytic foundation for a new generation of business analytics that improve strategic decision-making and drive results.

About Helzberg Diamonds
Helzberg Diamonds has a 90-plus year heritage as a fine jewelry retailer offering exceptional value, personal customer service, exclusive designs and timeless jewelry. Helzberg Diamonds is part of the Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., has over 260 stores nationwide and is available online at www.helzberg.com.

About Netezza Corporation (NYSE Arca: NZ)
Netezza is the global leader in data warehouse and analytic appliances that dramatically simplify high-performance analytics for business users across the extended enterprise, delivering significant competitive and operational advantage in today's information-intensive marketplaces. The Netezza family of streaming analyticTM appliances brings appliance simplicity to a broad range of complex data warehouse and analytic challenges. Customers who have realized the benefits of Netezza appliances include Ahold, Amazon.com, CNET Networks, Debenhams, Department of Veterans Affairs, Epsilon, Nationwide, Neiman Marcus, Orange UK, Premier, Inc., Ross Stores, Ryder System, Inc., The Carphone Warehouse, The Sherwin-Williams Company and Virgin Media. Based in Framingham, Mass., Netezza has offices in Washington, DC, the United Kingdom and Asia Pacific. For more information about Netezza, please visit www.netezza.com.