Blog: Richard Hackathorn

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Monday, 8 January 2007

Full Circle for Teradata

Despite the glitter of CES, there is significant news elsewhere. NCR announced that they were spinning off the Teradata Division as an independent publicly-traded company exclusively focusing on Data Warehousing. Wow!

I am not entirely clear on the equity transaction with shareholders. I am clear that this move with clarify the identity and future strategy of Teradata, who is often hidden behind the NCR corporate mystic.

I have seen the full circle. When I first visited Teradata in El Segundo, they were shipping the 'Big One' to K-Mart. Over the years, I have seen friends at Teradata go through merger hell and back. First, they were acquired by NCR and then by AT&T. Then, AT&T spun NCR back out. And now, NCR is spinning Teradata back out. Many good people left the company over those turbulent years.

I wonder... Is this the natural outcome of the DW market maturing? Can pure-play DW vendors now stand independently? Or, is this the prelude to massive consolidation within the DW market? Will Oracle (or your favorite corporate monopoly) buy Teradata? ...Any thoughts?

Whatever happens, I hope that the Teradata folks who endured through the full circle of acquisitions get special recognition. They are the seasoned vets of our IT wars.

Posted by Richard Hackathorn at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)