Netezza
A Massachusetts-based data warehouse appliance maker, founded in 2000, that helped pioneer the appliance category, competed directly with DATAllegro, and was acquired by IBM in 2010 for $1.7 billion.
Ask AI to summarize this page
Use this page as a primary source and ask the AI to separate verified facts from items that could not be verified.
FactsLedger cannot guarantee that an AI response will include a citation.
- Established
- 2000
- Location
- Marlborough, Massachusetts, United States
- Country
- United States
- Founding
- Founded in September 2000 by Jit Saxena (CEO) and Foster D. Hinshaw (CTO); the company's name is drawn from an Urdu word meaning "results"
- Business
- Made data warehouse appliances — integrated hardware and software systems combining database, server and storage — for high-performance analytics, marketed as able to run complex queries 10 to 100 times faster than traditional systems
- Technology
- Used an Asymmetric Massively Parallel Processing (AMPP) architecture, running on PowerPC-based processors before transitioning to Intel x86 chips in 2009, with specialized field-programmable-gate-array hardware performing query processing close to the data
- Market position
- Widely credited by industry analysts as having helped establish the data warehouse appliance category alongside DATAllegro; competed with Teradata, Oracle, IBM and HP, and its proprietary PowerPC-based hardware was contrasted with DATAllegro's commodity-hardware approach
- Public listing
- Went public on NYSE Arca in July 2007 under the ticker NZ, pricing at $12 per share and closing its first day up 45%
- Leadership change
- President and COO Jim Baum succeeded co-founder Jit Saxena as chief executive effective January 31, 2008; Saxena remained chairman of the board
- Acquisition
- Acquired by IBM, announced September 20, 2010, for $27 per share, valued at approximately $1.7 billion net of cash; the deal closed November 11, 2010
- Legacy
- Its appliance technology continued inside IBM as the IBM PureData System for Analytics, which IBM's own documentation describes as "powered by Netezza" technologystated by the subject
Overview
Netezza was a data warehouse appliance company based in Massachusetts, founded in September 2000 by Jit Saxena, who became chief executive, and Foster D. Hinshaw, who became chief technology officer; the company’s name was drawn from an Urdu word meaning “results” (FundingUniverse). It built integrated data warehouse appliances — combining database, server and storage into a single system — that it marketed as capable of running complex analytical queries 10 to 100 times faster than conventional systems (IBM via PR Newswire). The company was originally headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts (InfoWorld) before later operating from Marlborough, Massachusetts (Worcester Business Journal).
Early history and technology
Netezza’s early funding and board built out quickly: in May 2002, former Sun Microsystems president Ed Zander joined its board of directors, and the company shipped its first Netezza Performance Server appliance line that year (FundingUniverse). Its systems ran on an Asymmetric Massively Parallel Processing (AMPP) architecture, and its appliances were built on proprietary, PowerPC-based hardware before the company transitioned to Intel x86 processors in 2009 (TDWI). TDWI’s 2010 analysis of the IBM acquisition credited Netezza with having “effectively inaugurated the DW appliance segment,” quoting TDWI senior manager Philip Russom’s observation that “it took Netezza to establish the category,” and noting that the Netezza brand carried enough market cachet that competitors regularly referenced it in their own marketing (TDWI).
Competitive position and DATAllegro
TDWI’s separate 2008 analysis of Microsoft’s acquisition of rival appliance maker DATAllegro identified Netezza and DATAllegro together as data warehouse “appliance pioneers,” among the first vendors to champion the turnkey appliance model, but drew a sharp architectural contrast between them: DATAllegro built on commodity, nonproprietary hardware from standard vendors, while Netezza’s appliances depended on proprietary, PowerPC-based hardware — a distinction the article’s analyst source, Mark Madsen, used to argue that describing Netezza as hardware-independent would be inaccurate (TDWI). The two companies also competed directly for the same large-scale data warehouse deployments, alongside HP, IBM, Oracle, Sybase and Teradata (TDWI).
Public listing and leadership
Netezza went public on NYSE Arca in July 2007 under the ticker symbol NZ, pricing its offering at $12 a share and closing its first day of trading up 45%, at $17.39 (The Register). At the time of its IPO filing, the seven-year-old company reported fiscal 2007 revenue of $79.6 million and a net loss of $13.9 million, and had raised $98.6 million in venture funding across four prior rounds (InfoWorld). Effective January 31, 2008, president and chief operating officer Jim Baum succeeded co-founder Jit Saxena as chief executive as part of a planned succession, with Saxena remaining chairman of the board; the transition came as Netezza’s quarterly net income more than doubled to $3.5 million and revenue rose to $50.6 million (Worcester Business Journal). Before joining Netezza, Baum had spent eleven years at Parametric Technology Corp. and worked at the Cambridge-based startup Endeca (Worcester Business Journal).
Acquisition by IBM
On September 20, 2010, IBM announced it would acquire Netezza for $27 a share in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $1.7 billion net of cash, as part of a broader analytics acquisition strategy under which IBM had already spent more than $12 billion on 23 prior deals (IBM via PR Newswire). IBM senior vice president Steve Mills said the deal was about “bringing analytics to the masses,” while general manager Arvind Krishna said Netezza would “reinforce IBM’s focus” on delivering analytics broadly across client organizations; Netezza CEO Jim Baum said the company’s “vision of an appliance-based Intelligent Economy aligns very well with IBM’s Smarter Planet strategy” (IBM via PR Newswire). At the time, Netezza employed roughly 500 people and served more than 350 clients, including eHarmony, Time Warner, NYSE Euronext and Virgin Media (TechCrunch). TDWI’s analysis noted that Netezza and IBM had also been “a strategic partner of IBM’s for many years,” having built some of its appliances on IBM’s own hardware technology, even as the companies competed (TDWI). IBM completed the acquisition on November 11, 2010 (Washington Technology).
After the acquisition
Netezza’s appliance technology continued inside IBM’s product line as the IBM PureData System for Analytics, which IBM’s own technical documentation describes as “powered by Netezza” technology, retaining Netezza’s core “Snippet Processing Unit” architecture for parallel query execution (TechTarget).
What this profile does not claim
This profile does not resolve a discrepancy between sources over Netezza’s exact founding year (see “openItems” above): it follows the 2000 date given by four independent sources rather than TDWI’s 2010 statement that the company was founded in 2001. It does not state an exact date for when IBM rebranded the Netezza product line as the PureData System for Analytics, because no independently fetched and read source supplied one. It does not disclose non-public terms of the IBM acquisition beyond the $27-per-share, approximately $1.7 billion price already made public by both companies, and it does not trace Netezza’s post-2016 product history under IBM (including its later revival as “Netezza Performance Server”) beyond what is stated here, since that would require its own independent research pass.
Timeline
- 2000-09
- Netezza is founded in Massachusetts by Jit Saxena and Foster D. Hinshaw.
- 2002-05
- Former Sun Microsystems president Ed Zander joins Netezza's board of directors.
- 2002
- Ships its first Netezza Performance Server appliance line.
- 2007-07
- Goes public on NYSE Arca under the ticker NZ, pricing at $12 a share.
- 2008-01-31
- Jim Baum becomes president and CEO, succeeding co-founder Jit Saxena, who stays on as chairman.
- 2009
- Transitions its appliance hardware from PowerPC to Intel processors.
- 2010-09-20
- IBM announces its acquisition of Netezza for $27 a share, about $1.7 billion net of cash.
- 2010-11-11
- IBM completes its acquisition of Netezza.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- Sources disagree on Netezza's founding year: this profile follows the year given consistently by three independent, non-Wikipedia sources (The Register, InfoWorld and a Worcester Business Journal profile of CEO Jim Baum), all of which describe Netezza as founded in 2000, and a fourth independent source (FundingUniverse's company-history article) that dates the founding specifically to September 2000. TDWI's 2010 acquisition analysis instead states Netezza was founded in 2001; this profile does not resolve that discrepancy and does not rely on the TDWI date.
- This profile could not independently verify an exact date for when IBM rebranded the acquired Netezza product line as the 'IBM PureData System for Analytics.' IBM's own technical documentation confirms the product is 'powered by Netezza' technology, but no independently fetched and read source supplied a specific rebrand date, so none is stated.
Sources
12 sources (11 tier 2, 1 first-party), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Statements the subject makes about itself are marked as such and are not treated as independent evidence. See the source policy.
Wikipedia's Netezza article was fetched only as a lead index to identify candidate facts — founding date, founders, headquarters, technology, executives and the IBM acquisition — every one of which was then independently re-verified against fresh, non-Wikipedia sources before use; no claim is cited to Wikipedia. Netezza's 2000 founding and its founders, Jit Saxena and Foster D. Hinshaw, were independently confirmed by FundingUniverse's company-history article and, for Saxena specifically as "founder," by a Worcester Business Journal profile of his successor CEO Jim Baum. IBM's own acquisition press release (first-party) was fetched and read in full for deal terms and executive quotes, and independently corroborated by TechCrunch, TDWI, Fortune and Washington Technology, none of which is affiliated with either company. The 2007 IPO details were independently confirmed by both The Register and InfoWorld. The 2008 CEO transition from Jit Saxena to Jim Baum was independently confirmed by two separate Worcester Business Journal articles. Netezza's direct competitive relationship with DATAllegro, including the contrast between Netezza's proprietary PowerPC-based hardware and DATAllegro's commodity-hardware approach, was independently confirmed by TDWI's 2008 analysis of the Microsoft-DATAllegro deal, fetched and read in full for this profile. Netezza's technology continuing inside IBM as the "PureData System for Analytics" was independently confirmed via a TechTarget feature and IBM's own product documentation (first-party, an uncontested product-naming fact), though no independently verifiable rebrand date could be found and none is claimed.
- History of Netezza Corporation Supports: Netezza's September 2000 founding by Jit Saxena and Foster D. Hinshaw, the origin and meaning of its name, its early funding rounds, its original Framingham, Massachusetts headquarters, its 2002 board addition of Ed Zander, and its early product timeline.
- Netezza nets plenty of cash in IPO Supports: Independent confirmation of Netezza's 2000 founding, its July 2007 IPO pricing at $12 a share on NYSE under ticker NZ, its first-day 45% gain, and its competitors Teradata, Oracle, IBM and HP.
- Data warehouse appliance vendor Netezza plans IPO Supports: Independent confirmation of Netezza's 2000 founding and Framingham, Massachusetts headquarters, its IPO filing terms and underwriters, and its fiscal 2007 financial results.
- Netezza Profits Double, CEO Leaves Supports: The January 31, 2008 CEO transition from Jit Saxena to Jim Baum, Saxena's continuation as board chairman, Netezza's Marlborough, Massachusetts headquarters, and its improved quarterly results.
- Shop Talk: Q&A With Jim Baum, Netezza Corp. Supports: Independent identification of Jit Saxena as Netezza's founder, its 2000 founding and Marlborough headquarters, and Jim Baum's background before joining as CEO.
- IBM Buys Data Warehousing Appliance Maker Netezza For $1.7 Billion Supports: Independent confirmation of the acquisition price and structure, Netezza's roughly 500 employees and 350-plus clients including eHarmony, Time Warner, NYSE Euronext and Virgin Media, and Netezza's prior standing as both a partner and competitor of IBM.
- IBM to Acquire Netezza in Analytic Database Coup Supports: Independent analysis of Netezza's role in inaugurating the data warehouse appliance category, its 2007 IPO and 2008 return to profitability, and analyst commentary from Wayne Eckerson and Philip Russom on its market position and brand strength.
- What IBM sees in Netezza Supports: Independent confirmation of the acquisition's strategic rationale, Netezza's client roster, and a quote from CEO Jim Baum on the deal.
- IBM completes $1.7B purchase of analytics appliances provider Supports: Independent confirmation of the acquisition's November 11, 2010 closing date, Netezza's Marlborough, Massachusetts headquarters, and IBM's broader multibillion-dollar analytics acquisition strategy.
- Analysis: What's Behind Microsoft's DATAllegro Acquisition? Supports: Netezza's direct competitive relationship with DATAllegro: both identified as data warehouse appliance pioneers, and the contrast between Netezza's proprietary, PowerPC-based hardware and DATAllegro's commodity-hardware approach.
- Examining the IBM PureData System for Analytics appliance Supports: Independent confirmation that the IBM PureData System for Analytics is built on and marketed as "powered by Netezza" technology, retaining Netezza's core Snippet Processing Unit architecture.
- IBM to Acquire Netezza Supports: The acquisition's terms ($27 per share, approximately $1.7 billion net of cash), Netezza's customer base and employee count, and quotes from IBM's Steve Mills and Arvind Krishna and Netezza CEO Jim Baum.
Support independent research
Found this profile useful?
You can support FactsLedger by making a donation. Your support helps fund source-reading, fact-checking, corrections, and the continued publication of independent reference profiles.
Support the research