Teradata Cloud Data Warehouse offers a more cost-effective cloud solution. However, the main challenge we encounter, especially in South Africa, is the limited bandwidth available for connecting to our cloud network. This is where the cost factor becomes significant, making it impractical to fully utilize the cloud due to the bandwidth constraints required for communication with the cloud. This limitation poses a major problem. While we can access certain features of cloud solutions from Teradata for free to evaluate them, it is not feasible for serving a large user base like two to three million people accessing the database. To accommodate such a user load, we would need a massive and robust pipeline connecting to the cloud.

The cloud is ten times better than physical hardware; it is more cost-effective and the upgrade process is ten times easier. Teradata Cloud options are also more affordable for anyone, especially for small companies. However, if our company expands significantly, it may become less affordable due to the costs associated with the necessary connection and bandwidth required to communicate with the servers.

South Africa must significantly improve its internet infrastructure to reduce its high costs. I believe South Africa is one of the most expensive countries in the world when it comes to obtaining high-speed internet connections. We need to establish different service level agreements with clients to ensure we have backup lines and redundancy. The crucial question we need to ask ourselves is, how reliable do we want our internet connection to be? In the case of using cloud services, it's essential to have another line as a backup in case the primary one fails. In our situation, having a backup line is definitely necessary, but it also adds to the expenses. For a major bank like ours, relying on a single connection to the cloud is not feasible; we must have a second line in place to ensure uninterrupted service in case of any issues with the primary line.

The cost of Teradata Cloud Data Warehouse has room for improvement.

I have been using Teradata Cloud Data Warehouse for a few years.

I don't think there is another system in the world as stable as Teradata. They have a redundant hardware setup with double components for everything. If one component fails, another one takes over. This redundancy extends to the data side as well. The system runs on multiple disks, so if one disk fails, the data is still available on another disk, and the replacement process is seamless thanks to hot-swappable components. We don't have to shut down the entire system to replace most parts in the Teradata system. We can simply slide out the faulty component and slide in a new one. Unlike old technologies that required powering down the entire system, Teradata's architecture allows for most operations to remain functional even during maintenance. However, in certain cases, depending on the architecture, we might need to power down the systems.

Teradata Cloud Data Warehouse is highly scalable. I believe that Teradata is more scalable than IBM. Teradata is ten times faster in processing data compared to IBM. When it comes to multi-processing, IBM loses out to Teradata. For example, if we want to store files and we're running five, and we have 20 disks, restoring a certain file will be slower with IBM compared to Teradata. Other solutions may restore that file on one disk and its mirror image, but with Teradata, it functions differently. It stores parts of the file on all the twenty disks, which is why it performs so fast. Teradata's ability to utilize all the disks in the configuration through multi-processing is the reason for its speed.

The technical support at Teradata is the best in the world. All the support engineers have university degrees, and Teradata has its own university where we can access all their courses and components available in the market. This includes other applications as well. All of these resources can be found at Teradata University. About 80 percent of the courses can be completed remotely, but there are certain aspects that require in-person attendance in a classroom setting.

To access Teradata University and its resources, being a client is necessary, and certain subscriptions must be purchased based on our specific needs and inquiries, particularly regarding the Database Administrator side. The information we can access depends on the licenses we acquire with the system.

The initial setup is straightforward, but we may struggle the first couple of times; however, it is very user-friendly. Anybody can download the solution and play with it. Moreover, there is a place where we can ask for help if we encounter problems during the installation of Teradata Cloud. This is one of the reasons why Teradata is very popular, as there are always people available to assist us.

The time required to set up a cloud depends on its size. For a small Teradata Cloud, it usually takes around 45 minutes to complete the setup process.

The most important part is to do our planning and understand the client's requirements before deploying the solution. There is no point in deploying a cloud solution for a client without knowing their specific requirements. Therefore, I believe that the planning phase is the most crucial aspect. Once we have a clear understanding of what the client wants, we can proceed with setting up Teradata Cloud Data Warehouse for them.

The implementation is done in-house by our solution architects.

Teradata used to be expensive, but they have been lowering their prices. The cost is becoming more comparable to other models, like IBM. I would rate the price a seven out of ten, with ten being the highest.

I rate Teradata Cloud Data Warehouse ten out of ten.

Teradata Cloud Data Warehouse is plug-and-play, much like Microsoft. It is a user-friendly and efficient product, and users will be pleased with its speed.