Vertica
By OpenText
Vertica is a columnar, massively parallel processing (MPP) analytics database designed for high-performance querying over very large datasets, originally created by database pioneer Michael Stonebraker.
Definition
Vertica is a columnar, massively parallel processing (MPP) analytics database designed for high-performance querying over very large datasets, originally created by database pioneer Michael Stonebraker.
Overview
Vertica was built around the idea that storing data column-by-column, rather than row-by-row, dramatically speeds up analytical queries that scan and aggregate over a subset of columns across billions of rows — the same principle behind other Columnar Database systems. It combines this storage layout with an MPP execution engine similar in spirit to Teradata and Greenplum. Vertica supports heavy compression, projections (physical storage optimized for specific query patterns), and in-database machine learning functions, positioning it for large-scale OLAP and business intelligence workloads rather than transactional (OLTP) use cases. It can be deployed on-premises, on commodity hardware, in the cloud, or via Vertica in Eon Mode, which separates compute from storage for elastic scaling. The product has changed corporate ownership several times — originally an independent startup, then part of Hewlett-Packard, later Micro Focus, and now OpenText — but has retained a loyal base of enterprises using it for petabyte-scale analytics.
Key Features
- Columnar storage with heavy data compression
- Massively parallel processing (MPP) query execution
- Projections for query-pattern-optimized physical storage
- Eon Mode separating compute and storage for cloud elasticity
- Built-in machine learning and time-series analytic functions
- Standard SQL interface with BI tool compatibility