Redshift, from Amazon Web Services, offers a compelling value proposition for organizations that need scalable data warehouses. The per terabyte cost of storage is 10% the market rate, but the real upside of Redshift has nothing to do with its price.

1. Why AWS’s Redshift is a
Game Changer
James Haight, Research Analyst, Blue Hill Research
©2013 Blue Hill Research. All Rights Reserved.
©2013 Blue Hill Research. All Rights Reserved.

2. So What is Redshift?
Announced in November 2012,
Redshift was made
available on a wide scale
in February 2013.
•
Redshift is Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud
data warehouse solution
•
Companies can buy as much or as little data
storage as they need on a flat pricing plan
•
Scaling storage capacity no longer entails
deploying more infrastructure on premise
©2013 Blue Hill Research. All Rights Reserved.

3. The Cost Difference
AWS goes to market on the dramatic per-terabyte price savings
Redshift offers over on-premise options
Pricing Nuances
The cost of Redshift depends on the location which
the data is stored and the length of the contract.
Compared to market rates Redshift
is approximately 10% of the cost of
traditional solutions
©2013 Blue Hill Research. All Rights Reserved.

4. But it’s Not About the Price. . .
o Firms interviewed by Blue Hill stressed that cost was not the primary
factor motivating their transition to Redshift
o Rather, the top driver was a removal of constraints resulting from:
 AWS’s partnership network
 Outsourcing non-critical business functions
 “Limitless” scalability
©2013 Blue Hill Research. All Rights Reserved.

5. The Business Drivers of Transitions
o AWS’s Partnership Network
 Almost all major BI vendors can be run in the cloud with Redshift
 Partners can also help organizations create deployments best aligned to
their needs
o Outsourcing non-critical business functions
 Capital is allocated to its most efficient use
 Companies can focus on core needs, rather than maintaining a database
o “Limitless” Scalability
 Organizations can pay for as much or as little capacity as they need
 This is well-suited for rapidly expanding data sets, such as live social media
data or machine sensors
©2013 Blue Hill Research. All Rights Reserved.

6. The Takeaway
o Redshift lets organizations prepare for emerging data use cases
o Companies will avoid capacity bottlenecks that result from rapidly increasing the
amount of data to be processed
o Redshift’s upside lies within the flexibility it provides to organizations
o AWS’s robust partnership network means that companies can choose options that
are best suited to their needs
©2013 Blue Hill Research. All Rights Reserved.

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