Why Choose Smart Associates to Support your Netezza /CP4D Appliances
About Smart Associates Netezza Support Plus
Smart Associates offers 3 tiers of support for customers running legacy Netezza/PureData for Analytics systems and Netezza Performance Server for Cloud Pak for Data (CP4D), including Hammerhead: Essential, Comprehensive and Managed.
Whether or not your system continues to be supported by IBM, the only major differences between our support service and IBM’s are:
Pricing: we offer a combination of fixed (all inclusive) pricing models; 9x5 (work day) or 24x7 hours of cover; non-production, volume, and small system discounts; and charge a flat rate per supported system (no matter how large).
Software: we are able to remotely investigate and diagnose the cause of performance or stability issues and provide assistance resolving these without the need for software updates in the vast majority of cases. Where a software or firmware update is required we can perform this remotely, but require the customer to have downloaded the latest versions of IBM’s NPS software and related tools and utilities prior to their support contracts expiring, as this is software that IBM owns and licenses.
Hardware: customers can choose between purchasing and installing replacement hardware components either:
- Themselves - under our remote guidance and direction, including root cause analysis of reported hardware issues, and identification of the correct IBM FRU (Field Replaceable Unit) part number that will need to be procured, as well as remote assistance with replacement part installation and configuration (including hardware replacement training, if necessary), or
- Via a local 3rd party partner, who will provide a field engineer to perform all on-site hardware replacements for a fixed price per year (including parts, although in this case the fixed price will vary according to the physical size of the system).
Netezza Support Plus Service Tiers
Essential - This is the basic level of support that provides remote assistance for software issues only. Customers procure and install replacement parts themselves without our support.
Comprehensive - This is an enhanced level of support that covers software and hardware. It includes fixed price cost of all replacement parts (that we procure) and on-site field engineering resources. The service includes regularly scheduled health checks and remediation plan recommendations, unlimited access to our technical resources for responding to technical questions and a range of other activities to ensure your Netezza systems run at optimum performance.
Managed - Our Managed Service offering gives customers access to our full range of products and services. In addition to the features of the Comprehensive tier, our technical team acts as your virtual DBA, performing a wide range of monitoring and remediation tasks on your behalf. Customers also have unlimited access to: Smart Database Replication; Smart Access Control; Smart System Management; SuperTuning; SuperGovernance; and SuperCuration. For more information on these features see our Smart Management Frameworks webpage.
All tiers come with:
- Choice of cover periods: Office Hours only (Mon-Fri 9AM-5PM, excluding public holidays), or 24x7 cover
- Small system discount for systems that are less than half rack
- Non-production system discount available for dev/test/DR environments
| Features | Essential | Comprehensive | Managed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access to our help desk ticketing system via web and email | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Optional integration with Netezza's built-in event monitoring and alert notification subsystem | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Remote Software Break/Fix Support | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Remote Hardware Break/Fix Support | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Customers procure and install replacement parts themselves, without our support | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
| Includes fixed price cost of all replacement parts and on-site field engineering resources | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Regularly scheduled system health checks and remediation plan recommendations | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Best practice guidelines and advice in response to technical questions | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Software/firmware upgrades or downgrades as necessary | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Risk mitigation advice against identified security vulnerabilities | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Performance Tuning and Workload Management recommendations | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Smart Database Replication: automated database replication for disaster recovery and backup management | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
| Smart Access Control: automated synchronization of users, groups, and permissions with EntraID/LDAP domains | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
| Smart System Management: automated execution of regular housekeeping tasks (e.g. catalog vacuuming, nzhostbackup, etc.) | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
| SuperTuning: automated optimization of database objects needing statistics collection, reorganization, or grooming to improve query performance | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
| SuperGovernance: automated monitoring of database query activity and notification if any custom data governance rules have been violated | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
| SuperCuration: automated deletion, aggregation, or obfuscation of data according to customizable, flexible, and granular criteria | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
| Optional services for an additional fee: database/query/code design, development, or migration; source system, application, or bespoke process support; technology/vendor selection, evaluation, or price negotiation; technical training | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
Bundle your Netezza & NPS / CP4D Support
Smart Associates now supports Netezza Performance Server for Cloud Pak for Data, including Hammerhead systems. Moving your support to Smart Associates means you can:
- Deal with one support desk
- Receive a single invoice
- Replicate your CP4D system with your Pure Data for Analytics / Netezza appliances using Smart Database Replication
Articles
Resources
Smart Support Plus Brochure View Smart Support Plus User Guide
Further Information
If you would like more information, check out our frequently asked questions or contact us and we'll get in touch.