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Little change for independent Teradata

Teradata will keep it's focus on internal research and development, but won't say if acquisitions are in the pipeline following last week's NCR spinoff.

By Nicole Kobie, 12 Oct 2007 at 17:11

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Teradata's spinoff last week from parent firm of sixteen years means little change for the company, executives at the firm have said.

Teradata's step away from NCR has sparked speculation - at their Las Vegas Partners Conference, at least - of acquisitions, but the data warehousing firm's chief executive Michael Koehler stressed that the firm was essentially its own business within NCR since January 2000.

"Operationally, there's not much change," Kohler said. "The only significant change going forward is how we invest."

That freedom could mean more money for internal R&D or external investments - as in, acquisitions. Koehler wouldn't speculate on any future prospects, but noted that the company prefers to keep to its core data warehousing business. "Historically, we've done acquisitions that are small but unique," he explained. Teradata looks for companies which bring something specific to their core business, such as a unique application for a certain vertical or a solution to a problem faced by a small number of Teradata's customers, he said. The company has also previously picked up intellectual property rights as well as made partnerships - such as the one announced earlier this week with SAS.

While external investments remain to be seen, Teradata is still investing in future technologies. "We're looking at specific opportunities that complement Teradata," Koehler said.

Scott Gnau, head of research and development, stressed that "R&D will not change after the spinoff." But he added: "Dedication to R&D and [intellectual property] that differentiates has never been higher."

Koehler said Teradata is investing in text analytics as well as search and geospatial data sources, such as GPS and RFID. While such innovations are "pretty far out there" at the moment, Teradata plans to stay on top of things. "Four or five years ago, Teradata saw the opportunity for near real-time interactions and started investing in technology to handle that," he said, adding the company hopes to keep ahead of trends with their development teams.