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IBM Integrated Analytics System vs Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics comparison

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Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Integrated Analytics Sy...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Data Warehouse (23rd)
Microsoft Azure Synapse Ana...
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
98
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Warehouse (7th)
 

Featured Reviews

it_user258975 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Information Management Specialist at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
They deliver a canned, scalable solution, but I would like to see the TSA scripts available publicly.
With a solid DB2 foundation, it performs incredibly and I recently implemented the new BLU Acceleration, and was dumbfounded that hour-long queries took minutes, in the correct scenario, of course. From a consultant point of view, I can step in and immediately know the system. I do not…
AnandTiwari - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at New Turn Technologies
Has consistently supported integration across diverse environments and streamlined deployment processes
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics could improve their pricing structure. They currently have two separate pricing tiers: full log and partial log. I suggest they implement a single price and reduce charges on logs. They could implement a cap with some free tier or price tier based on the GBs of log collected. This would help customers use Azure more effectively. Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is an excellent product because it includes both SIEM and orchestration capabilities with playbooks, but the log management part is very costly. Regarding future improvements, I would appreciate more application connectors for integration, particularly for on-premise based solutions. Many customers still maintain on-premise infrastructure, so having more integration possibilities for these environments would be beneficial.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"With a solid DB2 foundation, it performs incredibly and I recently implemented the new BLU Acceleration, and was dumbfounded that hour-long queries took minutes, in the correct scenario, of course."
"I like the keynotes and their simplicity. Like other Microsoft products, Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is simple to understand and use."
"The solution has been working well overall."
"The most valuable feature is the scalability."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is its filling of the gap between big data and classic data warehouses."
"The product works well with other Azure products."
"Synapse makes it easy to integrate and onboard data from other Microsoft and Azure sources. The interface is familiar because we were using Azure Data Factory before Synapse. It made the transition even easier because the Synapse interface is exactly the same."
"The stability of the solution is pretty good."
"It's user-friendly and has a good dashboard."
 

Cons

"The HA - it's a good solution, but I feel IBM should provide the necessary scripts so you can destroy the TSA domain and rebuild it easily."
"From an infrastructure standpoint, I believe it can be more secure in terms of availability."
"Synapse Analytics' performance slows down if you don't get your distribution right because it gets queued and goes into a single node."
"The macro functions, though useful, are not totally user-friendly. Some people have difficulties in learning them."
"The major challenge that we're seeing with Azure Synapse is around security concerns. The way it is working right now, it has Managed VNet by Microsoft option, similar to the implementation of Azure Databricks, which may pose a concern for financial institutions. For managed environments, the banks have very strict policies around data being onboarded to those environments. For some confidential applications, the banks have the policy to encrypt it with their own key, so it is sort of like Bring Your Own Key, but it is not possible to manage the resources with Microsoft or Databricks, which is probably the major challenge with Azure Synapse. There should be more compatibility with SQL Server. It should be easier to migrate solutions between different environments because right now, it is not really competitive. It is not like you can go and install SQL Database in some other environment. You will have to go through some migration projects, which probably is one of the major showstoppers for any bank. When they consider Synapse, they not only consider the investment in the actual service; they also consider the cost of the migration process. When you scale out or scale down your system, it becomes unavailable for a few minutes. Because it is a data warehouse environment, it is not such a huge deal, but it would be great if they can improve it so that the platform is available during the change of configuration."
"Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics could improve the section in the solution where you can implement the Python Spark pipelines, it's not the same as in Databricks which would be better."
"The security performance and cost are the two things that needs improvement."
"Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics could improve its compatibility with Visual Studio. One of the challenges for people moving from an on-premise to a cloud solution, such as Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics, is that you're constantly working in a browser. There are people that have been working for decades on desktop applications. For them to start working in a browser, it's quite a change. Allowing people to work and do their work inside Visual Studio than in the browser, would be a large advantage."
"I wish the data governance feature could be incorporated without requiring an additional license."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The solution is very expensive because it often requires the purchase of additional storage."
"This is an expensive solution."
"I think Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is priced well, and I would rate the price at eight out of ten."
"The price of Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics can vary. Other solutions are typically fixed prices and a fixed cost regardless of usage, but this solution is based on usage or consumption."
"The cost of the solution depends on the type of license we choose, such as pay-as-you-go, one-year reserve, or three-year reserve."
"We have a licensing cost to pay."
"The cost of the licensing depends on the size of the warehouse, where the cost of storage is approximately $130 USD per terabyte."
"The pricing is competitive, but only when you pay upfront. If you pay as you go, it's not as competitive. I'd give pricing a rating of seven out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Outsourcing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise60
 

Questions from the Community

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How does Amazon Redshift compare with Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?
Amazon Redshift is very fast, has a very good response time, and is very user-friendly. The initial setup is very straightforward. This solution can merge and integrate well with many different dat...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?
I think the licensing cost for Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is very high, but I have a local system to support that, so I don't consider that in the near future.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?
I am hoping that in the future Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics may have AI support.
 

Also Known As

Smart Analytics System, IBM Smart Analytics System
Azure Synapse Analytics, Microsoft Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Microsoft Azure SQL DW, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, MS Azure Synapse Analytics
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

WIdO AOK, EEKA Fashion, SSGC, GS Retail
Toshiba, Carnival, LG Electronics, Jet.com, Adobe, 
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