Informatica PowerExchange Reviews

PowerExchange primarily helps us with connections to non-Oracle-based services. We use it for SAP connectors and connecting to other cloud instances. It also assists in building our data warehouse. We utilize it for data extraction.

PowerExchange is one of the best software solutions to build integrations with non-Oracle or standard database services, especially for SAP and Hana products. It is a scalable middleware product, which allows us to efficiently extract data. In my company, PowerExchange is used to build our data warehouse.

I worked for clients in building IT implementation in their projects. I have also worked for a bank in Bahrain. I worked for waste management organizations, implementing IT solutions in their companies. I worked for Emaar Properties, the company that developed Burj Khalifa. All the companies have their internal IT, and I was part of their digital solution team in which we were working on multiple projects in the IT domain, with Power BI's reporting, database programming, ETL, and data integration areas.

The major challenge with the tool stems from the fact that if you are implementing it in the cloud, then it has to be within the framework. Another challenge is the large volume of data. Informatica PowerExchange is a product through which we enable connectivity, so it is not an application product or a stand-alone tool, but Informatica's core systems or IICS uses it to connect to multiple systems. The major challenge associated with the tool is on the infrastructure side.

The tool's features could be something faster with more connectors. A number of connectors can help connect to a wide variety of applications. The tool should focus on reducing the resilient time, like, if any network disconnectivity happens, then auto-reconnection and the retry method should be more robust so that manual intervention is not required.

We communicate with the tool's support team as we need to raise our issues with them. I have already worked with Informatica and have a total experience of around eight to nine years; the one problem with the tool is its support team since they take a lot of time to address a particular issue. If one time you schedule a call and explain the situation to them about the issue, the support team will raise tickets and take notes. They will ask you to share the logs or screenshots of the errors, and you will get no resolution. The support team will randomly give you some documents and expect you to go through them, and if you get back to them with questions, a new person will be allocated, and you will have to start explaining everything again. I would not say it is a pleasant experience.

There are two primary use cases. One is standard data warehousing, which is batch loading with a transformation. We prefer to do push-down to data because we have invested a lot in the platform. We are doing ETL for standard data warehousing, which is a batch mode loading with pushdown to Teradata. We use it for schedule monitoring. Everything is enabled to Informatica for that batch. Second, with PowerCenter, we are doing real-time capturing from negative source systems and then replicating data in our data warehouse platform.

The major challenge we faced was to install the agent on application databases. Using PowerExchange, we were able to install the agent in the PDC installation process. Our CD server manages the PowerExchange server, which captures data from the application databases in near real-time. The agentless RCDC enablement through PowerExchange is a great idea and has worked very well so far.

In my company, the tool is useful for data onboarding purposes. You can use Informatica PowerExchange if you have to deal with different data sources in your company and you want to have everything in one common environment, like a data warehouse. Informatica PowerExchange can connect to different sources, including flat-file databases and different types of data sources. The tool helps you onboard all the data into a single target or different targets.

Though Informatica PowerExchange is available as a cloud solution, it can be made better by providing something similar to how Apache Spark is developed, which provides functionalities like in-memory execution, making it much faster in terms of execution compared to Informatica. If Informatica PowerExchange can have the capability to work like Apache Spark, then it will be a much better and improved product.

Apache Spark and Informatica PowerExchange are ETL tools. Apache Spark has a machine learning algorithm, an area where Informatica PowerExchange lacks.

Informatica PowerExchange is a complex tool to work with, especially with the VSAM files, since it has its own architecture, but the underlying data has its own architecture of which mapping the metadata with the data is very difficult, but with certain capabilities and analysis, it is possible to do it. If Informatica PowerExchange had automation capabilities that could automatically provide protection, then it would be a better product.

We use the solution to fill the data warehouse from multiple data sources. We have 1500 pipelines built-in production.

The valuable features are access path and accessibility. The population of data is fast. It handles big data better than competitors like SSIS. If you move ten terabytes of data, PowerExchange can do that easily.

We are a system integrator. My experience is primarily around solution consulting, designing, and proposing it in the right perspective so that its features are best utilized, and we are able to provide the best value for our customers.

From the product feature or product capability perspective, the aspects around integration, transformation, and standardization are valuable. It's fairly easy to use. It has a GUI-based interface.

There are elements related to the fast-paced movement of data. If you combine PowerExchange with Change Data Capture (CDC), in a very fast-moving batch, PowerExchange does a good job, although it doesn't quite support that in real-time. 

The transforms and the objects that are a part and parcel of PowerCenter help speed up the development and design and also help with better performance. If you are able to club it with a very high-performing database underneath, then you get the best of both worlds through a pushdown optimization mechanism. You can exploit Informatica's innate and native transformation capabilities. You can also exploit the underlying databases, scalability, and fast processing capabilities. These things come seamlessly with PowerExchange. PowerExchange has implemented this in PowerCenter on Teradata very effectively. It's one of the best combinations for pushdown optimization where you utilize the transformation engine of Informatica, and you have a very powerful Teradata underneath. The entire Teradata construct and architecture is quite strong in terms of processing, fast movement, etc. You are able to establish the best of both worlds.