Knoware Blog/News

CREATING KNOWARE PT 1 – REFLECTIONS FROM CLARE SOMERVILLE [ONE OF KNOWARE’S FOUNDERS] – THE BEGINNING

The Knowledge Warehouse Limited came to life over several good lunches. It was the days of long lunches: well, it was for us anyhow. There were three of us. John L [one of the founders] was an excellent cook easily capable of turning out a sumptuous eight course degustation as a friendly evening meal. He was talking governance and sales. He had been nurturing the company name for a while, thinking knowledge was going to be the next big thing. That was the early to mid-nineties and he wasn’t wrong there. “Is it to be The Knowledge Warehouse or just Knowledge Warehouse” I asked? “Definitely THE Knowledge Warehouse” was the reply.

Clive C [another of the founders] was and still is the cleverest technical person I came across in my career. He would quietly set about knowing exactly how something worked and making sure that he delivered whatever was required. He covered such a wide range of areas that when he suddenly died it took three people to replace his set of skills.

The company was registered in 1996 but Clive’s death put The Knowledge Warehouse on ice for a few years. However seven years later we put together another group of friends and colleagues to stand The Knowledge Warehouse Limited on its feet as a data warehousing and business intelligence consultancy….

CELEBRATING KNOWARE’S 21st

Over the next few weeks and months we’re going to post a mixture of blogs, mini-blogs and video clips that acknowledge and celebrate Knoware’s 21 years in business.

These will be a mixture not only of format but also of characters from the diverse range of stakeholders and contributors that have been involved in Knoware’s success over the last two decades.

From founders and employees, to partners and associates stay tuned for personal stories and insights from the people who got us where we are today!

Knoware is 21!

A note from Colin Harris: one of the founders.

The Knowledge Warehouse Limited (Knoware) has been delivering world-class data and analytics solutions to the world for 21 years. The turbulent times we are presently faced with including pandemics, job losses and economic headwinds have made this milestone a time to pause and reflect on how much of an achievement this really is.

In New Zealand the 21^st birthday has special meaning and is widely celebrated. Turning 21 signifies coming of age, becoming a fully-fledged adult and a contributor to the world. This is true for Knoware as a company and partner for our valued clients.

Over the past 21 years we have been privileged enough to work on some of the most significant data and analytics projects in the New Zealand landscape. In conjunction with SAS and other partners we have built data warehouses and business intelligence platforms, trained teams to deliver excellence in analytics and driven real world value in helping major government and commercial enterprises be data driven in their decision making.

It still pleases me, as a founder of Knoware, that we are still as strong and relevant today as we ever have been. It is truly humbling to think of all the support and investment our people and our clients have made in us to get us where we are today. I am extremely grateful for your support both in the past and on-going.

Knoware has been part of the foundational fabric of helping institutions with their people, processes and technology to innovate and push boundaries with complex analytics requirements. We’re excited that our specialist area of data and analytics has become even more important and high profile over the last two decades.

Knoware’s team, many of whom have been on the bulk of this 21-year journey, have risen to the challenges and ensured that even by today’s advancing technology standards our clients are at the forefront of the data and analytics value chain.

We have learnt a lot over these 21 years. We know the things that work, the things that don’t and the things we would like to think we would never try again.

From all of this we have built enduring relationships with a great group of people in New Zealand that trust Knoware and our people by name to deliver pragmatic, relevant and up to date advice on data and analytics.

As we celebrate this milestone we will share some of our experiences with you and showcase some new insights and innovative ways that you can maintain a trusted and reliable analytics capability now and into the ever-changing future.

Keep an eye on our website and LinkedIn as we share our journey to date and the exciting developments we are working on.

Colin Harris
CEO & Technical Director

Teradata and Knoware join forces to help New Zealand customers accelerate data analytics investments

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND – Friday 5^th July, 2024 – Teradata (NYSE: TDC) and Knoware, the New Zealand based data and analytics consultancy, today announced a strategic partnership to empower customers in New Zealand and Australia to innovate and deliver on outcomes with their data and analytics technologies.

Through this partnership Knoware and Teradata will work with customers to; empower their organisations with proven hybrid, AI-ready data solutions that will connect data silos, democratise data access and comply with data sovereignty requirements.

“Our customers are faced with delivering more with less with their existing, and often complex, data environments,” said Josh Abbott, Vice President, Australia and New Zealand, Teradata. “Our partnership with Knoware helps customers use data effectively and securely, leverage AI/ML capabilities in the cloud and deliver value to their organisations.”

Knoware’s team of experts will provide regional customers with full-service delivery of Teradata’s VantageCloud and ClearScape platform including strategic advice, solution design, implementation, training and ongoing support.

“The partnership between Knoware and Teradata provides our customers with the framework and pathways they need to modernise their data and analytics technologies. We have the expertise and skills to help deliver more from their investments whether it is on-premise, cloud or hybrid,” said Colin Harris, CEO and Technical Director, Knoware.

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About Teradata

At Teradata, we believe that people thrive when empowered with better information. Our best-in-class cloud analytics and data platform delivers the harmonized data and trusted AI/ML organisations need for confident decision-making, faster innovation, and impactful business results.

www.teradata.com

For more information contact: Steve Carline, Sales & Marketing Manager, Knoware
Phone: +64 27 283 7440

Download the Media release PDF here.

Knoware approved as a supplier for an additional 4 services on Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace

Knoware are delighted to advise that they have now been confirmed as an approved supplier on Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace for a number of key strategic and transformational data services.

Knoware has now been approved as a supplier for an additional 4 services:

Data architecture
Data modelling
Data strategy
Change management services.

This now takes our total of Marketplace categories to 8.

What is the Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace ?

The Marketplace is open to all agencies in the New Zealand public sector and radically simplifies the initial primary procurement process, reducing the barriers for suppliers engaging with government – and making it easier for agencies to access innovation.

Why these Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace categories are particularly important

These service categories relate to Knoware’s core expertise in large scale data transformation projects. They differ materially from the more “operational” categories Knoware was earlier approved for (Data Analytics, Data Engineering, Data Management Training Services and Data Migration Services).

While delighted to be approved for all current categories on Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace, strategic data transformation projects for large, complex organisations is where Knoware excel.

Why Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace is a natural fit for Knoware

Knoware are ISO certified in both Quality Management and Environmental Management Systems and have extensive experience working on some of the New Zealand Government’s most complex and sensitive technology projects.

With a heritage that stretches back over 25 years, Knoware combine unmatchable expertise with fresh thinking to apply innovative multi-platform solutions to today’s data challenges.

Unmatchable public sector experience and expertise

Access to Knoware’s combination of unmatchable expertise and fresh thinking for today’s data challenges has never been easier for government agencies. Contact us today to find out more about our big project, data transformation credentials within the public sector.

Knoware is now an approved Pae Hokohoko Marketplace supplier

Knoware are delighted to announce that they have just been confirmed as an approved supplier to registered government agencies on the Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace.

Knoware has been approved as a supplier for the following services:

Data Analytics
Data Engineering
Data Management Training Services
Data Migration Services.

What is the Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace ?

Why Pae Hokohoko|Marketplace is a natural fit for Knoware

With a heritage that stretches back over 25 years, Knoware combine unmatchable expertise with fresh thinking to apply innovative multi-platform solutions to today’s data challenges.

As an approved supplier on Marketplace, Knoware will be able to provide faster, easier access to that expertise, fresh thinking and innovation for more government agencies than ever before.

Data and data warehouses have gone “off piste” with Snowflake: How can this benefit your business or organisation?

By Venkat Elumalai, Knoware Practice Lead

There used to be a time when setting up a data warehouse involved investing in massive amounts of hardware that was usually sited “on premises”.

Today, data and data warehouses have essentially gone “off piste” thanks to technology and providers like Snowflake.

What is Snowflake?

Snowflake is a cloud-native platform service that can be platformed on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud which does away with the need for maintaining and supporting expensive on premises servers. There’s no software to install, configure, or manage and it is straight -forward and easy to move data into Snowflake using standard ETL solutions.

With Snowflake being built entirely in the cloud, it effectively tackles and resolves many of the issues that hampered traditional hardware-based data warehouses.

Workloads scale independently from one another, making it an ideal platform for data engineering, data transformation, data sharing, developing data applications and managing high query volumes.

Knoware update on the Log4j vulnerability & SAS

A serious vulnerability in a piece of open source software called Log4j was recently discovered and reported.

Log4j is widely used in many software products to standardise logging processes and includes parts of SAS Software (most notably Java components).

If the vulnerability is exploited, then an attacker could execute code on the machine running those exposed SAS processes.

Being highly responsive, SAS quickly released a tool and associated instructions on how to find and patch this vulnerability called Logucinno.

Loguccino remediates the Log4j vulnerabilities CVE-2021-44228 and CVE-2021-45046 within the specified scope of support. SAS recommends that you use Loguccino, where supported, instead of completing manual mitigation or remediation tasks.

If you would prefer Knoware to assist you in implementing this patch for Log4j, then please let us know by contacting us directly via email at support@knoware.co.nz.

Happy holidays from the team at Knoware

The year 2021 has brought both challenges and possibilities. Benjamin Franklin said, ‘Out of adversity comes opportunity’, and we look forward to working on opportunities with you in 2022.

We wish you all a fabulous holiday break and time in the company of family and friends.

See you in the new year. From the team at Knoware.

Congratulations Janina on becoming a SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4.

Big congratulations to Janina Stenbo, Knoware Operations Administrator for her achievement in becoming a SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4.

Base Programming Specialists have passed a performance-based exam where they have demonstrated proficiency in reading and creating data, manipulating data with functions and formats, controlling program flow with loops and conditional statements, creating summary and frequency reports, and identifying and correcting program errors.

As a forward-looking consultancy in full growth mode, Knoware’s team of thought leaders and data and analytics practitioners pride themselves on a culture of supportive excellence and achievement.

Great work Janina, congrats from the whole Knoware team on your certification!