Evaluating Ab Initio ETL Tool 1

[SharmaG]

Hi Guys.

Thanks to everyone for the valuable information on this site.

I am going to evaluate Ab-Initio for our data transformation/migration requirements in next one or two weeks. If someone already has any experience with this tool I would appreciate if he could share his views here.

I have big concern on the cost of deployment for this tool. I have 5 to 6 data sources, with around 2 to 3 million records and I have a time windown within which to complete my transfer. Also I have some validation and some transformation but all that is rather simple.

Also does anyone know of any third party evaluation done on the existing tolls in the market ? If yes could you please point me to the appropriate site or link.

Thanks in Advance.
-GS

 

[johnherman]

http://www.evaltech.com/tooleval.htm

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The trouble with doing something right the first time is that noboby appreciates how difficult it was.
- Steven Wright

 

[sasidharn]

Hi Sharma,
I am in the same boat as you. I also need to evaluate Ab-Initio for our data transformation, if you know a good site where I can get some tutorial on Ab-Initio please send me.

Thanks in advance,
Sasidhar.

 

[mm0]

Ab Initio is very secretive, as well as expensive. They offer high-end performance, but Informatica and Ascential can come close. I no longer evaluate them because they are so hard to work with, and they do not treat sales prospects very well. Only company I've ever seen that requires an NDA before they will talk to you, and there's no incredible secret revealed that would require an NDA.

You mention 2-3 million rows in a batch. You can do that volume in a tight window with Asential, Informatica, Business Objects (Data Integrator), or even SAS though SAS will require custom programming in the SAS language. I suggest you include one or two of these in the mix of products you are evaluating.

 

[johnherman]

Agree with mm0 regarding secrecy of Ab Initio. About 3-4 years ago, my consulting company wanted to get me a DW job with a bank who used Ab Initio in their DW process. They told me to contact Ab Initio and schedule myself for training as they were certain that after I had the training, I could get a placement.

Ab Initio does not train anyone who does not come from a company which *already* owns their product. So, if you want to learn Ab Initio, you have to buy it first (this may have changed, I hope so). Not even consultants can train on their product unless they are already employed at a company which uses Ab Initio.

I did, however, wind up getting hired at that bank later on, but not for any ETL work, but I did get a glimpse of the product. It is pretty typical compared to the others, but uses Maestro to schedule jobs.

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The trouble with doing something right the first time is that noboby appreciates how difficult it was.
- Steven Wright

 

[SharmaG]

Thanks a lot guys.

All that was said here is true, I am going through the same process.

The problem here is that Ab-Initio has already been evaluated by the chief-Architects of some departments of my client. So we will have to sort of give this product a priority since we need to maintain consistency. It is taking some time for the other departments to set up a test server for my evaluvation, so I thought I will talk directly to Ab-Initio and get an evaluvation copy. I mean to quicken up thins a bit. But as you said it seems to be a very seceritive product. No one from the sales/customer service ever responded to my calls.

Personally I do not like this attitude and if I had decisions in my hands, I would have rejected the product the very first time I would have encountered this secertive policy. This makes decisions very hard. Becasue in some ways this product may be a overkill for our project.

I am sure I will set up something to evaluate the product this week. I will try to put some feedback here to benifit members who could not break the Ab-Initio wall

Thanks a Lot.
-Sharma

 

[mm0]

Sharma,

It would be great if you could provide a comparison on more recent information. My review was about two years ago, and what I saw was comparable to other products, if less easy to use. Some vendors have made huge strides in the past two years with their products, and it would be good to know if Ab Initio has maintained feature and UI parity.

Mark