TERADATA WAREHOUSE EMPHASIZES PRIVACY FEATURES

An article in PC Week reported that as more companies build warehouses with gigabytes of sensitive customer data and exploit them with sophisticated customer relationship management tools, concern is growing over the potential for that data to be misused. NCR Corp. addressed the concern last week at its user conference, announcing plans to add consumer data privacy features to its Teradata database. The Dayton, Ohio, company also unveiled plans to offer privacy consulting services for Teradata users early next year.

The unnamed privacy features in Teradata, due in the second half of 1999, will provide companies running data warehouses an easy means of recording customer choices and preferences. It could also restrict which employees within a company can access the data. NCR envisions layers of varying sensitivity, from the least sensitive (name and address) to more sensitive (race and marital status).

The options will also let banks, retailers and other corporate users offer their customers a way to check what personal data companies have stored, officials said. Consumer data privacy is at the forefront in Europe, where NCR has numerous Teradata customers. Under a European Union directive that will take effect this month, nations are required to implement consumer data privacy measures.

The United States is self-regulated, but Lars Nyberg, NCR's chairman and CEO, anticipates consumer outcry -- if not regulation -- to eventually prompt companies to offer privacy options. "We don't see our customers demanding these things [now]," Nyberg said. "I happen to believe they will, and I think we should have it available when they do."

The initiative got a thumbs-up from privacy advocates and NCR users. "It's almost mind-boggling how much information can be collected," said Tony Marshall, an IT specialist for Hallmark Cards Inc., of Kansas City, Mo., which tracks point-of-sale data in Teradata.

Also at the conference, NCR announced commercial availability of Teradata for Windows NT, unshackling it from NCR's proprietary WorldMark servers and MP-RAS operating system. The NT port makes Teradata available to a broader audience and better positions it to compete with Oracle Corp., IBM and others, NCR officials said.

For more information, see http://www.ncr.com