Welcome to your August Technical Touchpoint!
Whether you're just getting started with watsonx.data or looking to optimize existing workloads, this month's technical touchpoint has something for you.
Learn about the GPU acceleration technical preview, explore new tutorials, discover the latest 2.4.1 enhancements, and learn how you can help shape the future of IBM's data and AI products through our Data Platform Contributors Network.
Highlights
GPU Acceleration Technical Preview
Looking to improve analytics performance while lowering infrastructure costs? GPU-accelerated query processing for watsonx.data is now available through a technical preview program. Built on watsonx.data Presto (C++), this capability is designed to accelerate data-intensive analytics workloads by leveraging NVIDIA GPUs, helping organizations process queries faster while improving efficiency and cost performance. Early demonstrations have shown significant improvements in workload performance and cost efficiency.
Getting Started with watsonx.data? Explore Our Tutorials
New to watsonx.data or looking to deepen your expertise? Our tutorials provide step-by-step guidance to help you get up and running quickly, with both quick-start and solution-focused content designed to help you get the most from the platform.
Join the Data Platform Contributors Network
Want a voice in future IBM data and AI products? Join our Data Platform Contributors Network and help influence product experiences, messaging, and strategic direction through surveys, interviews, and other research activities. We're currently seeking input on how we communicate the value of IBM's data platform and on the capabilities that matter most for metadata management and data cataloging. As a thank-you for their time, eligible participants may receive a monetary incentive for participating in research activities.
What’s new in watsonx.data
Watsonx.data as a Service Version 2.4.1
Extend governance controls to Amazon Redshift
You can now apply IBM Knowledge Catalog (IKC) data protection rules to Amazon Redshift tables and views when using the Presto (Java) engine. This includes column masking and row filtering based on governance policies, helping you consistently protect sensitive data across your data ecosystem. The Amazon Redshift connector also now supports additional view management operations.
Run native database commands directly from Presto
With the new system.execute(query) procedure, you can run native SQL statements directly against IBM Db2, IBM Db2 for z/OS, and IBM Netezza data sources. This enables database-specific operations that aren't supported through the standard Presto SQL interface, including administrative commands, DDL operations, and non-result-set DML statements.
→ Explore native SQL execution support
Watsonx.data Premium 2.4.1
Apache Gluten support for IBM Power Systems
Apache Gluten accelerated Spark engine support is now available for watsonx.data on IBM Power Systems. This enhancement expands deployment options for organizations running watsonx.data in Power environments.
Thank you for your continued engagement — your voice truly makes a difference!
Let us know which new features are you exploring first? What use case would you like to see highlighted in the next Touchpoint?
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