Guitar Center Picks Netezza Data Warehouse Appliance

  
    
  
  
    
      Netezza, a leading provider of data 
      warehouse appliances, today announced that Guitar Center, Inc. 
      (Nasdaq:GTRC), the leading United States retailer of guitars, 
      amplifiers, percussion instruments, keyboards and pro-audio and 
      recording equipment, has implemented the Netezza Performance Server® 
      (NPS®) data warehouse appliance as its 
      enterprise data warehouse solution at its Guitar Center retail stores. 
      Guitar Center has selected the Netezza system, in collaboration with 
      business intelligence software from QuantiSense and MicroStrategy, to 
      manage and analyze data across its multi-channel retail business.
    
    
      The integrated business intelligence solution provides Guitar Center 
      with a consolidated view of its operations to quickly identify and 
      respond to trends in the business across divisions. Following an 
      extensive evaluation of data warehouse solutions, Guitar Center selected 
      the Netezza data warehouse appliance for its performance, speed to 
      deployment, ease of implementation and overall business value.
    
    
      “We needed a business intelligence solution 
      that would provide us with scalability and easy access to integrated and 
      more detailed information to allow us to spend more time analyzing the 
      data,” said John Zavada, CIO of Guitar Center. “We 
      evaluated several solutions and felt that Netezza’s 
      data warehouse appliance provided us with the flexibility and speed we 
      needed, and the enterprise-class capabilities we required, with very 
      little overhead and maintenance costs.”
    
    
      Mr. Zavada continued, “We have completed the 
      successful implementation of the NPS system throughout our retail stores 
      and plan to roll it out in our direct response and our Music & Arts 
      divisions. Ultimately, we will have easy access to integrated 
      information across all of our divisions and will be able to make more 
      informed decisions as we analyze a wider array of detailed sales, 
      advertising and promotion, store operations, vendor and customer data.”
    
    
      “Leading retailers like Guitar Center 
      continue to purchase the Netezza data warehouse appliance over competing 
      solutions to support very complex, rapidly changing and exponentially 
      growing businesses,” said Andy Winans, vice 
      president, Retail & CPG at Netezza. “The 
      low-cost performance of Netezza, coupled with its ease of deployment and 
      simple operation, have allowed our customers to gain the kind of insight 
      into and across their businesses that would have cost significantly more 
      and taken longer to achieve with competitive solutions.”
    
    
      The Netezza Performance Server system is built specifically to analyze 
      terabytes of detailed data 10-100 times faster than existing data 
      warehouse options, at a much lower total cost of ownership. The NPS 
      system stores, filters and processes terabytes of records within a 
      single unit, analyzing only the relevant information for each query 
      enabling improved performance and deployment for Guitar Center.
    
    
      About Guitar Center
    
    
      Guitar Center is the leading United States retailer of guitars, 
      amplifiers, percussion instruments, keyboards and pro-audio and 
      recording equipment. Our retail store subsidiary presently operates more 
      than 210 Guitar Center stores across the United States. In addition, our 
      Music & Arts division operates more than 95 stores specializing in band 
      instruments for sale and rental, serving teachers, band directors, 
      college professors and students. We are also the largest direct response 
      retailer of musical instruments in the United States through our wholly 
      owned subsidiary, Musician's Friend, Inc., and its catalogs and 
      websites, www.musiciansfriend.com, 
      www.guitarcenter.com, www.wwbw.com 
      and www.music123.com. More 
      information on Guitar Center can be found by visiting the Company's web 
      site at www.guitarcenter.com.
    
    
      About Netezza Corporation
    
    
      Netezza is a leading provider of data warehouse appliances. The Netezza 
      Performance Server data warehouse appliance integrates database, server 
      and storage platforms in a purpose-built system to perform detailed 
      queries and analyses on large volumes of stored data. Recognizing the 
      limitations of traditional data warehouse solutions, Netezza designed 
      its NPS family of data warehouse appliances specifically for analysis of 
      terabytes of data 10-100 times faster than traditional solutions, with a 
      lower total cost of ownership and greater ease of use. Based in 
      Framingham, Mass., Netezza has offices in Washington, DC, the United 
      Kingdom and Asia Pacific. The Company is backed by leading venture 
      capital firms, including Matrix Partners, Charles River Ventures, 
      Battery Ventures, Orange, Sequoia Capital and Meritech Capital Partners. 
      For more information about Netezza, please visit www.netezza.com.
    
    
      Business Risks and Forward Looking Statements
    
    
      This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to, 
      among other things, the implementation of the enterprise data warehouse 
      solution. Guitar Center’s ability to timely 
      achieve the expected results as contained in those forward-looking 
      statements may be impacted by a variety of factors including among 
      others, world and national political events, general economic 
      conditions, its ability to efficiently implement and integrate 
      information technology systems, its ability to integrate and profitably 
      operate acquired businesses such as Woodwind and Brasswind, the 
      efficient operation of its supply chain, including the continued support 
      of its key vendors, its effective management of business risks, 
      including litigation, and competitive factors applicable to its retail 
      and direct response markets.
    
    
      In light of these risks, the forward-looking statements contained in 
      this press release are not guarantees of future performance and in fact 
      may not be realized. Guitar Center’s actual 
      results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in 
      this press release. Further, the statements made by Guitar Center above 
      represent its views only as of the date of this press release, and it 
      should not be assumed that the statements made herein remain accurate as 
      of any future date. Guitar Center does not presently intend to update 
      these statements and undertakes no duty to any person to effect any such 
      update under any circumstances.
    
    
      Investors are also urged to review carefully the discussion under the 
      caption “Risk Factors” 
      in Guitar Center’s Annual Report on Form 10-K 
      for the year ended December 31, 2006 and its Quarterly Reports on Form 
      10-Q for subsequent quarters, which have been filed with the Securities 
      and Exchange Commission and may be accessed through the EDGAR database 
      maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov.