A data warehouse appliance is an integrated package of hardware and software that supports data warehousing for a company. The objective for a data warehouse appliance is one purpose, one package, one install and one service. In other words, when deploying a data warehouse appliance, the purchaser should expect to purchase the product from a single vendor, receive one shipment of an integrated pre-configured and pre-tested system, install it as a single deployment, operate it as a single system-management unit, and service it from one vendor support group.