You can optionally use PowerExchange, in conjunction with PowerCenter, to move bulk data from or to a Microsoft SQL Server database on a Windows system. PowerExchange establishes the connection to the SQL Server database for reading or writing data.

You can use PowerCenter without PowerExchange to move SQL Server bulk data. However, using PowerExchange for SQL Server bulk data movement provides the following advantages:

You can use the SQL Server bulk load utility with PowerExchange to efficiently load large amounts of data to SQL Server tables.

Because SQL Server is a relational database, you do not need to create a data map from the PowerExchange Navigator. You can define the bulk data movement entirely from the PowerCenter Designer and Workflow Manager. In the PowerCenter Designer, you can import SQL Server source or target metadata from PowerExchange to create the source or target definitions.

To access a SQL Server source or target, run a PowerExchange Listener on a Windows system and verify that PowerExchange can communicate with it. Also, if you run the PowerExchange Listener on a Windows system that is remote from the SQL Server database, install the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Native Client on the PowerExchange Listener system. For more information, see Setting Up and Testing Connectivity to a Remote SQL Server Source or Target.