Databases · Reliability · Modernization

About

Marquie Data Systems is a specialist database engineering consultancy based in Ossining, NY, led by a senior practitioner with twenty-five years of production experience on systems where downtime is not optional. The firm stabilizes, modernizes, and operates business-critical data platforms — and builds the reporting and automation that depend on them.

Most database problems aren't technology problems.

They're systems that were never fully tuned in the first place. It usually shows up as one of a few things:

• Systems getting slower as data grows
• Unexpected downtime or fragile failover
• Cloud or licensing costs creeping up
• Data pipelines that can't quite be trusted

The default response — "we probably need to upgrade or replace something" — is usually wrong. Most of these issues come from how the existing system is structured, tuned, or operated, not from the platform.

Why I can say this

United States Air Force veteran. Twenty-five years of senior database operations — investment banks, national platforms — where downtime and performance aren't optional, operating under SOC, PCI, and SOX audit at scale. In those environments, replacing systems wasn't the first move. Fixing and optimizing what was already there was.

Notable engagements (anonymized):

• Global investment bank. Migrated 4,000+ SQL Servers across U.S. data centers ahead of schedule; built 5,000+ clusters for an Enterprise edition adoption; tuned tables exceeding three billion rows; sub-3 ms commit times on the FUSION/IO in-memory platform for a global trading floor.
• National booking-and-scheduling SaaS. Led a zero-downtime cutover off a managed-hosting provider onto AWS + Azure using native log shipping and replication, 100% SLA compliance during the migration window. Mentored junior DBAs to ownership of the cutover scripts.
• Industrial logistics provider. Designed four Always On Availability Group SQL Server farms with automatic failover, dropping unplanned downtime to TTL-only delays. Built a SQL→UNIX-source replication path that synchronized real-time data into the OLTP layer.
• National parenting-media platform. Right-sized non-production SQL Server licensing to Developer Edition for $1.2 M in annual savings. Ran a distributed DBA team across MSSQL, MySQL, Couchbase, Sync Gateway, and Hadoop.
• National restaurant-ordering platform. Migrated Snowflake account configurations to Terraform-managed IaC by reverse-engineering existing state via Python; drove a 20% AWS hosting cost reduction through query and infrastructure optimization; stood up end-to-end Monte Carlo data observability across PostgreSQL → Snowflake pipelines, lifting pipeline accuracy to 99.9%; led a FiveTran MAR billing audit that recovered overpayments and produced a renegotiated contract.

Figures above are from twenty-five years of employed and contracted DBA roles, stated from direct experience. Engagement details and references are available in scoping conversations.

How I work now

The engagement model is direct: come into an existing environment, identify where performance, reliability, or cost is breaking down, fix it inside the current system, and — where it earns its place — add governed monitoring and automation. No new tools required; no rebuild.

Most firms make money when you change platforms. I focus on getting your current systems to perform the way they should have in the first place.

If slowdowns, fragile failover, rising costs, or untrusted pipelines sound familiar, a short review will establish quickly whether they can be fixed in place.

Who we work with

There are two types of organizations this work is built for.

Local businesses

Operators who rely on their systems but don't have time to manage them — businesses where:

• reports are slow or inconsistent
• data lives in multiple systems that don't quite line up
• backups exist, but no one's verified them
• issues get worked around instead of fixed

Too complex to ignore. Not large enough to justify full-time database staff.

Fit: when the business depends on its data, but no one owns it end-to-end.

Mid-market operators

Teams already running real systems — with real consequences. Organizations using SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redshift, or Snowflake — on cloud or on-prem — where:

• performance impacts customers or revenue
• downtime isn't acceptable
• data pipelines need to be trusted, not questioned
• costs are rising without clear cause

These aren't early-stage problems. They're operational ones.

Fit: when the systems are in production — and the stakes are real.

How we're different

• Local when it matters. Same region. Same time zone. Available on-site when needed. Not outsourced. Not remote-only. Close enough to understand how the business actually operates.
• Plain English, no translation required. You don't need a technical background to understand what's wrong. Problems, tradeoffs, and fixes are explained clearly — so decisions can be made without guesswork or intermediaries.
• Fixed-price first step. The initial engagement is scoped and priced upfront. No open-ended discovery. You know the cost before any work begins — and what you'll get from it.
• Measured, not assumed. Every change is validated against real workloads. Before and after. If it doesn't improve performance, reliability, or cost — it doesn't count.
• Built for audited environments. Experience operating under SOC, PCI, and SOX constraints. Controls, access, and recovery aren't just implemented — they're defensible. When auditors ask questions, there are clear answers.

This is a fit for organizations that already have systems in place — and need them to work better. Not a fit for greenfield builds, tool shopping, or speculative redesigns.

Service area

Ossining, NY and the surrounding Westchester / lower Hudson Valley towns: Briarcliff Manor, Croton-on-Hudson, Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown, Pleasantville, Chappaqua, Millwood, Yorktown Heights. Remote engagements welcome anywhere in the U.S.