HP Vertica as DW

I come from a long history of Oracle and SQL Server usage for my development projects.  Today, I hear upper management scheduled a meeting with HP Vertica to discuss what their product can do for us.  

Can someone give me a brief overview of why we should consider this over the Oracle and SQL Server systems we already have enterprise licensing for?  Is it much different than the column store dbs that Oracle and SQL Server offer?  Would it be worth the extra expense (as our current licensing doesn't expire for several more years)?

Our DW is in it's infancy and a redirection to Vertica would be an interruption, but probably not a significant interruption.  If there is any additional detail I can provide to help someone with an explanation, just ask please.  

Thanks.

The selfish side of me would say go for it, I always like learning new platforms. But realistically, Oracle and SQL Server are competent DW platforms for most applications. The key to justifying a new platform is does it solve a particular problem with what you have?

Isn't it interesting that the impetus for re-visioning the fundamental technologies for your nascent data warehouse is coming from senior management. Given that the warehouse isn't old enough to have encountered any sort of performance issues, which is really the only reason you would consider transplanting an underlying database, we have to look to other reasons for organization motivation. Unfortunately, these motivations, typically involving sports tickets, steak dinners, golf at the TPC, and other entertainment activities, can never be brought to light unless you desire your career to be cut short.

Consider it a blessing that senior management is assuming the responsibility for selecting the appropriate technology for the data warehouse and enjoy the opportunity to immerse yourself in a new database platform.