Teradata (NYSE: TDC) announced an expansion of its Tera platform, introducing two new components — Tera Context Engine and Tera Harness — along with a new Agent Skills capability, all scheduled for availability in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Tera Context Engine is described as a vendor-neutral layer that connects databases, data platforms, pipeline engines, catalogs, models, and AI agents without moving data or replacing existing technologies. Tera Harness serves as an execution layer designed to route tasks across tools, models, and data sources. Agent Skills are reusable, task-specific functions intended to make data engineering, analysis, and science work accessible through natural language.

According to the company, internal testing on the SWE-bench Pro benchmark using the same Opus 5 model showed Tera consumed 73% fewer tokens than Claude Code, completed work 42% faster, and incurred 58% lower total cost. On data-eng-bench, a benchmark developed by Snowflake Labs and Bespoke Labs, Teradata claims Tera delivered 53% lower cost per reliably solved task compared to Snowflake Cortex Code. Teradata states that full benchmark methodology and materials for independent validation are publicly available.

The three new components are part of the Teradata Autonomous Knowledge Platform. Teradata said organizations can use the components individually or in combination, and retain control over model selection, workload placement, and data access across cloud, on-premises, and sovereign environments.

"Most enterprises are not starting from scratch with AI. They are dealing with tools that do not work together and a skills gap that makes those tools hard to use at scale," said Sumeet Arora, Chief Product Officer at Teradata.

Teradata also introduced Teradata AI Services, a professional services offering intended to help customers move AI programs toward production deployment using the Tera platform. Tera Context Engine, Tera Harness, and Agent Skills are expected to be available in Q4 2026.