Amazon Redshift introduces new data type to support time zones in time stamps
You can now use time zones as part of time stamps in Amazon Redshift. The new TIMESTAMPTZ data type allows you to input timestamp values that include a time zone. Amazon Redshift automatically converts timestamps to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and stores the UTC values. Also, the COPY command now recognizes timestamp values with time zones in the source data and automatically converts them to UTC. You can retrieve and display timestamps in Amazon Redshift by setting your preferred time zone at the session level, user level or client connection level.
You can now use time zones as part of time stamps in Amazon Redshift. The new TIMESTAMPTZ data type allows you to input timestamp values that include a time zone. Amazon Redshift automatically converts timestamps to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and stores the UTC values. Also, the COPY command now recognizes timestamp values with time zones in the source data and automatically converts them to UTC. You can retrieve and display timestamps in Amazon Redshift by setting your preferred time zone at the session level, user level or client connection level.
In addition, you can easily compare date and time values using new functions such as DATE_CMP_TIMESTAMPTZ and TIMESTAMP_CMP_TIMESTAMPTZ.
For more information about time stamps and time zones, see Datetime Types in the Amazon Redshift Database Developer Guide.