Business Intelligence and Analytics Articles
The world's first OLTP Database Machine was unveiled yesterday by Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, with John Fowler, Sun executive vice president, during a live webcast. "For a long time we have been working with Sun and this is the latest output of that partnership—Oracle Exadata version 2, hardware by Sun and software by Oracle," said Ellison.
Posted September 16, 2009
Quest Software has introduced a new version of Toad for Data Analysts, a multi-platform tool designed for IT and business professionals who need to quickly access, understand and report on data.
Posted September 15, 2009
IBM recently launched IBM Cognos Express, an all-in-one business intelligence and planning solution specifically built and priced for midsized clients. Deployed in just a matter of hours, the new solution offers clients a low-cost and low-risk, integrated approach to planning, analyzing and reporting performance, identifying trends, and ultimately helping them make smarter business decisions.
Posted September 15, 2009
Entrinsik, Inc., a provider of web-based operational reporting and analysis solutions, has announced the launch of the Informer Channel on YouTube. The new channel will feature video clips demonstrating features of the company's web-based reporting software used by thousands around the world.
Posted September 14, 2009
Why do business decision makers need to wait for IT to deliver performance reports on the business? Why can't they build their own reports, and gain rapid access to answer the questions they have?
Posted September 14, 2009
Microsoft SQL Server has been a favorite for years for organizations that want to implement business intelligence (BI) functionality - even in traditionally non-Microsoft shops. Especially since the SQL Server 2005 release, the ROI of a Microsoft solution coupled with the ease of implementation has driven healthy adoption of the DBMS for BI. And the integration of SQL Server 2008 with Microsoft Office, SharePoint Server, and PerformancePoint Services for delivering BI to end users has created an even stronger end-to-end platform.
Posted September 14, 2009
IT management software company CA, Inc. today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held NetQoS Inc., a provider of network performance management and service delivery solutions, for $200 million.
Posted September 14, 2009
Information Builders (IBI), a provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, announced support for IBM System z/OS computer Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) in Focus 7.6.10 and WebFocus 7.7. Information Builders says that its zIIP chip support represents the first and only BI platform optimized for the mainframe environment.
Posted September 08, 2009
Oracle Database 11g Release 2 is generally available and downloadable today from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). Improvements have been made in all key areas, with a general emphasis on helping customers lower their IT infrastructure costs.
Posted September 01, 2009
Pentaho Corporation, a commercial open source business intelligence and data integration software vendor, has announced the release of Pentaho BI Suite Version 3.5, which includes new report and dashboard design capabilities for both business and IT users, as well as technical and packaging changes to enable broad use of Pentaho for embedded business intelligence by OEMs and SaaS providers. In addition to the new software, Pentaho is also offering a new report migration service that enables the conversion of reporting from proprietary business intelligence platforms to the lower-cost Pentaho reporting tools.
Posted September 01, 2009
Entrinsik, Inc., a provider of web-based operational reporting and analysis solutions, has announced the launch of the Informer Channel on YouTube. The new channel will feature video clips demonstrating features of the company's web-based reporting software used by thousands around the world.
Posted August 26, 2009
MicroStrategy Inc., a provider of business intelligence software, has announced that its latest product release, MicroStrategy 9, runs on the VMware virtualization platform. MicroStrategy customers can now deploy MicroStrategy 9 BI applications on VMware-based virtual machines. This will enable applications to achieve the hardware efficiencies, streamlined operations, and low cost of operation available through virtualization.
Posted August 25, 2009
InterSystems Corporation yesterday introduced technology additions to its InterSystems CACHÉ high-performance object database. Available now in CACHÉ 2009, the new features provide enhanced web services security, reporting, and system management and monitoring.
Posted August 18, 2009
RightScale, Jaspersoft, Talend and Vertica have announced an integrated solutions stack intended to enable customers to increase agility and lower costs by combining the power of the cloud, a high-performance analytical database, and BI and data integration software. RightScale is a cloud computing management provider and offers a fully automated cloud management platform that enables customers to design, deploy, and manage business-critical applications on the cloud. Vertica provides the analytical database which is based on column-structure architecture. The BI software is provided by open source BI vendor Jaspersoft, and the data integration software by open source vendor Talend. This BI stack is an example of the power of collaboration among vendors to deliver integrated solutions, and by focusing their efforts on delivering BI on the cloud, customers now have tools to help them move quickly with BI projects.
Posted August 18, 2009
Four top Microsoft SQL Server executives will present keynote addresses at the Professional Association for SQL Server's PASS Summit Unite 2009 conference, Nov. 2-5.
Posted August 18, 2009
Microsoft SQL Server's relational engine has offered new instrumentation that improves by light years with each new release. The introduction of Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) in SQL Server 2005 provided a much-needed equivalent to Oracle's long-standing and capable V$ and X$ system views. SQL Server 2008 has provided another dramatic improvement to its instrumentation with Extended Events (also known as XEvents) that promises to offer even greater opportunities to tune, trace and troubleshoot the inner workings of a SQL Server application. All of this stands in stark contrast with the anemic instrumentation offered in SQL Server Analysis Services, Microsoft's wonderful multi-dimensional data repository that is a free feature-set within the SQL Server product.
Posted August 14, 2009
Netezza Corporation, a provider of data warehouse and analytic appliances, has introduced the Netezza TwinFin appliance, the first in a family of new blade server-based appliances. The TwinFin appliance scales to more than a petabyte of user data and delivers significantly better performance over competing solutions. The TwinFin appliance is also priced very reasonably per terabyte, which resets the bar on price-performance in the industry.
Posted August 04, 2009
Vertica, a column-oriented analytic database technology provider, has announced a new release of its Analytic Database product with new features for performance gains, increases in scale, and advanced analytics. The primary new features consist of a next-generation column-store architecture called FlexStore, MapReduce technology for advanced ETL loading and analytical processing, and load balancing via IPVS.
Posted August 04, 2009
IBM today announced an agreement to acquire SPSS, a provider of predictive analytics software, services and solutions that help clients forecast trends and anticipate change for business advantage. The $1.2 billion all-cash purchase of SPSS, a publicly held company headquartered in Chicago, is expected to close in the second half of 2009.
Posted July 28, 2009
SAP Business Objects recently announced enhancements to its Data Services and Data Federator software products, part of the SAP Business Objects Information Management (IM) Solutions Portfolio. These products support both SAP and non-SAP IT environments, and now with the latest release have expanded support for SAP customers with integration to the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW).
Posted July 28, 2009
Oracle said last week that it has agreed to acquire GoldenGate Software, Inc., a leading provider of real-time data integration solutions.
Posted July 28, 2009
Oracle said today that it has agreed to acquire GoldenGate Software, Inc., a leading provider of real-time data integration solutions.
Posted July 23, 2009
Sybase, Inc. yesterday reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009. Highlights of the quarter include historical second quarter records achieved in operating income, operating margin, net income, EPS, and cash flow; as well as license revenue that increased 4% year over year and 11% in constant currency; and database license revenue that increased 23% and 30% in constant currency. Additionally, mobile software license revenue increased 4% and 11% in constant currency.
Posted July 22, 2009
SPSS, a provider of predictive analytics software and solutions, has released PASW Statistics 18, the latest version of its statistics software suite used by commercial, government and academic organizations to solve business and research problems.
Posted July 21, 2009
Visual i/o, a technology vendor that provides business analytics and and visualization software, has announced a cloud-based Software-as-Service (SaaS) solution that allows employees and managers throughout an enterprise to simultaneously access, visualize, analyze and collaborate with one another on essential data.
Posted July 21, 2009
Sybase, Inc. today announced the availability of Sybase IQ 15.1, the newest version of its column-based analytics server. With this new release, organizations can utilize Sybase IQ 15.1 in-database analytics functionality to run predictive analytics business logic directly in the database.
Posted July 14, 2009
SAP AG recently introduced new capabilities in two SAP BusinessObjects governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions that promote automated risk management and compliance strategies. New versions of the SAP BusinessObjects Risk Management and Process Control applications give customers the clarity required to help ensure that the right controls are in place, helping them to both comply with government regulations and manage business risks.
Posted July 14, 2009
SenSage has announced that it is participating in the EMC Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence/Analytics Competency Center to provide customers an optimized solution to manage large-scale event data warehouse and business intelligence environments. SenSage offers patented event data warehouse solutions that provide actionable results from large amounts of log and event data. The SenSage data warehouse software is integrated with EMC networked storage systems, and is designed to help organizations achieve cost efficiencies and reduce time-to-value in data warehouse deployments.
Posted July 14, 2009
Predictive Analytics - sometimes referred to as Predictive Data Mining - is a branch of Business Intelligence that attempts to use historical data to make predictions about future events. At its simplest, predictive analytics utilizes statistical techniques, such as correlation and regression, which many of us have encountered in college or even high school. Correlation analysis determines if there is a statistically significant relationship between two variables. For instance, height and age are highly correlated, while IQ and height are very weakly correlated. Regression attempts to find an equation between the two or more variables, so that you can predict one from the other.
Posted July 13, 2009
At a rather muted Microsoft TechEd in Los Angeles in May, the crowds were diminished and the educational content was slimmed down. In the past, SQL Server sessions were so abundant that you'd have trouble choosing which of several you might want to attend. This year, the state of the economy was reflected in many ways, including the one, or, in just a few cases, two sessions per time slot allotted SQL Server professionals. Despite the low ebb, the Microsoft SQL Server team made an exciting announcement about the upcoming availability of the SQL Server 2008 R2 CTP (Community Technology Preview).
Posted July 13, 2009
ParAccel, Inc., a provider of massively parallel processing (MPP) columnar database technology, has introduced version 2.0 of the ParAccel Analytic Database (PADB) for data warehousing and analytics. PADB 2.0 tackles complex business questions faster by leveraging dozens of new features and enhancements, including patent-pending innovations in query optimization and SAN integration. PADB 2.0 will be generally available in August, 2009 and can be licensed as software or as a virtual or packaged data warehouse appliance.
Posted July 07, 2009
Panorama Software, a provider of BI solutions, has announced NovaView Version 6.0, a tightly integrated suite of web-enabled BI applications. Like past versions, NovaView 6.0 combines strong capabilities for query and analysis, formatted reporting, performance dashboards, KPI scorecards, modeling, advanced visualization and automated report distribution. It also includes new deployment wizards and applications, as well as a more robust platform.
Posted July 07, 2009
MicroStrategy has announced the availability of MicroStrategy business intelligence reports, dashboards, and scorecards on the Amazon Kindle DX, enabling MicroStrategy BI users to store, retrieve, and review business intelligence reports on the Kindle DX in PDF format while away from the office.
Posted July 07, 2009
Software AG, a provider of business infrastructure software, announced it would soon be shipping the latest release of its flagship webMethods platform, webMethods 8.0. The package includes CentraSite ActiveSOA, a unified repository for business and technical services.
Posted July 07, 2009
Oracle has announced the general availability of Oracle Real-Time Decisions Release 3.0. Oracle Real-Time Decisions is a decision management platform to deliver targeted recommendations during customer interaction, or wherever optimized decisions need to be made in business processes such as risk management, retention management or cross-sell/upsell.
Posted July 01, 2009
Infobright, a open source data warehousing company, and Pentaho Corporation, a commercial open source alternative for business intelligence, have joined forces with Sun Microsystems to deliver a hardware and software solution that lowers the cost of entry and simplifies deployment of a powerful BI infrastructure.
Posted June 30, 2009
Jive, a technology vendor focused on social business software has recently announced an OEM agreement with SAP Business Objects, through which it will deliver community analytics that combine its Social Business Software (SBS) platform together with SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand offerings
Posted June 30, 2009
Visual Numerics, Inc., part of Rogue Wave Software, and a producer of advanced numerical analysis and visualization software, has announced an OEM partnership with Sybase. Visual Numerics offers two product lines: the IMSL Numerical Libraries for powerful mathematical and statistical analysis and the PV-WAVE visual data analysis development environment. As part of the OEM partnership, Sybase is embedding multiple IMSL Library time series analysis functions into Sybase RAP - The Trading Edition Enterprise, a unified market analytics platform that lets capital markets firms make more intelligent, efficient use of data for better analytics, decisions and reporting across the front-to-back office trade lifecycle.
Posted June 24, 2009
The first of Sybase's regional Sybase TechWave Symposia will be held in Washington, D.C., Aug. 26-27, at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel. Representing a departure from Sybase's previous approach of holding one major TechWave event annually, regional events are intended to provide an opportunity to get closer to customers and prospects and to tailor content and presentations to a specific audience. The format includes keynotes from Sybase's executive leadership team, business content, exhibits and a day and a half of technical sessions.
Posted June 24, 2009
ILOG, an IBM Company, announced new offerings across its business rule management and supply chain management portfolio of products to help enterprises more quickly analyze an ever-increasing flow of data and make smarter decisions about their operations and the customers they serve.
Posted June 22, 2009
Interactive Edge LLC, a provider of data analysis and visualization solutions, has announced the debut of XP3 BI Presenter, a Microsoft Office add-in which brings data directly into Microsoft PowerPoint, enabling users to quickly create high-impact, dynamic presentations utilizing existing SAP BEx queries or Microsoft Analysis Services OLAP cubes. BI Presenter eliminates the need for time-consuming, error-prone cut-and-paste activities associated with moving from Excel to PowerPoint and connects PowerPoint to SAP NetWeaver BI InfoCubes or Microsoft Analysis Services cubes.
Posted June 16, 2009
MicroStrategy, a provider of business intelligence software, has unveiled a free reporting software package for departmental BI applications. MicroStrategy Reporting Suite enables companies to use MicroStrategy's integrated BI platform to develop and deploy premium, web-based reporting applications, at no cost. With the new reporting package, MicroStrategy seeks to eliminate the cost and time impediments for departments and workgroups to initiate new reporting applications.
Posted June 16, 2009
At the PASS Summit 2009 conference in Seattle, Wash., Nov. 2-5, 2009, the Professional Association for SQL Server will present by-invitation-only Spotlight sessions highlighting top presenters who have received high speaker ratings at past PASS Summits. Spotlight sessions are 90 minutes long, providing speakers with the opportunity to delve more deeply into their technical topics.
Posted June 16, 2009
IBM announced a new social networking community, called PartnerWorld Communities, designed to help partners more easily connect and collaborate with each other from anywhere around the world to bring new technologies to market and close sales faster and more efficiently.
Posted June 15, 2009
Syncsort, a provider of data integration software, and Attunity, Ltd., a provider of real-time data integration and event capture, have formed a strategic partnership targeted at helping customers solve complex real-time data integration challenges.
Posted June 15, 2009
In today's competitive and crisis-ridden market, companies are under pressure to rapidly deliver results and make necessary changes—which requires that decision makers have accurate and timely information readily available. However, many executives have doubts about the timeliness of the information they now receive through their current BI and analytics systems.
Posted June 15, 2009
This is a time of great change for data centers. Technology is advancing and getting smarter, and workloads and performance demands keep growing. For this issue of Database Trends and Applications, we sought a range of industry views on the most profound—and perhaps unexpected—changes reshaping data centers and enterprise it.
Posted June 15, 2009
Sybase turned in the best year in its history in 2008, followed by its best-ever first quarter in 2009. Brian Vink chats with Database Trends and Applications about what he sees as the key issues in information management, the company's partnership with SAP and the plans to revamp TechWave this year.
Posted June 15, 2009
illuminate Solutions has announced the release of version 4.0 of its iLuminate correlation database technology. New iLuminate 4.0 features include a 64-bit architecture that allows for nearly unlimited scalability and faster query performance, enhanced multithreading that enables a larger number of users to have simultaneous database access, a web services architecture that allows for managed services and cloud deployments, LDAP/Active Directory-based user and privileges management that plugs into customers' existing production environments, and public APIs (Java, .Net, C++) that enable easy development of custom analytic applications.
Posted June 09, 2009
Greenplum, a provider of database software for the next generation of data warehousing and analytics, has unveiled its Enterprise Data Cloud (EDC) initiative. The EDC Initiative is a new vision for bringing the power of self-service to data warehousing and analytics, encompassing the primary areas of platform (the EDC platform, based on self-service provisioning, elastic scale and massively parallel processing), methodology (an agile approach to data analytics that embraces large-scale data collection, getting data into the hands of business users, and iterating quickly), and ecosystem (customers and partners that embrace these new capabilities with tools, infrastructure and creative methodologies).
Posted June 09, 2009