I got some great messages today from people who enjoyed my tweets “from” SapphireNow in Orlando – although I wasn’t there. That’s a tribute – not to me; we’re only talking tweets, for goodness’ sake – to SAP for pulling off a two-continent, video-streaming, full-on collaborative event I was able to participate in meaningfully fromContinue reading “SapphireNow Day One – Getting Virtual Events Right, And More”
Category Archives: On Business Intelligence
Sybase Database Value to SAP – Long Term and Short
It’s not what you think – the hidden jewel for the near term may just be SQL Anywhere. Read on. Disclosure: I worked at Sybase in the last millennium, when it hit the wall at $1B the first time and bounced. Over the next few years, Oracle dramatically outdistanced itself, in large part, as itContinue reading “Sybase Database Value to SAP – Long Term and Short”
SAP – Sybase: Synergies? Suspect So.
SAP announced today that it will acquire Sybase for $65.00 per share, representing an enterprise value of approximately $5.8 billion. The announcement says that “customers will be able to better harness today’s explosion of data and deliver information and insight in real time to business consumers wherever they work so they can make faster, moreContinue reading “SAP – Sybase: Synergies? Suspect So.”
Microsoft Briefs On SQL Server R2 – Confusion, Questions Result
SQL Server 2008 R2 is near release. Briefings for analysts are underway, and right now the picture is a mess. Although seemingly relegated to an adjunct position compared to Office in Microsoft’s thinking, R2 adds a great deal (source:softwarekeep.ca): CEP, although tools and integration are unclear; Master Data Management (MDM), although apparently Microsoft believes endContinue reading “Microsoft Briefs On SQL Server R2 – Confusion, Questions Result”
IBM Gets Feisty — Mobilizes Analytics for Oracle Battle
In July 2009, IBM announced the Smart Analytics System 7600, a workload-optimized, pre-integrated bundle of hardware and software targeted at the business analytics market. Included in that package are an IBM POWER 550 running AIX, storage, plus InfoSphere Warehouse Enterprise Edition (which consists of DB2, Warehouse design and management tools + Cubing, Data Mining andContinue reading “IBM Gets Feisty — Mobilizes Analytics for Oracle Battle”
New TPC-H Record – Virtualized by ParAccel, VMware
You can set performance records in a virtualized environment – that’s the message of the new 1 Tb TPC-H benchmark record (scroll down to see the 1Tb results) just released by ParAccel and VMware. Running on VMware’s vSphere 4, the ParAccel Analytic Database (PADB) delivered a one-two punch: not only the top performance number forContinue reading “New TPC-H Record – Virtualized by ParAccel, VMware”
Oracle Ups EPM Ante
After a 2 year wait, Oracle is rolling out some fruits of its daunting integration efforts in enterprise performance applications. New suite bundles, an Essbase connector and Hyperion uplift are highlights of its Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) 11.1.2 release. The numbering scheme, evidently constrained by the overall Oracle level 11 nomenclature, drove the understated “11.1.2”Continue reading “Oracle Ups EPM Ante”
Tableau Breaks Out With Advanced Visualization
When I last spoke to business analytics vendor Tableau Software in April 2009, the company had run off a string of uninterrupted growth. In a challenging 2009, Tableau continued to grow, and in our most recent conversation the team was upbeat. Q1 was looking very good, and the company has over 4000 named accounts now.Continue reading “Tableau Breaks Out With Advanced Visualization”
SAP Signals Changes At Insider Event – Vaguely
SAP took the wraps off planned updates to its data warehousing, data integration and on-demand BI plans a bit at the SAP Insider BI and Portals event in Orlando in late March. There were some modest surprises: the unexpected absence of Marge Breya, who was in Walldorf apparently getting a broader set of responsibilities (aContinue reading “SAP Signals Changes At Insider Event – Vaguely”
Want Broader BI Usage? Crystal Reports Founders Offer Indicee
Mark Cunningham has reunited some of the team that built Crystal Reports (now part of SAP Business Objects) and launched Indicee, a SaaS-based BI reporting play that is pointed squarely at the continuing difficulty of extending BI beyond its seemingly permanent minority usage model. It’s commonly understood that users continue to fend for themselves manually,Continue reading “Want Broader BI Usage? Crystal Reports Founders Offer Indicee”