Seagate Software Preps OLAP-Enabled Holos
Microsoft Corp.’s recent overtures in the OLAP arena with the impending release of SQL Server 7.0 and its accompanying OLAP tool, Plato, may likely ratchet up demand for OLAP solutions. Hoping to cash in on a projected OLAP boom,
Seagate Software (Scotts Valley, Calif., www.seagatesoftware.com) released a revamped and OLAP-friendly version 7 of its Holos information management development environment.
Seagate positions Holos 7 as a hybrid OLAP environment that is able to combine both OLAP and relational data stores. "[Customers] need a single application that brings together all their data and manages it better," contends Terry Cunningham, president and chief operating officer of Seagate Software. "Seagate Holos 7 includes the OLAP technology and analysis functionality required to create high-end business intelligence solutions that customers need to gain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace."
Holos 7 includes Open OLAP, a tool that can combine OLAP sources, including Essbase from Arbor Software Corp. (Sunnyvale, Calif., www.arborsoft.com), the forthcoming Plato and SQL Server 7.0 from Microsoft, and Seagate’s own Holos data stores. Holos 7 also features a new Smart consolidation algorithm that Seagate Software says can allow IT organizations to keep pace with rapidly expanding data stores by shrinking OLAP cube sizes and optimizing calculations, increasing the capacity and performance of the Holos environment.
In addition, Holos 7 features compatibility with the SAP R/3 enterprise resource planning environment from SAP America (Wayne, Pa., www.sap.com). Holos 7’s SAP support allows users to query SAP base tables through an SAP ABAP development layer and use standard syntax to build OLAP cubes directly from SAP transaction data, Seagate says.
Seagate points to the acceptance of the Holos environment in a number of Fortune 500 environments -- such as Cisco Systems Inc., KPMG Peat Marwick LLP (KPMG, New York) and Nike Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.) -- as proof of Holos’ suitability for mission-critical enterprise implementations. KPMG recently selected Holos as part of a $181 million effort to develop an agencywide integrated financial management system for NASA. David Halwig, public services systems and technology project director with KPMG, points to Holos’ robustness and scalability as compelling considerations. "We are committed to the industrial strength of Seagate Holos to develop an efficient, enterprisewide and fully integrated financial management system for [NASA]," Halwig explains.
TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. (Calgary, Alberta), an energy company that provides gas and crude oil, has implemented Holos 7. Says Lynne Ralston, a TransCanada senior systems analyst for budget and planning systems, "With Seagate Holos, we can design decision support applications that enable users with the flexibility to build their own complex rule-driven business models and reports."