ShowCase STRATEGY 3.5 Expands Processing and Platform Capability
ShowCase Corporation (Rochester, Minn.) has released the latest version of its data warehousing product, STRATEGY, with expanded capability to enable more sophisticated data mining operations.
STRATEGY 3.5 is a complete data warehousing solution designed to provide high-level business intelligence functions while allowing companies to preserve their existing software and hardware.
| STRATEGY 3.5 is a complete data warehousing solution designed to provide high-level business intelligence, function while allowing companies to preserve their existing software and hardware. |
The new release utilizes Hyperion’s Essbase/400 v6.0. STRATEGY Essbase is a multidimensional database that allows large numbers of users to simultaneously analyze and share data. For the first time, in the new version, ShowCase offers added capability to draw on data residing on an NT server for analysis. In addition, users can now use STRATEGY to generate query reports against Microsoft SQL Server. This is strictly for businesses using a mixed environment, however, since all of the analytical processing is still done on the AS/400.
“We make sure that the data processing stays on the 400 because that’s where our market focus is, that’s where most of our customers are,” explained Tony Lardarello, STRATEGY product manager at ShowCase. “The reason for that is the AS/400 – the reliability, the maintainability, the scalability of that platform – to process this kind of data in a multidimensional database or a data warehouse, that really is the platform of our choice. That is our niche, and there’s a big market for it. ...But this helps us take the platform issue out of the picture. This makes us more competitive.”
The other major improvement in STRATEGY 3.5, according to Lardarello, is that customers can do all of their query reporting and scheduling over the Web, if they choose to do so. He said ShowCase sees that as a critical step in keeping their technology in line with their customers’ changing needs.
“That’s where we see our customers going – delivering this information over the Web,” Lardarello says. “What’s really happening here is it gives organizations the ability to open up their information to their customers. It could be in whatever capacity the Web is used in a company – intranets, extranets or the Internet. It just makes it easier for all audience inside the organization and outside the organization”
Other new features include expanded application breadth to capture more descriptive information without increasing application size or load times. STRATEGY 3.5 also includes support for dynamically calculated dimensions requiring more detailed analysis, as well as more sophisticated analytics with built-in forecasting and trending functions.
STRATEGY 3.5 is available immediately and is priced from $25,000.
In a separate statement...
ShowCase announced the launch of the IBM DB2 OLAP Server for AS/400, a joint development project between ShowCase and IBM. The new server is designed to provide AS/400 users with a more robust relational storage management option, utilizing ShowCase’s Essbase/400 technology. It also gives users access to ShowCase Warehouse Builder data transformation tool.
“It really fills out, for IBM anyway, their product – they are the only vendor who can say they have a complete OLAP solution across all platforms,” says Janice Lyon, business manager for strategic alliances at ShowCase. “And it’s very exciting for us. IBM has really made a commitment to our technology.”
Related Editorial:
IBM Showcases OLAP on AS/400Related Information:
ShowCase Corporation (new window)STRATEGY Overview (new window)IBM DB2 OLAP Server Page (new window)