REDMOND, Wash., April 3, 2002 — In a recent independent study completed by the Walklett Group of Malvern, Pa., a business intelligence (BI) solution running on Microsoft® SQL Server (TM) 2000 Enterprise Edition, Windows®
2000 Datacenter Server and a 16-processor Unisys ES7000 Enterprise Server was found to be 50 percent less expensive to own and operate over a five-year period than a solution running on Oracle9i database and Sun Fire 6800 Server. In the software category alone, SQL Server 2000 was 3.5 times less expensive than the Oracle 9i database for comparable features, resulting in savings of $3 million over five years. Now may be a good time to seriously consider the lower-cost option: Microsoft SQL Server 2000.
“Businesses today require low-cost, agile BI solutions to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace,” said Bryan McClain, BI practice manager at Walklett Group. “SQL Server 2000 with its included Analysis Services and the 16-processor Unisys ES7000 Enterprise Server system deliver the necessary scalability and functionality at a low total cost of ownership.”
The Walklett Group report, “Cost Analysis of Sun/Oracle and Unisys/Microsoft for a BI Solution in a VLDB Environment,” published in February 2002, examined the cost difference between the two very large database (VLDB) solutions from deployment through five years, including costs for hardware, licensing software, maintenance and administration. The scenario used for the analysis involved a comparable infrastructure using direct costs available to the public. The report is available at http://www.microsoft.com/sql/evaluation/compare/oracle.asp .
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is the complete database and analysis platform for rapidly delivering the next generation of scalable e-commerce, line-of-business and data warehousing solutions. SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services provides the business intelligence enterprises need to make smarter decisions. Over time, decisions made using this kind of intelligence can have a dramatic bottom-line effect on the business. More information on Microsoft SQL Server Business Intelligence can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/bi/.
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