REDMOND, Wash., October 27, 1998 — Computer users who want to unlock and analyze their enterprise-wide data to make better decisions got good news today from major data warehousing tools vendors, who say they’re supporting new technical criteria for Microsoft’s Data Warehousing Framework. That support means organizational computer users can more easily build flexible data warehouse solutions that lower their total cost of ownership.
There are two types of data warehouses: enterprise data warehouses, which contain corporate-wide information from multiple sources; and data marts, which are subsets of corporate-wide data generally built for use by individual departments or divisions.
The Microsoft Data Warehousing Framework provides users with a technical roadmap to assist their data warehouse solution development. Its open architecture allows customers to integrate data tools from multiple vendors, and simplifies the design, implementation, and management of data warehousing solutions. The Data Warehousing Framework leverages technologies provided with Microsoft SQL Server 7.0, to be launched next month at Comdex. The new criteria call for compliance with technical standards – including OLE DB for data exchange and Microsoft Repository for sharing metadata – that facilitate interoperability among third-party products.
Companies supporting the Framework through participation in Microsoft’s expanded Data Warehouse Alliance include Appsco Software Ltd., Ardent Software, Brio Technology Inc., Business Objects SA, Cognos Corp., Comshare, Data Junction, Datawatch, Decisionism Inc., Evolutionary Technologies International, Informatica, Knosys, PLATINUM technology inc., Portola Dimensional Systems, Prism Solutions Inc., Sagent Technology Inc., Seagate Software, Speedware Corporation Inc., TopTier and Wall Data Inc. They represent every major segment of the data warehousing industry, including query/reporting/analysis, extraction/transformation/load, analytical applications, datamart suites and management tools.
Information technology managers realize that information is only of value if it can be easily accessed and analyzed for better decision making. The move toward data warehousing is their response to the increasingly overwhelming volume and complexity of data available from their varied systems. The data warehouse makes this information more accessible and understandable by integrating data from a company’s many systems into a single, comprehensive data store that can be accessed by all relevant applications.