REDMOND, Wash., March 11, 2002 — Microsoft Corp. continues to demonstrate its leadership in the business intelligence industry through record-breaking achievement last year in online analytical processing (OLAP), according to the 2001 OLAP Report at http://www.olapreport.com/Market.htm . While companies such as Oracle Corp. and IBM Corp. lost momentum, Microsoft’s percentage of the $3.3 billion industry almost doubled in 2001, growing from 11.7 percent to 21.3 percent. This was the fastest growth by any major OLAP vendor since publication of the first report in 1995. Led by Microsoft®
SQL Server (TM) 2000, Microsoft jumped from its third-place standing in 2000 to tie the 2000 winner for first place in 2001. Microsoft is expected to become the leader in 2002.
“Microsoft OLAP deployments grew rapidly in 2001, while several other major vendors were shrinking,” said Nigel Pendse, lead author of The OLAP Report and The OLAP Survey. “In OLAP license fee terms (which is the best indication of new sales), Microsoft was the clear leader in 2001, and this generated rapid growth of associated tools, applications and services for
both Microsoft and its industry partners.”
The rapid growth of SQL Server 2000 is driven in part by the large number of organizations deploying its analysis services component for business intelligence applications. Customers including Pennzoil Products Co., Starbucks Coffee Co., MGM Mirage, CompUSA Management Co. and AT & T Growth Markets deploy SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services for its excellent scalability, security and administrative functionality, which allowed these customers to benefit from business intelligence (BI) solutions quickly and at a low total cost of ownership. SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services provides the BI that organizations need to stay strategic in today’s marketplace.
“As BI becomes more prevalent throughout an organization, users at all levels need to be able to use the tools. Microsoft has produced such significant growth in BI because it focused on making SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services easy to use,” said Claudia Imhoff, president of Intelligent Solutions Inc. “When knowledge workers in an enterprise can use BI every day, they can make faster, smarter decisions that improve the bottom line.”
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is the complete database and analysis offering 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/ .
The OLAP Report is an independent source of information about OLAP products, applications, case studies and the industry, published by Business Intelligence Ltd. It is not vendor-sponsored and does not take advertising. It can be accessed on http://www.olapreport.com/ .
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