REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 12, 2003 — Microsoft Corp. today announced plans to extend its SQL Server (TM) business intelligence (BI) platform to include reporting capabilities. Microsoft expects to release a beta test version of the software in the first half of this year. Microsoft’s intent to deliver enterprise reporting functionality demonstrates its commitment to bringing improved business insight to every employee, at every level.
“One of Microsoft’s goals is to empower employees with the information needed to make better business decisions more quickly,” said Bill Baker, general manager for Business Intelligence at Microsoft. “With the combination of SQL Server Analysis Services and Reporting Services, developers will be able to extend applications to provide rich embedded reporting and analysis solutions that are both cost-effective and easy to use.”
Microsoft’s plan is to provide an open and extensible reporting platform that industry partners can use to broaden their offerings without having to invest in building reporting infrastructure. Reporting Services will support a Web services interface to allow developers to easily build custom applications, and it will support a wide range of data sources including OLE DB and ODBC as well as multiple output formats including Web browsers and Microsoft® Office applications. Using Microsoft Visual Studio®
.NET and the .NET Framework, developers will be able to extend the capabilities of the platform, enabling it to connect to custom data sources, produce additional output formats and deliver to more devices.
“With the introduction of Reporting Services, Microsoft will create a unique opportunity for the industry to broaden the adoption of reporting and analysis applications,” said Dr. Claudia Imhoff, president of Intelligent Solutions. “Developers and deployment firms will be able to create greater value within this fast-growing industry by empowering corporations to better leverage internal data for smarter business decisions.”
With this addition, SQL Server will provide the single-most comprehensive BI platform on the market with integrated analytics including OLAP, data mining, ETL, data warehousing and reporting functionality, helping enterprises realize the value of better decision-making while lowering total cost of ownership.
“We are pleased to see Microsoft making a significant investment in the reporting industry, as it perfectly augments the best-in-class, interactive analytic solutions that we partner with Microsoft to provide,” said Clay Young, vice president of marketing for ProClarity Corp. “A significant portion of our customers have a need for both report delivery and Web-based analytics, so we intend to fully embrace and support the new reporting offering. We look forward to continuing the success we have experienced with Microsoft in helping our mutual customers improve efficiency and productivity and ultimately achieve their business objectives.”
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. It dramatically reduces the time required to bring these applications to market while offering the scalability needed for the most-demanding environments. More information on Microsoft SQL Server can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/sql/.
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