Business Intelligence and Analytics Articles
Alteryx, Inc., a provider of strategic analytics software, has announced Alteryx Strategic Analytics 8.5, designed to place powerful analytics into the hands of business analysts and decision makers. New features to the Alteryx platform include capabilities to drive social media data into any analytics, native creation of the Tableau Data Extract, and a new designer interface specifically designed for line-of-business users.
Posted March 19, 2013
The Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) will celebrate its 20th anniversary at COLLABORATE 13, a conference on Oracle technology presented jointly by the IOUG, OAUG (Oracle Applications User Group) and the Quest International User Group. The event will be held April 7 to 11 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. As part of the conference, the IOUG will host the COLLABORATE 13-IOUG Forum with nearly 1,000 sessions providing user-driven content. The theme of this year's COLLABORATE 13-IOUG Forum is "Elevate - take control of your career and elevate your Oracle ecosystem knowledge and expertise," says IOUG president John Matelski.
Posted March 15, 2013
Two big questions are on the minds of data professionals these days. How are increasing complexity and the inevitable onslaught of big data shaping the future of database administrators and data architects? How will our roles change? In the interest of studying the evolving landscape of data, the Independent Oracle User's Group (IOUG) took the pulse of the community. The Big Data Skills for Success study polled numerous individuals in the IOUG Oracle technology community, to identify just how the responsibilities of handling data are changing and what the future of these roles looks like.
Posted March 14, 2013
Google's dominance of internet search has been uncontested for more than 12 years now. Before Google, search engines such as AltaVista indexed web pages and allowed for keyword search with an interface and functionality superficially similar to that provided by Google. However, these first-generation search engines provided relatively poor ordering of results. Because an internet search would return pages ranked by the number of times a term appeared on the website, unpopular or irrelevant sites would be just as likely to achieve top rank as popular sites.
Posted March 14, 2013
Databases are restricted by reliance on disk-based storage, a technology that has been in place for several decades. Even with the addition of memory caches and solid state drives, the model of relying on repeated access to information storage devices remains a hindrance in capitalizing on today's "big data," according to a new survey of 323 data managers and professionals who are part of the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG). The survey was underwritten by SAP Corp. and conducted by Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc.
Posted March 14, 2013
Michigan State University (Michigan State), University of Michigan (Michigan) and University of Texas-Austin (Texas) plan to implement the Paciolan Ticketing Intelligence data warehouse in order to more efficiently aggregate and utilize data about interaction between university athletics and sports fans.
Posted March 14, 2013
Margaret Wright, who was elected president of the OAUG (Oracle Applications Users Group) in January 2013, recently laid out her plans for the coming year in a conversation with 5 Minute Briefing. Wright says she plans to strengthen educational services, increase networking opportunities, and continue the OAUG's focus on being an advocate to Oracle on behalf of members.
Posted March 14, 2013
At the recent Strata conference, CitusDB showcased the latest release of its scalable analytics database. According to the vendor, CitusDB 2.0 brings together the performance of PostgreSQL and the scalability of Apache Hadoop, and enables real-time queries on data that's already in Hadoop. This new functionality is possible with CitusDB's distributed query planner, and PostgreSQL's foreign data wrappers.
Posted March 13, 2013
Early bird registration is now open for the Big Data Boot Camp, a two-day intensive dive into the world of big data. The conference, produced by Database Trends and Applications, will be held Tuesday, May 21, through Wednesday, May 22, at the Hilton New York. The agenda of the Big Data Boot Camp has been designed to bring together thought leaders and practitioners who will identify emerging technologies and provide case studies and best practices in big data management.
Posted March 12, 2013
Showing that there's more to the real-time SAP HANA platform than just business, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and SAP announced they have worked together to launch NBA.com/Stats, a new statistical destination on NBA.com giving fans interactive access to official NBA statistics and analysis.
Posted March 12, 2013
A new survey of nearly 200 data managers and professionals, who are part of the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG), looks at the role of the data scientist - data professionals who can aggregate data from internal enterprise data stores as well as outside sources to provide the forecasts and insight required to help lead their organizations into the future. The research was conducted by Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc.
Posted March 06, 2013
Big data analytics provider Pentaho has announced new templates for Instaview, its big data discovery application, simplifying access to and analysis of big data sources. Templates help solve the data integration challenge in gaining value from big data. Pentaho has released a Twitter template and will release templates for MongoDB, Amazon Redshift, Google Analytics and Cloudera Impala on a weekly basis for download from the Pentaho site.
Posted March 05, 2013
Infobright has announced Investigative Analytics for mobile data, enabling network carriers, service providers and mobile-data applications to improve upon operational statistic-gathering by monetizing streams of mobile data. Using Infobright's suite of Investigative Analytics, including data compression, high performance ad hoc querying, and a miniaturized software footprint, enterprises can ask questions about how to increase profits, market share and competitive advantage.
Posted March 05, 2013
EMC announced a new distribution of Apache Hadoop called Pivotal HD that features native integration of EMC's Greenplum MPP database with Apache Hadoop. According to the vendor, Pivotal HD with HAWQ provides a key advancement by offering SQL processing for Hadoop, thereby expanding the platform's reach to SQL programmers.
Posted March 05, 2013
Revolution Analytics has integrated Revolution R Enterprise with Hortonworks Data Platform. In a move designed to help Hadoop customers derive more value from their big data technology investments, Revolution Analytics and Hortonworks are co-developing "in-Hadoop predictive analytics" without the need to import or export data from Hadoop, David Smith, vice president of marketing and community at Revolution Analytics, tells 5 Minute Briefing.
Posted February 28, 2013
SAP AG has introduced a new version of its Sybase IQ disk-based column store analytics server. The overriding theme of this new release, which will be generally available later in the first quarter, "is positioning IQ 16 to go from terabytes to petabytes," Dan Lahl, senior director of product marketing at SAP, tells 5 Minute Briefing. To accomplish this, IQ 16 provides enhancements in three critical areas.
Posted February 27, 2013
Oracle president Mark Hurd and Oracle executive vice president of product development Thomas Kurian recently hosted a conference call to provide an update on Oracle's cloud strategy and recap of product-related developments. Oracle is trying to do two things for customers - simplify their IT and power their innovation, said Hurd.
Posted February 27, 2013
Hortonworks, a leading contributor to Apache Hadoop, has released Hortonworks Sandbox, a learning environment and on-ramp for anyone interested in learning, evaluating or using Apache Hadoop in the enterprise. This tool seeks to bridge the gap between people who want to learn Hadoop, and the complexity of setting up a cluster with an integrated environment that provides demos, videos, tutorials.
Posted February 27, 2013
Establishing a data warehousing or business intelligence environment initiates a process that works its way through the operational applications and data sources across an enterprise. This process focuses not only on identifying the important data elements the business lives and breathes, but the process also tries very hard to provide rationality in explaining these elements to business intelligence users.
Posted February 27, 2013
MarkLogic said it plans to deliver an enterprise-grade application and analytics software solution based on the new Intel Distribution for Apache Hadoop software. The Intel Distribution will be combined with the MarkLogic Enterprise NoSQL database to support real-time transactional and analytic applications.
Posted February 26, 2013
LucidWorks, a provider of enterprise-grade search development platforms, has partnered with MapR Technologies, a Hadoop technology vendor, to deliver the integration between LucidWorks Search and MapR. This solution enables organizations to search their MapR Distributed File System (DFS) to discover actionable insights from information stored in Hadoop.
Posted February 26, 2013
Data integration software vendor Informatica announced a partnership with Amazon Redshift to deliver a new cloud data integration solution for direct connectivity to the Amazon Web Service (AWS) cloud-based data warehouse service. Informatica seeks to make cloud-based analytics a viable and affordable option for small and large organizations alike.
Posted February 26, 2013
Attunity is developing a solution for fast data loading into Amazon Redshift, AWS's new data warehouse in the cloud. The Attunity solution is expected to be available for customer preview in March 2013.
Posted February 21, 2013
Denodo Technologies, a provider of data virtualization software, has unveiled the Denodo Platform 5.0. This latest version of Denodo´s solution enables data virtualization for both agile business intelligence and agile development of connected application and helps organizations access all of their information sources including big data, cloud and unstructured sources. The new release was previewed at the TDWI conference in Las Vegas.
Posted February 20, 2013
Attivio has made available Version 3.5 of its Active Intelligence Engine, featuring a new ontology module and event-driven visualization capabilities that give analysts an instant understanding of what's happening on large, multi-node systems. AIE 3.5 also includes expanded SQL support and automatic generation of thumbnail and preview images to enhance users' ability to view and retrieve critical information.
Posted February 19, 2013
Terracotta, a provider of enterprise big data management solutions, and JackBe, a real-time intelligence software vendor, have announced a collaboration to leverage their complementary technologies for real-time big data solutions. According to the vendors, JackBe's Presto real-time data visualizations for analytics coupled with Terracotta's BigMemory high-performance and scalability enables JackBe to deliver visual data exploration and dashboards with the speed, scale and simplicity of in-memory data management.
Posted February 19, 2013
Oracle has introduced Hyperion Tax Provision, a new web-based tax application that allows customers to collect, calculate and report on the consolidated tax provision and more closely align tax with financial reporting. Built on the Hyperion Financial Close Suite, Oracle Hyperion Tax Provision is intended to replace the manual methods used by many organizations with an automated and standardized process.
Posted February 14, 2013
Oracle has introduced Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud Oracle VM Templates for several Oracle applications. The Oracle applications have been packaged as ready-to-run virtual machines for deployment in Oracle's Exalogic Elastic Cloud environment, explains Adam Hawley, senior director of desktop and server virtualization product management at Oracle. The templates are now available for the Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.3, Oracle's JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 9.1, Oracle's PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.52 and Oracle's Siebel CRM 8.1.1.8 and 8.2.2. These are the first Oracle VM templates built for Oracle Exalogic.
Posted February 13, 2013
Having vast amounts of data at hand doesn't necessarily help executives make better decisions. In fact, without a simple way to access and analyze the astronomical amounts of available information, it is easy to become frozen with indecision, knowing the answers are likely in the data, but unsure how to find them. With so many companies proclaiming to offer salvation from all data issues, one of the most important factors to consider when selecting a solution is ease of use. An intuitive interface based on how people already operate in the real world is the key to adoption and usage throughout an organization.
Posted February 13, 2013
Entrinsik has launched a traveling road show to provide Informer training. The idea for the Informer Power Users Road Show grew out of the success of the ICON Informer user conference and the feedback Entrinsik was receiving about the Informer customer service team's on-site work with individual clients, Sharon Shelton, vice president of marketing at Entrinsik, tells DBTA. "The road shows are really an answer to the question: How do we provide this service for more of our client base - especially those who can't make it to ICON, or don't have the resources to afford implementation and training services on-site. We are trying to get the best information out to customers in a way that is cost-efficient for them and for us," Shelton says.
Posted February 13, 2013
IBM has made enhancements to its PureSystems suite of expert integrated systems. This represents a broadening of the overall portfolio for the PureSystems line in three main categories, Jason Gartner, vice president, PureSystems Product Management at IBM, tells 5 Minute Briefing. The first category is big data, the second is cloud-based offerings, and the third is a broadening of the portfolio to go after different types of customers.
Posted February 12, 2013
SiSense and Microsoft have introduced support for Windows Azure in SiSense Cloud, providing customers with the benefits of SiSense in the cloud in addition to on-premise. The addition of Windows Azure will enable more companies to analyze data in real-time without having to purchase and configure additional hardware and software. The value proposition of the SiSense Cloud offering is threefold, Bruno Aziza, vice president of marketing at SiSense, tells 5 Minute Briefing.
Posted February 12, 2013
Dell Inc. announced it has signed a definitive merger agreement under which it will be acquired by Michael Dell, Dell's founder, chairman and CEO, in partnership with global technology investment firm Silver Lake. The transaction will be financed through a combination of cash and equity contributed by Michael Dell, cash funded by investment funds affiliated with Silver Lake, cash invested by MSD Capital, L.P., a $2 billion loan from Microsoft, as well as financing from other sources. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the second quarter of Dell's FY2014.
Posted February 05, 2013
IBM has signed an agreement to acquire the software portfolio of Star Analytics Inc., a privately held business analytics company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Financial terms of the acquisition, which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2013, were not disclosed. According to IBM, Star Analytics software helps organizations automatically integrate essential information, reporting applications and business intelligence tools across their enterprises, on premise or from cloud computing environments. The software removes typical custom coding for specialized sources that are hard to maintain, and also eliminates manual processes that are cumbersome and time-consuming.
Posted February 01, 2013
Actian Corp. and Pervasive Software Inc. have entered into a definitive merger agreement through which Actian will acquire all of Pervasive's outstanding shares for $9.20 per share. Actian products include Action Apps, Vectorwise, the analytical database, Ingres, an independent mission-critical OLTP database, in addition to the Versant Object Database, which Actian added to its portfolio through another recent merger in which Actian acquired all the outstanding shares of Versant Corporation. According to the company, the deal values Pervasive at $161.9 million and will accelerate Actian's ability to deliver its vision of providing organizations with the capability to take action in real time as their business environment changes.
Posted January 31, 2013
EMC Corporation has updated its appliance-based unified big data analytics offering. The new EMC Greenplum Data Computing Appliance (DCA) Unified Analytics Platform (UAP) Edition expands the system's analytics capabilities and solution flexibility, achieves performance gains in data loading and scanning, and adds integration with EMC's Isilon scale-out NAS storage for enterprise-class data protection and availability. Within a single appliance, the DCA integrates Greenplum Databases for analytics-optimized SQL, Greenplum HD for Hadoop-based processing as well as Greenplum partner business intelligence, ETL, and analytics applications. The appliances have been able to host both a relational database and Hadoop for some time now, Bill Jacobs director of product marketing for EMC Greenplum, tells 5 Minute Briefing. "The significance of this launch is that we tightened that integration up even more. We make those two components directly manageable with a single administrative interface and also tighten up the security. All of that is targeted at giving enterprise customers what they need in order to use Hadoop in very mission-critical applications without having to build it all up in Hadoop themselves."
Posted January 31, 2013
The latest version of the SAP BusinessObjects Mobile app allows users to visualize, explore, collaborate from within the app and share business performance through personalized and simple views in a secure environment designed natively for iPad.
Posted January 30, 2013
SAP announced a new option for SAP Business Suite customers — SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA — providing an integrated family of business applications that captures and analyzes transactional data in real time on a single in-memory platform. With Business Suite on HANA, "SAP has reinvented the software that reinvented businesses," stated Rob Enslin, member of the Global Executive Board and SAP head of sales, as part of his presentation during the company's recent launch event.
Posted January 30, 2013
Software AG has agreed to sell its SAP-service operations in Canada and the USA to itelligence, a full-service provider of IT solutions for the SAP market with approximately 2,700 employees in 21 countries. Its headquarters are in Bielefeld, Germany. The transaction closing is scheduled for January 16 and according to the companies the purchase price will not be disclosed. The transaction includes all of Software AG's SAP product-specific services in Canada and the U.S., which are coordinated from Toronto and Reston, Virginia respectively. In addition, itelligence plans to acquire the majority of around 80 employees as of January 16.
Posted January 30, 2013
Attunity Ltd., a provider of information availability software solutions, has announced the release of Attunity RepliWeb for Enterprise File Replication (EFR) 6.0, which is designed to allow organizations to quickly and easily replicate data files to and from Apache Hadoop. According to Attunity, the ability to move large amounts of data in and out of Hadoop is especially beneficial to industries that need to process big data on a regular basis such as e-commerce, healthcare, infrastructure management and mobile.
Posted January 29, 2013
Today's data warehouse environments are not keeping up with the explosive growth of data volume (or "big data") and the demand for real-time analytics. Fewer than one out of 10 respondents to a new survey say their data warehouse sites can deliver analysis in what they would consider a real-time timeframe. Nearly 75% of respondents believe that in-memory technology is important to enabling their organization to remain competitive in the future. Yet, almost as many also indicate they lack the in-memory skills to deliver even current business requirements. These are among the findings of a new survey of 323 data managers and professionals who are part of the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG). The survey was underwritten by SAP Corporation and conducted by Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc.
Posted January 29, 2013