Published in Solutions Integrator by Joe Devlin Click here for list of articles
  Oct 15, 1998 Why is Microsoft is making OLAP a standard part of SQL/Server?
SummaryMain ArticleWinning StrategyRocky Mountain High OLAPComponents
VendorsGlossary 
 
 

Picture associated with 10_98_OLAP

 

The arrival of SQL-Server 7.0 provides an awesome opportunity to bring decision support to a vast new market that previously couldn't afford OLAP solutions.

Richard Creeth, Creeth, Richman & Assoc.

 

      Microsoft has incorporated OLAP services into its SQL/Server relational database product. OLAP is not a new technology, but up to now it was a technology priced out of the hands of most business. OLAP databases replace traditional relational databases' column-and-row indexing schemes with multidimensional arrays in which each data field gets its own dimension. This feature lets OLAP databases perform complex ad hoc queries in a fraction of the time that it takes traditional relational databases to do so. Companies like Arbor Software, Oracle and IBM have been selling pricey OLAP solutions primarily to Fortune 1000 companies with significant decision-support needs and budgets to match. Now that Microsoft has made OLAP affordable "business users who previously couldn't even spell OLAP are going to start clamoring for OLAP datamarts of their own", says Michael Schiff, principal at Current Analysis Inc., a solutions integrator in Sterling, VA. We discuss how to best take advantage of this opportunity.

Sidebars:

Microsoft's three-pronged strategy for taking business away from Oracle and IBM's OLAP products.

Rocky Mountain High OLAP-- When a group of Colorado community colleges wanted an affordable OLAP, it turned to Microsoft and Microsoft turned to integrator Len Silverston of Quest Data Solutions.

Components of the Microsoft OLAP solution

Product & Vendor Listing

Glossary of Datawarehousing and OLAP terminology

 
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