As Microsoft Corp. prepares for the release of Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005, the next version of its flagship data management and analysis software, business intelligence (BI) and performance management application vendors are developing solutions to help customers gain greater operational efficiency and a better understanding of their business data.
Together with Microsoft, independent software vendors (ISVs)—including Cartesis, Geac, OutlookSoft Corp., Panorama Software Ltd. and ProClarity Corp.—have delivered valuable solutions based on the SQL Server 2000 business intelligence platform, including SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services and SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services, to provide mutual customers with robust and scalable solutions. These ISVs will continue to build on the success of Microsoft’s BI platform by developing applications that utilize the advanced BI functionality and next-generation scalability, reliability and performance expected with SQL Server 2005.
“The BI partner ecosystem is an extension of Microsoft’s BI platform. These software industry partners build customer solutions that extend our ability to deliver business intelligence to every person at every level of an organization,” said Bill Baker, general manager of SQL Server BI at Microsoft. “We have worked hand in hand with these companies to provide our mutual customers with the tools necessary to solve their real business problems. Their support is a testament to the success of our BI platform, and we are excited to see this grow with SQL Server 2005.”
Partner Ecosystem Rallies Around SQL Server Business Intelligence Platform
Cartesis, Geac, OutlookSoft, Panorama and ProClarity are among the industry partners that have built their BI applications on the Microsoft SQL Server BI platform:
*Cartesis works with SQL Server BI tools to expand its information delivery capabilities, including the next release of its real-time business performance management (BPM) engine. Cartesis plans to use enhancements in SQL Server 2005 to provide customers with real-time relational and online analytical processing (OLAP) reporting for comprehensive, integrated BPM information.
“We have performed a thorough evaluation of the capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server 2005, in particular its scalability, availability and interoperability,” said Michel Morel, chief software architect at Cartesis. “Based on the results, we have made the strategic decision to incorporate Analysis Services as a key component of our new BPM infrastructure. It will be the foundation of our new planning engine, and by matching Microsoft’s unified dimensional model with our own integrated data model, we will provide our customers with real-time relational and OLAP reporting for comprehensive, integrated BPM information delivery.”
*Geac has focused considerable development efforts for its Geac Performance Management product family around the Microsoft business intelligence platform. SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services is a cornerstone of several Geac applications, providing fast data consolidation and flexible analysis of business data. Geac products also integrate with Reporting Services to offer customers a powerful tool for reporting essential performance feedback. Geac’s most recent commitment to the Microsoft BI platform is production reporting with Reporting Services, a new module for Geac MPC that automatically generates reports for executives, boards, auditors and operation reviews. Geac remains committed to Microsoft’s BI platform and is confident that BI capabilities in SQL Server 2005 will provide significant value to Geac customers.
“Geac’s support of SQL Server 2005 is a strategic decision by our company that promises to yield competitive benefits to us and compelling benefits to our customers,” said Tim Wright, chief technology officer at Geac. “By adopting Microsoft’s latest release of SQL Server, Geac continues to deliver performance management solutions that are scalable and open, and that offer a lower total cost of ownership than our competition.”
*OutlookSoft software has been developed around powerful and flexible Microsoft architecture including Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Server Analysis Services and an enterprise-scale version of Microsoft Excel developed by OutlookSoft. This “pure Microsoft” approach allows customers to leverage the best of what both OutlookSoft and Microsoft, as industry leaders, have to offer. OutlookSoft Everest will take advantage of the new and enhanced BI functionality of SQL Server 2005 to increase scalability, improve performance and simplify data application creation.
“SQL Server 2005 is already in our development environment, and we have started building the next release of Everest, a market-leading business performance management solution, with it in mind,” said Christian Gheorghe, executive vice president and chief technology officer at OutlookSoft. “We expect significant scalability, reliability and performance gains in Everest as OutlookSoft moves to SQL Server 2005. Because Everest is based 100 percent on Microsoft technology, as we incorporate SQL Server 2005, our customers will immediately realize the benefits.”
*Panorama Software implemented Reporting Services to provide its customers with real-time reports. The company is confident that SQL Server 2005 will change the landscape of the market. Since the announcement of SQL Server 2005 Beta 1, Panorama’s development team has worked closely with Microsoft to test and plan its solutions migration. All new versions of Panorama’s integrated business intelligence solutions and focused analytic applications will be SQL Server 2005-ready and will leverage new features to increase usability and manageability to manage and access valuable information assets.
“For companies to remain nimble and responsive to rapidly changing markets, decision-makers need to easily access, analyze and understand information about their company and their markets,” said Allon Cohen, vice president, Product Management, Panorama Software. “For nearly a decade, Panorama and Microsoft have been delivering BI solutions that meet this growing demand. SQL Server 2005 represents a paradigm shift in overall information management, and, together with Microsoft, we will innovate how decisions are made and information utilized.”
*ProClarity products work seamlessly with current Microsoft BI tools. An example is the integration of the ProClarity Analytics Server with Reporting Services: Working in conjunction, the products provide customers with a comprehensive and cost-effective reporting and analysis solution.
“ProClarity continues to develop our award-winning front-end analytic platform in line with the advancements of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 in order to fully leverage the best-in-class analytic functionality of the Microsoft platform,” said Russ Whitney, vice president of research and development at ProClarity. “Microsoft is a current leader in the BI industry, and the extensive new BI features of SQL Server 2005 will cement that position for the future. ProClarity plans to take full advantage of the enhancements in SQL Server 2005 to deliver the very best BI solution available.”
