IBM Officially Releases ShowCase Reporting
October 12, 2010 Alex Woodie
|
IBM last week officially released ShowCase Reporting, a collection of business intelligence tools for the IBM i platform. While the tools had previously been available through SPSS, which IBM acquired just over a year ago, apparently IBM had not yet officially made them available through its channels. The ShowCase brand name is arguably best known for its native IBM i port of Essbase, the multidimensional database product from Hyperion, which Oracle now owns. But many ShowCase Essbase customers are also users of ShowCase Reporting, the suite of query, report building, and data warehouse tools that’s used by 1,200 organizations around the world, according to IBM. In many cases, the suite is used in support of the core online analytical processing (OLAP) mission that’s executed with the powerful Essbase software. Now under IBM control, the ShowCase Reporting suite consists of Query, Report Writer, Warehouse Builder, and Warehouse Manager components. ShowCase Query enables users to query databases (including DB2/400, DB2 for LUW, Oracle databases running on Windows and AIX, and Domino for IBM i databases), without knowing SQL. Report Writer helps people generate professional looking reports and distribute them over the Web. Warehouse Builder and Warehouse Manager, meanwhile, are used to create and manage data warehouses and data marts that run on IBM i. IBM offers three ways to license the product. Customers can pay according to how many Processor Value Units (PVUs) their particular machine requires for either full-capacity or sub-capacity licensing schemes. The software is also available through the number of concurrent users or authorized users the customer needs. For more information, see IBM United States Software Announcementrn210-303 (pdf). RELATED STORIES IBM to Buy SPSS for $1.2 Billion ShowCase Essbase 11 for IBM i: It’s About Time SPSS Changes Data Miner’s Name, Drops System i Support
|
