Get Your Quant On: IBM Updates DataQuant for IBM i
October 8, 2013 Alex Woodie
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IBM last week updated DataQuant, a business intelligence tool that allows users to create and run queries on all IBM systems, including IBM i. With version 2.1 of DataQuant for Multiplatforms, IBM enhanced its ad hoc reporting capabilities and added a new text analytics feature for processing unstructured data sources. DataQuant is designed to be an easy-to-use BI tool for developing executive dashboards, information portals, and interactive data visualizations. The software includes dozens of pre-built charts, controls, and graphics that users can drag and drop on the screen to craft and customize dashboards and reports. The development component runs on Eclipse, while the server runtime executes on WebSphere running on a variety of platforms. Consumption of portals and dashboards created by DataQuant can occur from either a fat client or thin client interface. DataQuant version 2.1 is the first major release of the product since version 1.2. Among the enhancements are improvements to the product’s ad hoc reporting capabilities. According to IBM, users can now drag and drop DataQuant queries onto an open canvas in runtime mode and select from a series of display options, such as charts or tabular presentations. This will help increase the productivity of users, especially DataQuant newbies.
The new text analytics feature in version 2.1 allows users to extract entities from unstructured data sources and display the results graphically. This feature, which is available only in DataQuant for Workstation, is capable of recognizing entities such as people, products, places, and organizations as well as the connections between them, IBM says. The new text analytics features can be configured to recognize enterprise-specific vocabulary and extract key data from contracts, support records, field notes, and comments. This will give users insight into sources beyond typical structured information, IBM says. It works with data sourced from databases or file systems. IBM also enhanced DataQuant’s job scheduling capabilities. Users can now schedule queries, quick reports, and visual reports. The quick reports functionality, which provides a simplified method of creating reports, is also new. Finally, IBM has added a new Dynamart functionality. Dynamarts enable users to save result sets with the query object. This makes it easier for users to share reports, and to send snapshots of report data that not only allow others to “see it as it was,” but to refresh it to “see it as it is,” IBM says. DataQuant for Multiplatforms is the follow-on product to an obscure IBM product called Query Management Facility (QMF) for Windows and QMF Distributed Edition. According to this IBM document, a product called DataQuant for z/OS has been on the books since at least 2007. Suffice it to say, IBM hasn’t publicized DataQuant much, for IBM i or any other platform. DataQuant version 2.1 becomes available on October 25. The workstation component runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS computers, while the server component is supported on DB2/400 (or DB2 for iSeries, as IBM calls it) versions 5.4, 6.1, and 7.1, as well as DB2 for LUW and Informix. Pricing for DataQuant for Multiplatforms starts at $117 per PVU, or about $14,000 for a midsize IBM i server with a PVU rating of 120. IBM also sells a DataQuant for DB2 Warehouse Starter Edition for $47 per PVU, and an Intermediate Edition for $94.50. Authorized user licenses start at $178 per user for the Starter Edition and $354 per user for the Intermediate Edition. For more information, see IBM United States Software Announcement 213-392 (pdf).
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