Understanding Database Basics - Part 1

Real-time data analysis and business intelligence is an essential in the modern business world to keep track of the vast amounts of information a business collects and to make the best use of it. Modern data analysis systems are highly complex, having the ability to cut and slice huge amounts of complex information and present it to the end user in a way that is both easy to understand and useful. In fact, collecting this information, analyzing it and making business decisions based on this data is the key to success for many businesses....

Cubes

What is an OLAP Cube? As you saw in the definition of OLAP, the key requirement is multidimensional. OLAP achieves the multidimensional functionality by using a structure called a cube. The OLAP cube provides the multidimensional way to look at the data. The cube is comparable to a table in a relational database. The specific design of an OLAP cube ensures report optimization. The design of many databases is for online transaction processing and efficiency in data storage, whereas OLAP cube design is for efficiency in data retrieval....

Online analytical processing (OLAP)

Online analytical processing (OLAP) allows you to access aggregated and organized data from business data sources, such as data warehouses, in a multidimensional structure called a cube. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services (SSAS) provides tools and features for OLAP that you can use to design, deploy, and maintain cubes and other supporting objects. Before you start integrating cubes and other OLAP functionality into your business intelligence solutions, make sure you engage with Quantix to provide guidance, foundations, concepts...

OLAP Workshop Part 2 : Understanding OLAP Technology

In the last posting I hopefully explained some of the basic concepts behind OLAP. In this posting I want to explore how those basic concepts are exposed by the various OLAP aware ETL and reporting tools provided by Oracle and other BI vendors. Architecture of Oracle OLAP For a long time now Oracle has been unique in the marketplace. With Oracle Database 9i, 10g and 11g, all data (relational and multidimensional) is stored in one Oracle database. Only Oracle OLAP provides native multidimensional data types within the database. A...

Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and Business

There are many business intelligence tools available to help make sense of the huge volumes of data that the average business must process. One of the most commonly used methods is Online Analytical Processing, also known as OLAP. OLAP is only one kind of data analysis method but it is particularly useful in certain business circumstances such as process management, forecasting, budgeting, marketing and financial reporting among other areas. One of its defining features is that the databases allow complex queries that return results quickly. OLAP...

The Evolution of a Real-time Data Warehouse

Understanding Real-time Systems Today, real time computing is everywhere, from customer information control systems (CICSs) to real-time data warehouse systems. Real-time systems have the ability to respond to user actions in a very short period of time. This computing behavior gives real-time systems special features such as instant interaction: users request information from the system and they receive the answer. Also, users have the possibility to remain connected (online) so they can start this interaction with the system anytime—which is called an online transaction processing (OLTP) system. In general, a real-time system...

The Necessity of Data Warehousing

Why the market is necessary Data warehousing is an integral part of the "information age". Corporations have long known that some of the keys to their future success could be gleaned from their existing data, both current and historical. Until approximately 1990, many factors made it difficult, if not impossible, to extract this data and turn it into useful information. Some examples: Data storage peripherals such as DASD (Direct Access Storage Device) were extremely expensive on a per-megabyte basis. Therefore, much of the needed data was stored offline, typically on magnetic tape. Processing power was very expensive as measured...

SAS/Warehouse 2.0 Goes Live

"CARY, N.C. (Feb. 24, 2000) - SAS Institute, the market leader in integrated data warehousing and decision support, has announced the production availability of SAS/Warehouse Administrator software, Version 2.0. Demonstrated at the Data Warehousing Institute conference in Anaheim, Calif., this new version provides IT the ability to proactively publish data warehouse information and track its usage, plus aggressively manage the process of change in the data warehouse." "Data warehouses and data marts have become a vital component of all successful data mining, knowledge management, business portal, e-intelligence, customer...

IBM Builds on Hadoop with New Storage Architecture

At the Supercomputing 2010 conference, IBM pulled back the curtain on a new storage architecture that, according to Big Blue, can double analytics processing speed for big data and the cloud. Created by scientists at IBM Research – Almaden, the new General Parallel File System-Shared Nothing Cluster (GPFS-SNC) architecture was built on the IBM (NYSE: IBM) GPFS and incorporates the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) to provide high availability through advanced clustering technologies, dynamic file system management and advanced data replication techniques. The cluster "shares nothing," in a distributed computing architecture...

Oracle Warehouse Builder: Better Late than Never?

"REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Mar. 6, 2000 - Oracle announced the immediate availability of Oracle Warehouse Builder, an extensible and easy-to-use data warehouse design and deployment framework. As part of Oracle's Intelligent WebHouse Initiative, Oracle Warehouse Builder automates much of the work that goes into creating a powerful, single data store for e-business analysis, specifically with its ability to integrate historical data with the massive, daily influxes of online data from web sites. The product, already in production at nearly 20 beta sites worldwide, is available for purchase tomorrow." The Oracle Warehouse Builder...

50 Open Source Replacements for Storage Software

Open source storage software clearly fills a need. According to researchers at IDC, the digital universe included 1.2 million petabytes, or 1.2 zettabytes, of data by the end of 2010. In case you have trouble picturing those numbers, that's enough data to fill a stack of DVDs that stretches to the moon and back. With the amount of data growing exponentially, storage has become big business. 2010 saw a number of large tech firms snap up smaller storage-related vendors, including HP's notable acquisition of 3PAR after a bidding war with Dell. But enterprises and small business don't have to spend a lot of money on their storage...

Syncsort Sigma Manages Database Aggregates

Programmers and administrators of large databases and data warehouses can create, manage and process data aggregates with speed, ease and accuracy with a new software product unveiled by Syncsort Incorporated. Called Sigma, the vendor states that the product combines a high-performance data aggregate engine with an intuitive graphical user interface. By simplifying aggregation creation, Sigma reduces the time it takes to define and maintain aggregates, saves computer resources when processing aggregates, and dramatically cuts response time for database queries. "Having the right aggregates available can improve runtime performance...

5 Signs of an Aging Data Warehouse

It’s not a stretch to say that data warehouses are maturing. Most of our clients’warehouses and marts have not only reached adulthood, many are showing their age. This has prompted some executives and business users to inquire about their retirement. Read on to see whether or not predictions of your data warehouse’s demise are premature. In consulting with companies on their data warehouses over the past 20 years, I’ve witnessed the evolution of data warehouses from a technology proof of concept reserved for the “early adopters” to a widespread solution found, in one form or another, in most of today’s companies. Information...