BI vendors team up for open source

Three business intelligence vendors have released a package designed as an open source alternative to proprietary database offerings, reports ZDNet.

Greenplum, JasperSoft and Kinetic Networks have launched a software and hardware bundle that includes data analysis tools and an early version of Greenplum`s specialised business intelligence database.

The report says according to analysts, open source databases are having an impact on the relational database marketplace overall, particularly for low-end offerings.

The Data Warehousing Institute has released a report entitled "Enterprise Business Intelligence: Strategies and Technologies for Deploying BI on an Enterprise Scale".

According to the report summary by TMC Net, companies have on average 3.2 BI tools from different vendors and 13 BI tools altogether.

While most organisations (55%) still purchase best-of-breed products from multiple vendors, the purchasing of an integrated suite from a single vendor is gaining popularity.

The top challenge for BI-tool standardisation efforts is individual resistance to change, according to 48% of respondents.

One of the primary reasons given for the purchase of BI software is "widespread analytic silos and other operational inefficiencies".

The survey polled 594 individuals including corporate IT professionals, BI consultants and business users.

SAS has entered into a strategic technology alliance with CMC, according to a report by CXO Today.

According to the report, the aim of the alliance is to provide a range of business intelligence (BI) and analytical software and solutions, from data integration to intelligence storage, query and reporting capabilities, and analytics using the SAS Enterprise Intelligence platform, to various verticals particularly the government and defence sectors in India.

The alliance with CMC is in line with SAS`s worldwide focus of driving 20% of its revenues through its alliance partners.