Hallmark greets BI

Hallmark Cards has expanded its use of MicroStrategy software for enterprise-wide reporting and analysis, reports CNNMoney.

Hallmark, based in Kansas City, is known for its greeting cards and related personal expression products.

MicroStrategy's integrated business intelligence (BI) platform supports a wide range of reporting and analysis applications for Hallmark, providing insights into business performance across the company.

"MicroStrategy allows us to understand how recent product innovations, such as our 'Cards with Sound' line, are performing in the marketplace," said Paul Wolters, Hallmark's BI manager.

Market researcher IDC has recognised Microsoft for its contributions to the growth of the BI market, reports TMCNet.

According to the research firm's report, Worldwide Business Intelligence Tools 2006 Vendor Shares, Microsoft is one of the fastest-growing BI vendors of 2006 with a growth rate of 28%.

The report states the global BI market grew by nearly 11% in the previous year, making room for software companies to develop and deliver comprehensive BI tools.

IDC has named Oracle the leading data warehouse platform tools vendor based on 2006 software revenue, according to CNNMoney.

Oracle extended its lead in this market with nearly 33% market share and almost $1.87 billion in software revenue for 2006, according to IDC's report, Worldwide Data Warehouse Platform Tools 2006 Vendor Shares.

In addition, Oracle's data warehouse platform tools software revenue grew at 13.1%, which is faster than the overall category growth rate of 12.5%.

NCR has approved and set a record date and distribution date for the previously announced spin off of its Teradata data warehousing business, according to a press release issued by BusinessWire.

It also declared a dividend of one share of common stock of Teradata for each share of NCR common stock held.

The distribution of Teradata common stock is expected to occur at the end of September, by way of a pro rata stock dividend to NCR stockholders of record as of the close of business on 14 September, which is the record date for the distribution.