Hyperion and Microsoft have announced that they have joined forces to publish the XML for Analysis specification, allowing open access to multidimensional databases from any platform.
The collaboration between the leading OLAP vendors is expected to accelerate the adoption of Internet business intelligence software and represents significant momentum for XML-based analytic Web services, says Johan Cloete, MD of local Hyperion distributor Global Technology Business Intelligence (GBI).
"Customers, developers and independent software vendors will score significantly," says Cloete.
"Customers can protect server and tools investments and ensure that new analytical tools work together. Developers get to leverage existing skills and use open access XML-based Web services, removing the need to program to multiple APIs and query languages. And software vendors will reduce complexity and costs for development and maintenance by writing to a single access interface."
"It`s good news for everyone that two competing major OLAP server vendors are finally putting their differences aside to come up with an agreed, XML-based OLAP query API," says Nigel Pendse, lead author of The OLAP Report (http://www.olapreport.com/).
"If this initiative succeeds, it will finally be possible to query multiple major OLAP servers in a standard way, just as it has been possible to do with all the SQL-based relational databases for many years. This will give users more freedom, encourage the development of good front-end tools and help the growth of the market."
"The joint sponsorship of XML for Analysis specification by Hyperion and Microsoft represents a substantial shift in the industry," says Mike Schiff, VP of E-Business and Business Intelligence at Current Analysis Inc. "A uniting of two leading OLAP vendors, both of which have a significant number of organisations and partners that use their respective OLAP engines, will clearly benefit users because client-side, Web-based applications will readily access either vendors` servers, and the servers of other vendors that adopt the specification, without having to program for multiple APIs."
As the first open access XML Message Interface solution designed to address the specific challenges of Internet-based analytical data access and manipulation, XML for Analysis has gained immediate support from business intelligence software developers, including Adaytum, AlphaBlox, ANGOSS Software, Brio Technology, Business Objects, Cognos, Comshare, Crystal Decisions, digiMine, Harmony Software, Knosys, Lawson Software, MicroStrategy, SAP AG, Simba Technologies and Visual Insights.
XML for Analysis is a set of XML message interfaces that uses the industry standard Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) to define the data access interaction between a client application and an analytical data provider (OLAP and data mining) working over the Internet.
* The first release of the specification is available for Web download at http://msdn.microsoft.com/ or http://www.essbase.com/.
Share
Editorial contacts