InterSystems, the world`s fastest growing database vendor, has announced its entry to the business intelligence market. While the company has indirectly operated for some time in this market through the products and services of some of its independent software vendors (ISVs), it has now entered the market with a structured real-time offering.
The key to the company`s success in the business intelligence market will be its bitmap indexing technology, which overcomes many of the limitations inherent in current business intelligence systems, says Henry Adams, country manager for InterSystems South Africa.
"Most database vendors, particularly those in the relational database market, will tell you that bitmap indexing is not suitable for high-speed business intelligence. However, we have re-engineered bitmap indexing to the extent that it not only supports business intelligence, but provides breakthrough performance."
Bitmap indexing is an alternative to aggregation, the concept most frequently used in business intelligence today. Both concepts are designed to ensure that users do not have to trawl through millions of records to find the data they are looking for. However, aggregation requires a separate database and inhibits the user`s ability to interrogate granular or live data. InterSystems` approach, through bitmap indexing, removes the need for a separate database, and allows drill-down to current data.
Business intelligence is an ideal fit for InterSystems, says Adams. "Our Cach'e database is post-relational in nature, which lends itself well to the multidimensional requirements of data warehousing, OLAP and the many other forms of business intelligence."
In particular, Cach'e`s structure supports the market`s current demand for real-time business intelligence.
Of particular importance to InterSystems` thousands of customers is the fact that with Cach'e, business intelligence can be executed against the same database the business is using to run its production systems. This is highly unusual - if not unique - in a market accustomed to paying for an extra database, and many supporting tools to achieve the benefits of business intelligence. For all their financial outlay, companies have seen little, if any payback from costly business intelligence investments, says Adams.
"Companies today have all the data, but few answers. Our goal is to remove this disconnect."
InterSystems` research into bitmap indexing has seen the company yield breakthrough performance. Conventional wisdom is that bitmap indexing carries a performance overhead; but initial benchmark tests on the current Cach'e database indicate little if any overhead. Preliminary benchmarks on the upcoming Cach'e 5 database show enhanced performance, even given the presence of the bitmap indices.
"What we`ve shown is that a production system can be interrogated with complex queries, in realtime, without adversely affecting either," says Adams. "One database, for transaction processing and for detailed analysis. This has to be attractive for companies struggling to make IT budgets meet ends."
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