New Products, July 2005

ANALYSIS AND REPORTING TOOL

Give Users Visual Query and Analysis Capabilities

Tableau Software announced Tableau, a visual analysis and reporting solution that lets people explore and analyze databases by using simple drag-and-drop operations. The software uses the new query language VizQL to call live, visual information out of databases. The new language works with any Microsoft database program, including all SQL Server versions, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft Excel. DBAs and developers are freed from the need to support users' requirements for multiple views of data because the software gives users a tool for effectively working with data on their own, creating multiple interactive views and analyses with a simple mouse click. Users can manipulate data to discover meaningful business information and solve crucial problems by looking at data in multiple views and drilling down to see important details in clear, graphical formats. The software uses native SQL Server authentication to maintain secure user access. Tableau Standard Edition connects to data in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, and text files and costs $999. Tableau Professional Edition connects to data in SQL Server, Analysis Services, Excel, Access, IBM DB2 OLAP Server, Hyperion Essbase, MySQL, and text files and costs $1799. For more information and a free trial, contact Tableau Software at 206-633-3400, [email protected], or http://www.tableausoftware.com.

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

Understand and Predict Customer Behavior

Apollo Data Technologies announced predictive analytics, a methodology that helps companies discover hidden patterns and trends in data to understand and predict customer behavior. Apollo Data Technology experts work with companies to create custom models to solve specific business problems. The methodology involves three parts. First, Apollo consultants apply data-warehousing expertise to clean and join multiple data sources and properly format data for analysis. Then, the consultants use data-mining expertise to implement a combination of algorithms, processes, and techniques to accurately apply advanced statistics and build predictive models. Finally, Apollo consultants apply business expertise, coupled with six-sigma business practices, to map the data and algorithms to the defined business objectives. This analytic approach lets the company determine a future outcome of customer, product, and market behavior. Then, the company can use predictive analytics to find more effective ways to reduce costs in the areas of lost sales, marketing campaigns, and inventory management. For more information, contact Apollo Data Technologies at 312-787-7376, [email protected], or http://www.apollodatatech.com.

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

Get BI Optimized for SQL Server 2005

Panorama Software announced Panorama 4.5, a BI solution that supports SQL Server 2005 and 2000. New features in the latest release include an enhanced dashboard that's customizable and provides live updates so that decision makers can access near realtime dynamic data; an exception ticker, which notifies users of problems or exceptions inside a scrolling ticker bar; expanded report-authoring capabilities that support building production reports as well as multi-level grouping and sorting for ad hoc queries; and support for large dimensions, which lets users navigate, search, and select relevant information from large data sets. Companies that are investigating SQL Server 2005 can take advantage of the improvements in the new SQL Server release by leveraging Panorama's new features to access data that already exists inside the organization. For pricing and other information, contact Panorama Software at 877-709-5848, 416-545-0990, [email protected], or http://www.panorama.com.

DATA MANAGEMENT

Get a Grid for Data Management

9Rays.Net announced FlyGrid.Net, a grid-based data-control tool that lets you flexibly manage your database interface. The tool distinguishes itself from larger Windows.Forms DataGrid tools by offering complete database interface management in .NET 2.0, 1.1, and 1.0 with features designed for speed and flexibility. The tool's design editors give you complete control over column and row design, and the tool fully supports XP themes and drawing with four types of column editor styles: simple, dropdown, dialog, and spin. Features include Shift-Ctrl cell-block selection, split-view capability, full support of RightToLeft, and numerous drag-and-drop options. The tool provides unlimited levels of nested grids within each row to display master and detail views or hierarchical data from several data sources. FlyGrid.Net works in bound, unbound, and virtual modes, and a variety of column types provide summaries and filters that you can customize at runtime. The product is available in Light, Standard, Pro, and Source versions, and pricing starts at $179.95. An evaluation version is available for download. For more information, contact 9Rays.Net at 206-309-0821, [email protected], or http://www.9rays.net.

DATA REPLICATION AND RECOVERY

Get a Realtime View of SQL Server Data

TimeSpring Software announced TimeData for SQLServer, continuous data protection software that gives you a moment-by-moment view of your data and transactions and lets you quickly recover from data loss or corruption by "turning back time" to a precise moment before the corruption or loss occurred. The software captures all changes to data in realtime at the file-system level and maintains a repository of "time-dimensioned" data. Viewing and retrieving data from the TimeData repository is simple and fast, so you can recover data in minutes, not hours. The software lets you browse multiple data views and use them to identify patterns or isolate events. This capability can help with business analytics or with application troubleshooting. You can reduce planned downtime of your SQL Server applications by using TimeData views to test new applications or upgrades. The software's efficient data capture method enables long-term preservation of data while reducing storage and bandwidth requirements. TimeData for SQLServer supports SQL Server 2000, and pricing starts at $1295 at the file-server level. For more information and other pricing options, contact TimeSpring at 888-375-7634, 408-834-8966, or http://www.timespring.com.

DATABASE WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT

Use Workload Management to Enable SQL Server Consolidation

Aurema announced ARMTech for SQL Server, a workload-management solution that enables SQL Server consolidation by delivering increased reliability, improved performance, higher system utilization, and in-depth management information. Workload management lets you prioritize the sharing of resources under one OS so that applications and users can get to the resources they need. The solution lets you run multiple applications on one server and better utilize the capabilities of every server. This strategy lets you get the most work out of your SQL Server environment, lowering your overall costs. The ARMTech software becomes a "traffic cop"—a central repository for usage information that helps you manage your server consolidation and maintain effective resource utilization. The solution's management information and policy-enforcement capabilities let administrators monitor usage and performance across a group of servers and quickly roll out policy changes, an essential requirement for efficiently managing consolidated deployments. Pricing for ARMTech for SQL Server starts at $795 per CPU for SQL Server Standard Edition and $1295 per CPU for SQL Server Enterprise Edition. For more information, contact Aurema at 408- 973-7894, 877-428-7362, [email protected], or http://www.aurema.com.

BACKUP AND RECOVERY

Get Intelligent Compression of SQL Server Backups

Idera announced SQLsafe 2.0, an enterprise backup-and-recovery solution that provides fast-compressed, secure backup, automated multi-server backup management, a central repository of backup-and-restore information, and rapid deployment. New in the latest release is Idera’s IntelliCompress technology, a feature that continually samples the data to be backed up and automatically selects the best method from a library of more than 20 compression approaches to ensure optimized backup performance and storage utilization. The new release also features Service Level Agreement (SLA) reporting, which lets you use SQL Server Reporting Services to define and report on performance against SLAs for database backup. In addition, DBAs can now generate customizable scripts from existing SQL Server maintenance plans, which lets you quickly integrate SQLsafe into existing SQL Server backup infrastructures. Other new features include enhanced performance, a new Web console, native T-SQL support, and MSTF conversion. SQLsafe 2.0 is priced at $995 per SQL Server instance. For more information, contact Idera at 713-523-4433, 877-464-3372, [email protected], or http://www.idera.com.