Simba Technologies' CEO Corner

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 BI

A few people have asked me about what’s coming up in the next version of Microsoft SQL Server.  I asked Brian Welcker about this (Brian used to be the GPM of SQL Server Reporting Services).  Brian suggested the following website http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/.  Reporting Services is covered at http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/reporting.aspx and Analysis Services is covered at http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/analysis-services.aspx.

Microsoft is also having a number of Launch Events for SQL Server 2008 http://www.microsoft.com/heroeshappenhere/register/default.mspx.  Looks promotional but may be worth attending, if there is one in a city near you.

Pivot Tables in Google Spreadsheets?

I was reading about this in eWeek (http://www.midmarket.eweek.com/c/a/News/Google-Offering-Free-BI-for-Spreadsheets/).  This sounds interesting.  I have not used Google Spreadsheets.  Having not tried it out, I thought I'd mention it to see if anyone has tried this and has any comments?

Pig in the Python

I was reading a recent article by Lou Agosta in DM Review http://www.dmreview.com/issues/2007_45/10000893-1.html and he suggests that “Conventional wisdom suggests this will be a year for digestion - neither the year of the snake nor the pig, rather the year of the pig in the python.” Very good analogy. He also talks about the data warehouse appliance. I personally like the idea of the data warehouse appliance and tend to agree with Lou.

The OLAP Report

I had an opportunity to dive into the latest OLAP Report this weekend. In the latest publication, Nigel Pendse talks a lot about the consolidation in the BI space (http://www.olapreport.com/consolidations.htm) and he has an interesting chart that shows all the acquisitions in the space. His use of colours on this chart is especially interesting because you see how much consolidation there has been in recent years, as opposed to just acquisitions. In my blog on January 15th, I wrote about the consolidations in the BI space and Nigel’s chart visually highlights just how much consolidation did happen.

If Larry Ellison was running Microsoft, would he buy Yahoo?

That is a very interesting question that I never thought to ask myself. However, when you consider this question, think of the success that Larry Ellison and Oracle have had in acquiring 39 companies since 2005. With Oracle’s stock up so much in that period of time, it seems that investors in the stock market think that Larry and Oracle are doing something right. So, what would Larry buy if he was running Microsoft?

Here is an article by Randall Stross in the New York Times that is suggests what Larry might do... http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/business/24digi.html. Definitely worth a read, whether or not you think Microsoft can learn from Larry.

SAP's Business Objects Road Map

I saw this pdf slide presentation on SAP's Business Objects road map last week and thought it might be interesting to people.  https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/10c3bca6-7dbc-2a10-7aa8-81d2731c7bb1

If you are using any BOBJ applications, refer to slide 13 to see what the future roadmap is.

On slide 26, they say that Voyager connects to SAP BW via XMLA, which is interesting.  I had thought this connectivity was OLAP BAPI.  If it is XMLA, then this is a major step forward for XMLA because my guess is that Voyager would also connect to Microsoft Analysis Services and Oracle/Hyperion Essbase via XMLA.  If anyone knows more about this, please comment.

I haven’t played with the Mobile connectivity described in slide 28, but it sounds interesting.  Interesting to see that they connect to SAP BW via the OLAP BAPI, which means the connectivity is MDX.  This sounds similar to the mobile connectivity demos that Microsoft was showing when they first introduced XMLA.