Connect – a Simba Technologies Blog

A new version of the MDX Provider for Oracle OLAP

Since last year, Simba has partnered with Oracle to provide connectivity to the Oracle OLAP Option via the MDX query language.  We have just announced version 2 of the MDX Provider for Oracle OLAP.  You can read more on the Simba website: http://www.simba.com/news/Simba-Releases-MDX-Provider-for-Oracle-OLAP-v2.htm or on the Oracle website: http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/173668.

The MDX Provider for Oracle OLAP now officially supports Microsoft Excel 2010 Pivot Tables.  Since you have the choice of 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Excel, the OLE DB for OLAP (ODBO)Provider has been updated so there are now 2 versions 32-bit and 64-bit depending on which version of Excel Pivot Tables you use.  Also, we support some of the new Excel 2010 features including sparklines and slicers.  Slicers make it easier for a user to analyze their data in Pivot Tables and sparklines makes visualizing the data easier.  So, whatever version of Excel you are using, 2003, 2007, or 2010, you can now analyze your Oracle OLAP data in an easy way with the tools you know.

The MDX Provider for Oracle OLAP also integrates with SharePoint and we now support both SharePoint 2007 and 2010.

Another acquisition in the data warehousing and analytics space - IBM acquiring Netezza

This space just got more interesting with IBM's intention to acquire Netezza this morning.  Read more here: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/IBM-to-Acquire-prnews-2441314582.html?x=0&.v=1

Lots happening in this space.  Previously, Microsoft bought DataAllegro, SAP bought Sybase, Teradata bought Kickfire, EMC bought Greenplum, and now IBM is buying Netezza.  Data warehousing and analytics is a big area.  Oracle on Thursday last week announced they have a 1.5 billion dollar sale pipeline for their Exadata database machine and last night at Oracle OpenWorld, Larry Ellison announced the Exalogic Elastic Cloud machine to complement the Exadata database machine.

Oracle Exadata pipeline exceeds 1.5 billion dollars!

Oracle announced their fiscal Q1 and according to Larry Ellison, their Exadata pipeline has grown significantly.  According to the press release “Our Exadata database machine continued to win new customers in Q1,” said Oracle CEO, Larry Ellison. “The worldwide Exadata pipeline now exceeds $1.5 billion for the full fiscal year.”  This is quite impressive.

If you would like to see how the Simba MDX Provider for Oracle OLAP can assist your Exadata implementation by allowing Excel Pivot Tables ad-hoc query and analysis on your Oracle OLAP cubes, please visit us at OpenWorld in Moscone West at Oracle pod W-18 "Using Oracle OLAP Cubes with Excel and BI Applications".  The MDX query language is a standard originally developed by Microsoft in the mid 90's to allow standard query language support for OLAP cubes.  This standard has been adopted by leading players in data analytics including IBM, Oracle, SAP, and Teradata.

Oracle Exadata at Openworld

I am looking forward to OpenWorld next week because I am very curious what Larry Ellison will say about the Oracle Database Machine - Exadata.  Also, Oracle will be releasing their fiscal Q1 financial results on Thursday this week, so there too will be an opportunity to hear more about what Larry Ellison will say about Exadata.  I am sure there will be a lot about Mark Hurd and HP but the Exadata story is definitely interesting for those of us in the data warehouse/OLAP/analytics space.  Some good background on Oracle's Exadata business can be read here:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225701468

http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225800024

MDX provider for Oracle OLAP at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco

If you are interested in connecting your Excel Pivot Tables to Oracle database OLAP Option and being able to do ad-hoc query and analysis on your Oracle data, you definitely want to attend the session "Enhancing BI Applications, Oracle Database, and Oracle Exadata with Analytics" by Bud Endress and Marty Gubar.  The description of this session is "In this hands-on lab, you will learn how to enhance your business intelligence applications and the Oracle data warehouse with advanced analytic content by using Oracle OLAP cubes. With the Oracle Analytic Workspace Manager tool, you will design an Oracle cube, enhance the cube with rich calculations, and learn how the cube is queried with SQL. Oracle OLAP cubes are multidimensional datatypes within Oracle Database that can be used to enhance the analytic content and performance of BI applications and the Oracle data warehouse. Oracle cubes can be queried by BI applications such as Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition with SQL or by tools such as Microsoft Excel with MDX."

Bud also has another session "Enhancing Oracle Data Warehouses with Rich Analytics for Business Intelligence".  The description of this session is "Learn how to embed an analytically rich business model within Oracle Database that makes the Oracle Exadata and SQL-based business intelligence tools such as Oracle Business Intelligence applications smarter, turns Oracle Application Express into a BI tool, and supports dimensional BI tools such as Microsoft Excel and SAP's BusinessObjects Voyager. This demo-based session introduces you to Oracle OLAP and Oracle's multidimensional business model, how to enhance the model with dimensionally and hierarchically aware calculations, and how to query the business model with both SQL and Multidimensional Expressions (MDX). The session examines the business model from the perspective of both the business user and the DBA/application developer."

If you can't make either session for whatever reason or you want to know more, I suggest you drop by the Oracle data warehousing pod where we will be demonstrating how to use Excel to do ad-hoc query and analysis of your Oracle cubes using the Simba MDX Provider for Oracle OLAP.

Also, Simba will be hosting a cocktail party at OpenWorld on Tuesday from 5 to 7.  This is a by-invitation event so if you would like to attend, give me a shout and I can send you an official invite.

Teradata's product strategy

Simba does a lot of work with Teradata, having recently partnered with Teradata on the Teradata Business Intelligence Optimizer where we helped Teradata bring a ROLAP/MDX Query Labguage solution to market: http://www.simba.com/docs/Teradata-Case-Study.pdf.  This was a very exciting project because building an MDX provider for Teradata was quite different than building one for SAP BW or Oracle OLAP.  In the Teradata case, there was no existing cube infrastructure to build upon so we had to do a lot of work building infrastructure.  So, this time, we not only had to build the capability of the MDX provider to talk SQL to the database, we also had to build the infrastructure to define a cube based on relational tables in the database.

I was reading a blog post by Curt Monash entitled "Teradata's Future Product Strategy": http://intelligent-enterprise.informationweek.com/blog/archives/2010/08/teradatas_futur.html.  In his blog, Curt comments on conversations he had with Scott Gnau and Carson Schmidt from Teradata.  Curt talks about Teradata's partnering strategy to bring new products to market; the work that Teradata and Simba did on the Teradata Business Intelligence Optimizer is another example of this.  We have built an innovative solution that advances on products both Teradata and Simba previously had.

Standards-based BI Connectivity

One of the challenges in a world of large enterprises, especially those composed of acquisitions, is getting access to data in disparate data warehouses.   And doing business intelligence against them all.  One example is a large Oracle main office, and an acquisition that uses another brand of BI reporting or ad hoc query tool.  Or visa versa.

On solution is BI front end applications that use industry standard interfaces like Multi-Dimensional eXpression (MDX) query language, OLE DB for OLAP (ODBO) interface on Windows, and XML for Analysis (XMLA) on non-Windows or web services platform.

Simba currently has Business Objects Voyager running directly against Oracle OLAP database cubes.   And we are testing other combinations of BI clients and data warehouse sources that can connect via the above standard interfaces.   When buying various brands of BI software, be sure to ask about the above connectivity standards.   As mentioned in earlier postings in this blog, you never know whether you might acquire or be acquired.

TBIO - ROLAP on Teradata - smarter, faster, easier

Teradata recently launched their TBIO (Teradata Business Intelligence Optimizer) product.  Martin Willcox from Teradata has a little YouTube video in which he describes a bit more about the TBIO product.  You can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o-qVYRxwM0.  Basically, the Teradata Business Intelligence Optimizer has 3 components:

1. Teradata Schema Workbench

2. Teradata Aggregate Designer

3. Teradata OLAP Connector

Schema Workbench lets you define your OLAP schema within your Teradata database.  Aggregate Designer lets you build the aggregate join indexes so that queries on your OLAP schema run fast.  OLAP connector allows Microsoft Excel Pivot Tables to connect to your Teradata database using the MDX Query Language so you can do ad-hoc query and analysis on your data.  No data movement is required.  Everything is done within your Teradata database.