BC Telecom Selects Sun Microsystems' Data Warehousing Solution; Sun's Decision Warehouse Helps Company Improve Customer Service.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 9, 1995--Sun Microsystems Computer Company today announced that BC Telecom, the largest telephone service provider in British Columbia, will use Sun(TM)'s Decision Warehouse(TM) data warehouse solution to implement an advanced decision support system and dramatically improve customer service operations.

The datawarehouse, running Oracle7.1 relational database management system from Oracle Corporation, will work in concert with BC Telecom's mainframe environment and will improve customer service by giving BC Telecom's business analysts immediate access to crucial business data. Analysis of these data, such as customer profiles, product/service overviews and budget information, was previously unavailable.

BC Telecom is implementing this data warehouse so that it can more effectively compete in the recently deregulated Canadian telephone industry. "As a result of the new data warehouse configuration, we're getting a two-second response time from the warehouse, compared to weeks or months previously," said Geoff Ridden, data manager for BC Telecom.

"The rapid response and easy access to information will directly affect our bottom line by helping us to better understand our customers, respond more rapidly to customer requests and ultimately make better business decisions."

The initial data warehouse configuration will include a SPARCcenter(TM) 2000E server running Oracle7.1, which is expected to grow to 1.2 terabytes by late 1996, and a SPARCserver(TM) 1000 server that will hold 600 gigabytes of data. Additional SPARCserver 1000E servers will act as OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) servers, running Oracle Express Database.

The mainframe will continue to serve as an information source to feed the data warehouse until at least the year 2000, the target date by which the BC Telecom IS group plans to complete the conversion of all software.

BC Telecom selected Sun servers as its enterprise data warehouse platform after the company's financial analysts completed a highly successful pilot project where a Sun data warehouse replaced a monolithic data repository. Significant factors in BC Telecom's decision to deploy Sun systems were the openness of its platform and the technical direction Sun is taking with Solaris(TM) software and its SPARC(TM)-based Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) servers.

Decision Warehouse

In July of this year, Sun announced its Decision Warehouse program, which is designed to help companies use data warehousing as a competitive weapon. The Decision Warehouse program brings together a spectrum of network computing technologies from Sun and its partners that allow customers to develop and implement data warehouses incrementally. BC Telecom was a highly successful participant in this program, going from concept to implementation in just a few months.

"The Decision Warehouse program brings together open, best-of-breed data warehouse solutions to enable users to more quickly, easily and safely implement data warehousing solutions that offer unsurpassed scalability," said Doug Kaewert, Sun Microsystems Computer Company's director of network business solutions marketing. "This scalability allows customers to `buy as they grow' in the implementation of their data warehouses while gaining a competitive advantage through network computing."

Sun Microsystems Computer Company is a world leader in the design, manufacture and sale of network computing systems and is a division of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Recognized for quality and innovation, the company's SPARC(TM) workstations and multiprocessing servers each hold the No. 1 UNIX(R) marketshare position. These systems are used primarily by businesses, educational institutions and governments worldwide for technical, commercial, industrial, and software development applications. -0-

Note to Editors: Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, Network Business Advantage, Decision Warehouse, The Network is the Computer and Solaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd.

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