PLATINUM technology announces availability of InfoBeacon 3.1, an on-line analytical processing product; performance, functionality, scalability and open architecture of new release represents rule change in Enterprise OLAP market.OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 3, 1996--PLATINUM technology, inc., today announced the general availability of InfoBeacon (formerly ProdeaBeacon) version 3.1, a new release of its leading relational On-line Analytical Processing (database) On-Line Analytical Processing - (OLAP) A category of database software which provides an interface such that users can transform or limit raw data according to user-defined or pre-defined functions, and quickly and interactively examine the results in various dimensions (OLAP (OnLine Analytical Processing) Decision support software that allows the user to quickly analyze information that has been summarized into multidimensional views and hierarchies. OLAP tools are used to perform trend analysis on sales and financial information. ) product. OLAP provides corporate data users with the ability to analyze and measure performance across multiple dimensions. The new release of InfoBeacon represents a significant rule change in the OLAP software market. The distributed three tier client/server architecture An environment in which the application processing is divided between client workstations and servers. It implies the use of desktop computers interacting with servers in a network in contrast to processing everything in a large centralized mainframe. See client/server. of InfoBeacon 3.1 delivers the functionality and performance that to date have only been found in OLAP products based on proprietary multi-dimensional databases, while also providing enterprise scalability and an open architecture not found in these proprietary OLAP solutions. InfoBeacon 3.1 also overcomes the shortcomings A shortcoming is a character flaw. Shortcomings may also be:
InfoBeacon's distributed three tier architecture consists of industry standard relational data warehouses and data marts as the data store; the InfoBeacon application server providing a "virtual cube" or VCube that interacts directly with the relational database relational database Database in which all data are represented in tabular form. The description of a particular entity is provided by the set of its attribute values, stored as one row or record of the table, called a tuple. and performs the analytical processing functions; and the InfoBeacon client tools for analysis, reporting and administration. In addition to its advanced OLAP capabilities, InfoBeacon also provides proactive agent capabilities. Server-based agents can be created to notify users of problems or opportunities, or even automate an entire series of analytical processes. "The enterprise ROLAP versus MOLAP See OLAP. argument will end the way all other open versus proprietary technology arguments end - when the performance and functionality gap has been narrowed enough, open technology will be the winner," said Andrew J. Filipowski, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of PLATINUM technology Platinum Technology Inc. was founded by Andrew Filipowski in 1987 to market and support deployment of Database Management software products and the applications enabled by database management technology and render related services. . "We have caused that transition point with the 3.1 release of InfoBeacon." "We needed a real-time decision support environment that would provide our customers with customized analysis on demand," said Michael Faracca, director of Information Technology at UCA&L, a leading provider of direct sales, customer service, and technical support to the high technology industry. "After a thorough investigation of the players in the OLAP arena, UCA&L chose InfoBeacon because of its ability to provide scalability and performance to meet our decision support needs." With the recent acquisition of Prodea Software Corporation (now PLATINUM technology's Prodea Lab), PLATINUM becomes the largest database-independent company in the rapidly growing OLAP market. PLATINUM had 1995 revenues in excess of $300 million. It currently has over 3,000 employees and a worldwide sales and service organization focused on software solutions for the open enterprise. "I strongly believe that the combination of the capabilities of InfoBeacon 3.1, coupled with the size, channel strength, and global presence of PLATINUM will change the balance of power in the OLAP market," said Larry Barbetta, vice president and general manager of the PLATINUM Prodea Lab (former president and CEO of Prodea Software Corp.). InfoBeacon 3.1 Release 3.1 of InfoBeacon provides significant performance and functionality breakthroughs while maintaining a highly scalable and open architecture that helps businesses perform data analysis more efficiently and effectively. Key product enhancements include: Improved Performance: Improvements to InfoBeacon's multi-threaded application server have significantly narrowed the performance advantage of proprietary multi-dimensional databases when accessing small to moderate sized databases, and InfoBeacon considerably outperforms these MOLAP products against larger data warehouses. These improvements also establish InfoBeacon as the highest performing ROLAP product, with many types of analysis running more than 200% faster than the competition (based on internal estimates). Increased Scalability: InfoBeacon now supports a greater number of concurrent users, provides the ability to access multiple databases in parallel, offers complete automated and encapsulated aggregate navigation, has increased schema flexibility and improved semantic layer Semantic Layer The semantic layer is a business representation of corporate data that helps end users access data autonomously using common business terms. Developed and patented by Business Objects, it maps complex data into familiar business terms such as product, buffering - protecting users and applications from changes in the physical database environment. Eased Administration: There have been significant enhancements to the graphical administrative tools, resulting in the quickest and easiest set up and maintenance processes of any enterprise OLAP product. The enhancements include auto-importing physical database information and a visual drag-and-drop interface to define all aspects of the OLAP environment. Additional Platform Support: In addition to currently supporting all major industry standard relational databases, the company has announced native application server support for a wide variety of UNIX operating systems Noun 1. UNIX operating system - trademark for a powerful operating system UNIX, UNIX system operating system, OS - (computer science) software that controls the execution of computer programs and may provide various services from vendors including Hewlett-Packard, IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , Sun, Pyramid/Siemens Nixdorf, Digital Equipment Corporation, NCR (NCR Corporation, Dayton, OH, www.ncr.com) A technology company specializing in financial terminal transactions, retail systems and data warehousing. Until the late 1990s, NCR was heavily invested in the hardware side of the industry, known worldwide as a major manufacturer of computers , Silicon Graphics, and Sequent. Enhanced Functionality: InfoBeacon supports a full range of analytical processing functions including consolidations, shares/ratios, rankings, tiling, variances/comparatives, grouping/segmentation, non-additive measurements, conditional formulas and computations, dimension specific conditions and calculations, date handling, drill down/up, pivoting, etc. In addition to these advanced analytical capabilities, InfoBeacon's proactive agent capabilities have been enhanced, providing unrivaled application integration automation and decision support workflow capabilities. Support for Extreme Dimensionality: A significant drawback of ROLAP products to date has been the inability to perform acceptably against a large number of dimensions. Enhancements have been made to the InfoBeacon application server that result in little or no performance degradation against data models even with extreme numbers of dimensions. New Write-Back Capabilities: Certain OLAP applications require the ability to "write back" to the data store to adjust or update information (such as budget/planning applications). Facilities have been added to the InfoBeacon tool set to enable the development of applications with these capabilities in a secure and controlled manner. Open OLAP Architecture: Enhancements have been made to the InfoBeacon API (Application Programming Interface) A language and message format used by an application program to communicate with the operating system or some other control program such as a database management system (DBMS) or communications protocol. to ease the process of creating customized front ends and complete custom applications on top of the InfoBeacon OLAP environment. All necessary objects, methods, and properties of InfoBeacon have been exposed via OLE 2 automation, enabling control and interaction of InfoBeacon from the widest variety of development tools (including Visual Basic, PowerBuilder, Delphi, etc.) and even macro languages found in most desktop applications (including Access, Paradox, Excel, Lotus, WordPerfect, etc.). The API also insulates the application developer from the complexities associated with network and communications protocols and interfaces. Platforms and Pricing InfoBeacon 3.1 is available immediately with the InfoBeacon Client tools running on the Windows 3.x Windows 3.x can refer to either an individual or all of the following versions of Microsoft Windows:
Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). , Mainframe, Windows NT and other LAN server (1) A network operating system from IBM that runs as a server application under OS/2 and supports DOS, Windows and OS/2 clients. Originally based on LAN Manager when OS/2 was jointly developed by IBM and Microsoft, starting with LAN Server 3. environments. InfoBeacon Application Server versions running on Hewlett-Packard HP-UX HP's version of Unix that runs on its 9000 family. It is based on SVID and incorporates features from BSD Unix along with several HP innovations. (operating system) HP-UX - The version of Unix running on Hewlett-Packard workstations. , IBM AIX (Advanced Interactive eXecutive) IBM's Unix-based operating system which runs on its Intellistation workstations and pSeries, p5, iSeries and i5 server families. and Sun Solaris are scheduled for general availability in September 1996, with support for other UNIX platforms from vendors including Pyramid/Siemens Nixdorf, Digital Equipment Corporation, NCR, Silicon Graphics, and Sequent scheduled for Q4'96. Pricing for InfoBeacon 3.1 starts at $45,000 for a 10-user client and server license, with additional client licenses starting as low as $295. For pricing information call PLATINUM technology at 800/442-6861 or 708/620-5000; or send email to info@platinum.com. About PLATINUM Business Intelligence Business intelligence software helps organizations dramatically increase their return on investment in databases and applications by enabling business users to turn raw data into useful information for management decisions. PLATINUM technology inc.'s InfoSuite of business intelligence products, which includes Forest and Trees, the InfoBeacon On-line Analytical Processing (OLAP) solution, and the InfoReports set of reporting tools, addresses the entire spectrum of enterprise data access, analysis, reporting and delivery needs. By offering client, server, and host-based products, PLATINUM provides the first true open enterprise business intelligence solution. Business intelligence is a critical component of PLATINUM's open enterprise management solutions. This enables PLATINUM's business intelligence products to leverage PLATINUM's extensive data warehousing See data warehouse. data warehousing - data warehouse , database management, systems management, and application development solutions. PLATINUM technology, inc., delivers the payoff on information technology (IT) investments by providing tools that enable organizations to efficiently manage next-generation computing solutions while leveraging existing and legacy systems. The company provides application development, business intelligence, database administration, data warehousing, and systems management software solutions for the Open Enterprise Environment (OEE OEE Overall Equipment Effectiveness OEE Office of Energy Efficiency (Canada) OEE Overall Equipment Efficiency OEE Office de l'Efficacité Énergétique (Office of Energy Efficiency - Canada) ) -- the networked computing environment that incorporates mainframe, desktop, and open systems. Additional information about PLATINUM technology, inc. is available via the World Wide Web at http://www.platinum.com. EDITORS NOTE: There is a double slash following "http:" in the World Wide Web addresses referenced in this release. Also, there is an "at" symbol between "lrobinson" and "platinum.com" and between "info" and "platinum.com" in the e-mail addresses above and below. These symbols may not appear properly in some systems. CONTACT: PLATINUM technology, inc. Lisa J. Goldberg/Lisa Robinson, 617/891-6500 lrobinson@platinum.com or Price Public Relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most Julia Price/Caroline Carmagnol, 415/462-6970 |
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