Lyzasoft Introduces Desktop Data Analysis Solution

Business Wire, Sept 22, 2008

The National Association of Home Builders Research Center Uses Lyza to Integrate and Analyze Microsoft Access, Excel, SQL Server and Oracle Data

DENVER -- Lyzasoft, Inc. today introduced Lyza[TM], a powerful desktop analytics solution. Lyza enables analysts to synthesize, explore and visualize data, then to publish compelling presentations and dashboards - all without the reliance on lengthy IT development cycles. Lyza runs on Windows and Mac, and is available for free trial download at lyzasoft.com.

Lyza delivers extraordinary scalability and performance on the desktop, while imposing no limitations on the number of inputs, the size of data sets, the count of records and columns, or complexity of transformations and calculations. Lyza provides seamless integration with heterogeneous data sources including Microsoft Excel, Access, SQLServer2000, MySQL, Oracle, flat files, and ODBC or JDBC compliant databases.

"There is a significant market for people who want to do complex analysis," said Mark Madsen, president of Third Nature, a leading IT consultancy specializing in BI and information delivery. "Tools like Lyza fit well with these 'orphaned' users. In companies with a data warehouse, many analysts are frustrated by the limitations of the standardized BI stack because the tools don't work the way analysts work. Today's BI tools don't support analysis, they deliver reports," Madsen said.

Madsen added that he recently used Lyza in one of his consulting engagements and was impressed with its capabilities. "As long as you have access to the data, you can work with it, build a model, perform analysis and change it repeatedly to get what you are after -- and you can do it very quickly," Madsen said. "Transforming and mapping the data is easy to do with Lyza. I was able to perform survey data analysis in a few hours that previously took me a few days."

With a visual drag-n-drop interface, familiar spreadsheet-like formulas, and powerful charting, Lyza keeps users in touch with their data as they observe relationships, refine assumptions, and solve problems iteratively. With one click, users can refresh all inputs, computations and graphics.

The NAHB Research Center Analyzes 7.5 Million Records

The NAHB Research Center, a subsidiary of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), tests and evaluates building materials on behalf of its clients. The Research Center recently completed a long-term study of moisture content. For the study, 300 wireless sensors were installed in the walls of houses in a new subdivision to gather data about moisture, temperature and humidity. The sensors gathered five different data points every hour for two years, all in text files.

Project leader Eric Lieser was handed 300 text files--one for each sensor--and told to decipher the meanings. The files contained the sensor number, date/time, temperature, relative humidity, moisture content and dew content--a total of 7.5 million rows. He quickly determined that his current set of desktop tools was not sufficient for the job of analyzing the study data and he opted to utilize Lyza. "I could immediately load the data set and easily manipulate it using Lyza," states Lieser. "I was highly impressed with how easily Lyza combined master lists and enabled me to perform complex sorts."

Using Lyza, Lieser was able to combine two data sets and sort them based on various fields using Lyza's drag-n-drop, icon-driven model. "These capabilities were very powerful and compelling for me," says Lieser. "You simply can't average items together and combine them in other tools that way."

Lieser added that he is considering using Lyza for other NAHB Research Center studies, including a large-scale thermal test that has more complex data that needs to be analyzed. "We are constantly doing data manipulation and analysis--two of Lyza's definite sweet spots."

"Our multi-year commitment to research and studying analyst cognition has resulted in a powerful, elegant interaction model that aligns to the way analysts think and work," said Lyzasoft Founder and CEO Scott Davis. "Creative analysis is a process in which each step of discovery opens up new insights, clarifying the next step toward the goal. Lyza enables analytical creativity through a natural step-by-step approach that breaks down complex problems into manageable pieces."

Pricing and Availability

Lyza is available immediately for Windows and Mac. It is priced at $899 for a single machine, one-year subscription license, unlimited online support and complimentary product updates. Lyza is available for download at lyzasoft.com.

About Lyzasoft, Inc.

Founded in 2008, Lyzasoft, Inc. is a privately held company that is a spin-off of a successful business intelligence consulting practice. The company has spent the past two years developing Lyza, leveraging its extensive business intelligence and data processing roots to develop an integrated BI solution for analysts. Lyza provides a desktop software solution for data analysis. For more information about Lyzasoft, Inc. and its product, please call 303.825.1040 or visit lyzasoft.com.