SAS top to bottom - SAS Institute Inc releases Orlando II data warehousing suite - Brief Article - Product Announcement

Software Magazine, May, 1997 by Paul Parcellin

Online analytical processing in a multidimensional database is a top-down strategy that requires users to query the data. Determining the right queries or questions to ask is the job of data mining and analysis tools operating from the bottom-up.

SAS Institute Inc., Cary, N.C., which has already established a firm grip on the data warehouse technology and analysis market, has merged these tools into one package in its recent release of the Orlando II data warehousing suite. Teresa Wingfield, a senior industry analyst for Giga Information Group, Cambridge, Mass., says the product's three-tiered offering is a triumph for SAS. "They are the only vendor I know of who can provide data mining and online analytical processing combined with a very advanced statistical analysis system," says Wingfield. "It's an extraordinary combination."

In addition to its mix of top-down and bottom-up tools, Orlando II extends SAS multidimensional database OLAP capabilities to the Web, allowing businesses to look at data no matter where it resides.

According to Mark Moorman, SAS Institute program manager for business in- telligence, Web-enabling warehousing and reporting capabilities wasn't a driving force behind the latest rollout, just a far easier distribution model than client/server. Of more importance, says Moorman, is the ability of Orlando II's analytical tools to reach into the data warehouse. "Information can flow right from the data ware- house to heavy-duty analysis tools, which allows a considerable saving of time and money," he says. "Others make you go back to the transaction sources."

That ability to "reach through" to the data warehouse was a deciding factor in Dun & Bradstreet Corp.'s upgrade to Orlando II. Tom Roberts, head of software partner marketing for the Murray Hill, N.J.-based firm, says D&B is in the process of implementing Orlando II to assist its business of compiling and selling data that includes churn analysis, risk analysis and other business decision-making reports. Before choosing Orlando II, Dun & Bradstreet considered applications from Brio Technology Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., and Cognos Corp., Burlington, Mass. Roberts concluded that, while the others may drill-down a little faster, the reach-through built into Orlando II makes it superior to its competitors.

At a packed California meeting of the SAS Users Group International in March, SAS President Jim Goodnight unveiled a product the firm is developing as an enhancement to their data mining solutions. Code-named Enterprise Miner, it will let users choose from a variety of data mining algorithms. Goodnight also announced Enterprise Reporter, a desktop reporting tool for SAS-based data warehouses.

Goodnight says he is confident that Enterprise Miner and Enterprise Reporter will push SAS ahead of arch rival IBM. "We're going to put the time and resources into this product that will put it on top," says Goodnight. Enterprise Reporter and Enterprise Miner are scheduled to ship in the third quarter and fourth quarter of this year, respectively.