SAP grows BI unit tech

In SAP's recent earnings call, the company highlighted new technologies behind the growth in its business intelligence (BI) division, says Forbes.

One such new product named High Performance Analytic Appliance (Hana) speeds up data storage and retrieval to unprecedented speeds, according to the company. SAP threatens to widen its BI lead over Oracle and IBM in the coming years.

The report estimates that SAP's share of the global BI market will increase to 24% over the forecast period. The BI unit makes up nearly 13% of the current Trefis price estimate of $53.29, which is close to the current market price of $52.91. If instead SAP were to grow to 35%, this would add another 6% to the stock price.

iSoft has partnered with BI specialist Insource to develop iSoft Health Intelligence, its first product to enable healthcare organisations to produce reports analysing performance and outcomes, reports BJHC and IM.

iSoft Health Intelligence is a modular BI application. The first module, designed specifically for secondary care trusts' reporting requirements, links to iSofts patient administration systems, via a range of connectors, to extract meaningful data to support business decisions. Bespoke connectors for third-party systems are also available.

Adrian Stevens, iSoft Northern Europe MD, says: “Business intelligence is essential for healthcare providers and is becoming ever more important in the current climate, with NHS organisations coming under increasing pressure to make efficiency savings, while having to improve patient outcomes and quality measures.”

Microsoft, at the PASS Summit 2010, unveiled the next generation of BI products; SQL Server, Microsoft SQL Server code-named 'Denali', and has made available SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse, states Iewy News.

The company also revealed the new Microsoft Critical Advantage Program, which it says provides an end-to-end experience across the complete life cycle of mission-critical appliances, such as SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse.

“Enterprises today are facing challenges of increasing volumes of data from which they need to gain business insight rapidly,” said Ted Kummert, senior vice-president of the Business Platform Division at Microsoft. “SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse provides high-scale enterprise capabilities delivered as an appliance with choice and deployment simplicity.”