Next Big Thing in Data Analytics: No More Physical Cubes

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- TDWI -- For decades, companies wanting to analyze their large data had to compromise by loading just the data that could be handled by intermediary databases called OLAP "cubes." Cubes are expensive, slow the process, and require IT involvement, among other problems. It's like drawing a new map every time you want to travel somewhere.

Kognitio today conquered the cube's complexities with the industry's first analytic database that creates "virtual" cubes at the data's source without compromising performance. Kognitio's new Pablo technology enables ordinary users to build and query virtual cubes on the fly so they can discover insights from massive amounts of data in near real time. Kognitio calls this capability train-of-thought analysis.

Kognitio's Pablo also helps bring data analytics to the masses by eliminating the need for costly and complex front-end applications. Pablo's metadata layer and MDX connector allow users to perform sophisticated data analysis using any MDX-compatible tool such as a simple Microsoft Excel worksheet.

"Pablo is a huge leap forward compared to today's data warehouse appliances, analytic databases and other business intelligence environments. It may not be the immediate death of the physical cube, but it serves notice of its demise," said John Coppins, Product Director at Kognitio. "Building cubes takes time, software and expertise. Pablo eliminates those barriers and delays. Users can now do train-of-thought analysis where they continuously probe and query the data as soon as questions come to mind. And they can do it with easy analytical tools like Excel that they already know how to use."

How it works

Pablo works with Kognitio's WX2 analytic database to create in-memory images of an organization's transactional databases or data warehouse.  It combines these data images with a metadata layer and MDX connector, allowing transactional data from business functions such as CRM, financial and HR to be stored directly in the WX2 database.  

The result is a virtual cube that can be queried as quickly and as often as required. Since all information is accessible by Pablo at all times, there are no delays or extra resources required to construct virtual cubes, significantly reducing latency and the TCO of using data.

The train-of-thought analysis that Pablo enables means that users can dig much deeper into data and answer highly specific queries on the spur of the moment. For example, retailers who need to capitalize on fast-moving customer trends can do so without missing the opportunity. Marketers who want to understand purchasing behavior and spot emerging trends can discover them in near-real-time. Or insurance companies can gain better insight from their customers to create new products and improve service.  

"The need for diverse types of analytics is the strongest trend in data warehousing and business intelligence today," said Philip Russom, senior manager of research at TDWI. "To get the most out of analytics, users are looking for new platforms that are built for analytics, in that they support in-memory databases, MPP architectures, and - of course - very, very large analytic datasets. In addition, a key requirement of today's extreme what-if analytics is that an analytic platform must be data model agnostic and perform very well with highly complex ad hoc queries against detailed source data. Kognitio Pablo pulls all this together in a new analytic platform that's geared for high user productivity and system performance with today's demanding analytic requirements."

Kognitio Pablo will be available from June 1, 2011 and will ship with WX2 as a separately licensed/activated capability. Pricing is available on request.

About Kognitio

Kognitio is a long-standing innovator in the data warehousing, business intelligence and analytics markets. The company has pioneered many of the technologies now employed by state-of-the-art data warehouse/BI systems including the industry's first in-memory analytic database, data warehouse appliance, MPP shared-nothing database, and Data warehousing as a Service (DaaS) cloud-based solution. Kognitio's award-winning WX2 product is the industry's fastest and most scalable analytic database, enabling firms to turn massive amounts of raw, complex data into valuable insight to solve their most urgent business problems. Its clients span many industries including market research, consumer packaged goods, retail, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, gaming, media and utilities. Kognitio is based in Bracknell, UK, with North American headquarters in Chicago and offices in New York, Raleigh, Minneapolis and other U.S. cities. More information is available by phone at 312.268.5725 and at www.kognitio.com.

SOURCE Kognitio