InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
September 6, 1999
Portal Software To Debut
Business-intelligence platforms will integrate analysis tools, ease management
By Rick Whiting
Cognos' portal will provide a single, personalized point of access for the vendor's PowerPlay analytical engine, Impromptu reporting tool, and Visualizer data visualization technology. The portal, to be called Cognos Upfront, will incorporate Extensible Markup Language specifications to let the portal access data from all of Cognos' applications.
The platform will provide customers with an end-to-end business-intelligence system, says Tom Camps, Cognos' VP of marketing strategy. By combining into one platform the individual tools' common services, such as single sign-on and security, Cognos hopes to encourage enterprisewide deployment of its business-intelligence applications.
Cognos isn't alone in its efforts. Hummingbird is developing portal technology and a framework for its query, reporting, and analysis tools, document-management software, and Genio data-exchange technology. The framework is scheduled for beta release Dec. 15. IBM is developing portal software, also due by year's end, that will integrate its Intelligent Miner data mining tool and KnowledgeX knowledge-management system.
The idea of bundling multiple business-intelligence tools isn't new, says Aberdeen Group analyst Teresa Wingfield. "But there was very little integration," she says. The common metadata modeling capabilities of the Cognos platform will be particularly significant for IS managers, Wingfield says.
HCIA Inc., a Baltimore provider of health-care data and analysis services, uses Cognos' tools internally and makes them available to customers to conduct their own analyses via the Net. Cognos' portal plans will make administration of the business-intelligence tools and presentation of data
to HCIA customers much easier, says Chris Tengwall, HCIA's data warehousing and application development director. The portal will let HCIA provide its customers with easier access and more analytical capabilities.
Cognos won't sell the platform by itself; Camps says the platform and portal technologies will be built into future versions of PowerPlay and other products, all scheduled for release over the next six months.
Related links:
ognos Inc. this week will unveil a business-intelligence platform that provides a portal interface and centralized management capabilities for all its data-analysis and reporting tools. The debut of Cognos' portal technology is expected to be followed by portal announcements later this year from Hummingbird Communications Ltd. and IBM.
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