InformationWeek

Interelate Inc., an application service provider, last week struck a deal to offer Net Perceptions Inc.'s data analysis and Web-personalization technology to its customers. Also last week, Business Objects SA forged alliances with a handful of ASPs to provide Business Objects' business intelligence tools on a hosted basis.

While many ASPs already offer operational applications, such as enterprise resource planning and customer-relationship management software, there's a growing demand for ASPs to provide business intelligence and data warehousing services as well, says Philip Russom, director of data warehousing and business intelligence at the Hurwitz Group.

The idea isn't entirely new. Vendors such as IBM and WebSideStory Inc. already provide clickstream data analysis services. But now they're joined by several startups, including Coremetrics, Keylime Software, and Viathan. Business intelligence tool suppliers such as Business Objects and Cognos Inc. are partnering with ASPs, while WebTrends Corp. created a business unit in March to meet demands for hosted business intelligence tools. And vendors such as Interelate and WhiteCross Systems are providing advanced data warehousing services.

Hosted business intelligence and data warehousing services are par-ticularly attractive to small and midsize companies and startups with limited IT resources, Russom says. Service providers can deliver data-analysis capabilities in a fraction of the time it would take a company to build its own business intelligence system.

"We got our data warehouse up and running in three months," says Chuck Mueller, chief financial officer at PacificNet.com Inc., a Minneapolis supplier of E-commerce services and technology for Asian trade that turned to Interelate to build and operate its data warehouse. "I hear of these grandiose data warehouse projects that are 24 to 36 months into development and they have nothing to show for it," he says.

Interelate says it will host Net Perceptions Inc.'s data mining and personalization software as a service. Interelate already provides customer analysis and personalization software from E.piphany Inc. Customers will now be able to subscribe to either or both applications depending on their specific needs, according to Interelate executives.