HP Looks To Neoview For Gains In Data Warehousing

Hewlett-Packard's Thrust into business intelligence with the official launch last week of Neoview, a high-end data warehousing system, is key to its growth strategy. The biggest obstacle is persuading thousands of businesses to choose HP's system over entrenched rivals.

Neoview is based on a mature database engine called NonStop, and it integrates HP's Integrity and ProLiant servers with its StorageWorks hardware and software. InformationWeek examined HP's forthcoming data warehouse ambitions in its Jan. 8 cover story.

NonStop delivers in the increasingly important area of data availability, and Neoview is appealing in that it combines hardware, software, and services, says Richard Winter of consulting firm WinterCorp. Says Winter, "It stands a good chance of carving out a substantial piece of the data warehouse market."

HP added hundreds of consultants through its acquisition of Knightsbridge Solutions Holdings in December; they'll help companies plan and build data warehousing and BI systems.

IBM, Microsoft, NCR's Teradata, and Oracle are well established in the market. HP says its edge is an approach optimized for data warehouses, not a general-purpose database. The challenge, since most companies already have a data warehouse, will be persuading companies to change course.