Informatica Previews Integration Software

Informatica Corp. execs outlined plans last week to move into the small- and midsize-business market and explained a recent decision to back away from analytical applications. The company also gave customers a look at PowerCenter 7.0, the next release of its flagship data-integration software, at its annual user conference.

"We've decided to persistently focus on infrastructure," president and CEO Gaurav Dhillon said in a keynote speech. Forty percent of IT budgets are spent on integration work, and 70% of that is data-related, Dhillon said, citing IDC studies. PowerCenter 7.0 will be available by the end of the first quarter next year.

Forty percent of IT budgets are spent on integration work, CEO Dhillon says. Gaurav Dhillon

The release has built-in data-profiling features that use pattern recognition to scrutinize data quality in a source system before moving it to another system. It has load-balancing and failover capabilities and supports clusters of heterogeneous servers, the latter a requirement for grid computing. The software also supports 64-bit servers and has enhanced security features.

Using Web-services capabilities, PowerCenter 7.0 can detect and adapt to changes in computing environments, such as the addition of an application. "It absolutely has to be flexible," says Chet Phillips, IT director of Motorola Inc.'s global telecom solutions sector and an Informatica customer. "That's the essence of the new wave of software."

Informatica discontinued its line of analytical applications in July, though they're still being sold and supported by its resellers and partners. Technology from the apps is being built into the vendor's PowerConnect connectivity tools and PowerAnalyzer analysis software.