Stories by Michael Lattig

Business Intelligence Gets a Boost

THOSE TRYING TO make sense of the vast amounts of business-relevant data available to them are offered a boost this week from several sources, including IBM Corp. and Microsoft Corp.

Building Business Intelligence One Step at a Time

Philadelphia's CIO, Brian Anderson, is well-versed in the importance of making sure that the right information is available to the right decision makers at the right time. The challenge confronting Anderson when he came to the city of brotherly love in November 1997 was how little an infrastructure for such tasks the city had in place.

AlphaBlox Brings BI to Online Trading Platforms

Taking a novel approach to the problem of providing trading platform operators with easy-to-use business intelligence capabilities, AlphaBlox Corp. this week will launch its Analysis Suite, eBusiness Edition.

Sun Takes Baby Steps Toward Opening Java

Sun Microsystems Inc. this week took a step toward allowing greater levels of partner involvement in the Java development process, hoping to quell growing unrest among vendors and developers who fear the company is beginning to mirror Microsoft in the way it controls what is supposed to be an open standard.

Sybase Aims to Reduce Mobile Sync Headaches

Sybase Inc. this week unveiled the next version of its mobile database, SQL Anywhere Studio 7.0, which the vendor claims boosts the speed and reliability with which companies can deploy mobile solutions.

Oracle Rehabs Warehouse

Taking what company officials are calling a "giant leap" in providing the speed and agility necessary for deploying data warehousing applications in the age of the Internet, Oracle Corp. this week will begin shipping its Oracle Warehouse Builder.

Databases Up File Support

MANY DATABASE users should soon be able to centralize file management directly in their database engine, as one of the more highly touted features of Oracle Corp.'s 8i database is nearing completion and one of its chief rivals is preparing similar technology.

SAS Updates Warehousing

The SAS Institute Inc. this week continued to expand its product offerings beyond its core data-mining expertise, adding new versions of its Enterprise Reporter and Warehouse Administrator products.

Clarify eFrontOffice Makes Single Customer Profile

WITH ITS FIRST major product introduction in almost a year, Clarify Inc. looks to extend the reach of standard CRM (customer relationship management) next week by integrating CRM capabilities across a wider range of customer contact points.

BEA Outlines Server Roadmap, Strategic Vision

Posing the theory that the world's economy is undergoing a revolutionary transformation akin to the agricultural and industrial revolutions of centuries past, BEA Systems Inc.'s chairman and CEO Bill Coleman on Tuesday kicked off the company's annual users conference here by proclaiming the obsolescence of client/server software.

Ballmer Affirms Commitment to Visual Basic

In his first major address since taking the helm as Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer on Tuesday reaffirmed the company's commitment to the Visual Basic developers community and outlined its development strategy for next generation applications at the Visual Basic Insiders' Technical Summit here.

Microsoft Banks on the Internet with BizTalk

EVEN THOUGH Microsoft officials say business-to-business benefits will be a key selling point of Windows 2000, due out this week, the company is not banking its entire business-to-business strategy on one product alone.

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