ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY

Inderpal Bhandari is widely recognized as a leading researcher in data mining and computer science. He is one of the few experts who have successfully demonstrated how the emerging technology of data mining can be translated into useful applications that offer a competitive advantage. Recently, he formed Virtual Gold, Inc. to implement his technical vision. Virtual Gold also offers a consulting service to help clients differentiate themselves from their competitors via the use of data mining technology.

From 1990-1997, Dr. Bhandari was a member of the research staff at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, where he received several awards for his pioneering work in data mining and in software engineering. He was the creator and project director of IBM's Advanced Scout, a data mining program used extensively by coaches of the National Basketball Association to devise new strategies based on the automatic identification of hidden patterns in game data and video.

He was educated at Carnegie Mellon University (Ph.D, Electrical & Computer Engineering, 1990), the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (M.S.) and the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India (B.Engg). He has published extensively in leading computer-related journals and conferences and has deployed several cutting-edge technological solutions to business problems.

Dr. Bhandari writes: "Last week, I suggested that there was a link between data mining, data warehousing and digital libraries. Digital libraries are repositories of multimedia information. In this article, I would like to continue exploring that relationship."

DATA MINING & PREDICTIVE SERVICES: BREAKING UP THE MONOLITH
by John K. Thompson, Vice President - Marketing, Magnify Inc

Founded in 1991, Magnify, Inc. provides innovative data mining solutions to maximize the intrinsic value of the rapidly expanding data resources of Global 2000 companies. Based in Chicago, Magnify's mission is to continue to produce award-winning software and complete applications that will discover, explain, and predict rare and critical patterns in databases up to and including multiple terabytes.

Magnify maintains partnerships with Tandem Computers Inc., Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNSW), Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HWP) and Informix Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: IFMX). Magnify, Inc. and Magnify Research, Inc., which develops products and integrates systems for the federal government, are subsidiaries of Magnify Holdings Corporation.

For more information access Magnify's Web site at http://www.magnify.com , or send e-mail to info@magnify.com

Thompson observes: "Up to this point in the evolution of the data-mining marketplace, there has been only one method of implementing predictive models. That is not to say that there is only one type of system, or that there is a lack of system choices to utilize, but in fact, the vast majority of systems are implemented in the same manner. Enterprise in scale or desktop in operation, data mining systems work in similar fashion."

THE ROLE OF TPC-D BENCHMARK RESULTS IN SELECTING A SERVER FOR BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE: PART II
by Daniel Graham

Daniel Graham is Global Strategy and Operations Executive for IBM Global Business Intelligence Solutions. In this second installment of a three-part series, Graham observes: "Under the heading of 'skills' we take a client through local vendor support. Is he proposing to install a system which local consultants can service, or will he have to fly somebody half way across the continent? How about his own staff skills and education? Bear in mind that when you talk about education it depends which server is running what database engine."

Part one of this series is available as article 100165

ACTION ITEMS

Platinum Ports Microsoft Repository to Unix Platforms
Microsoft has inaugurated a Unix port of Repository 2.0, the metadata and application development infrastructure that forms a key component of its drive into the enterprise arena. And Platinum Technology recently demonstrated Repository 2.0 running Sybase's Adaptive Server database on the Solaris operating system at a data warehouse developers workshop at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., campus.

Telewest Utilizes Sequent's NUMA for DW
Telewest Communications, one of the UK's leading cable communications companies, has built its first customer data warehouse to support its accelerating customer base and increased range of services. The advanced telecommunications and entertainment supplier has selected Sequent's powerful NUMA-Q 2000 enterprise server as the data warehouse platform.

Prism Unveils Next-Generation Data Warehousing Solution
Prism Solutions, Inc., a leading provider of solutions to deliver business intelligence applications, announced the latest release of the Prism Executive Suite. The Executive Suite is a data warehousing software product that combines the power and flexibility of warehousing tools with the speed and ease of use of data mart tools. The Executive Suite also introduces server-side Java technology to the data warehousing market, as part of its new architecture.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

(D)ata sources, the data mining system and the models that are produced are inextricably intertwined.
-- John K. Thompson, VP of Marketing, Magnify

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