Data mining, data warehousing, decision support and knowledge discovery make up the universe of D S * ( dsstar ), the only executive business newsletter supporting strategic employment of these technologies.

The On-Line Executive Journal for Data-Intensive Decision Support
*** Apr 6, 1999: Vol. 3, No. 14 ***
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IN THIS ISSUE:

ED COLET ON THE MATURATION OF DATA MINING
METASTOR FOR TERABYTE-SIZE WINDOWS NT
WHITELIGHT'S NEW ANALYTIC APPLICATION SERVER

ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY

THE MATURATION OF DATA MINING
by Ed Colet

Ed Colet is the Acting Director of Research at Virtual Gold Inc., responsible for developing analytical methods for data mining and for investigating human factors and usability issues of business intelligence systems. At present, he is in the final stage of completing a doctoral dissertation in the Cognition and Perception program at New York University's Department of Psychology. Ed has also worked for IBM Research at the T.J. Watson Research Center. At IBM, Ed was a member of the group that developed Advanced Scout, the data mining application for NBA teams. His research interests focus on statistical methods and human factors.

Colet writes: "Data mining and its promise of knowledge discovery through the automated detection of hidden patterns in data is a technology that is undergoing the process of maturation. At first, technical issues are more important and significant than the use of such technology to solve problems. Basic research is more important than applied research. In these early stages, ways to apply technology may not even be known, and if focused upon can even compromise scientific progress. A mature technology on the other hand, is one that is characterized by a situation in which application of the technology is more important than the underlying advancement in basic principles. This is not to say that basic research isn't conducted in mature technologies (it still is), but the field is characterized by evolutionary rather than revolutionary changes. So where is data mining today?"

SCO AND LEADING ENTERPRISE SYSTEM VENDORS BRING NEW ERA OF VOLUME ECONOMICS TO THE DATA CENTER

SCO and industry-leading enterprise partners have introduced the beginning of new era in data center computing that delivers the benefits of "volume economics." Driving this change are the latest generation of Intel multiprocessor-based servers and the new UnixWare 7 Data Center Edition, offering advanced data center capabilities for IA-32 systems and compatibility with the forthcoming "Monterey 64" UNIX operating system.

ORACLE`S GLOBAL ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY CENTER USES METASTOR STORAGE SOLUTIONS FOR TERABYTE-SIZE WINDOWS NT

The MetaStor business unit of LSI Logic Storage Systems, Inc., a leader in scalable enterprise storage, has announced that it has installed over one terabyte of MetaStor storage in Oracle's Global Enterprise Technology Center in Atlanta, Georgia. This technology now makes it possible for customers to use the center to test large Microsoft Windows NT databases before implementing them in their business.

ORACLE SLOW TO DELIVER DATA WAREHOUSE TOOL

Oracle Corp.'s drive to expand its data warehousing portfolio is coming up short as the company delays shipment of a new data movement tool.

WHITELIGHT ANNOUNCES THE INDUSTRY'S FIRST ANALYTIC APPLICATION SERVER; ENABLES A NEW CLASS OF APPLICATIONS THAT SUPPORT INTEGRATED DECISION PROCESSING

WhiteLight Systems, Inc., has announced a new analytic application server that, for the first time, allows large enterprises to build applications that automate the entire process of making complex decisions.

ACTION ITEMS

SAS Institute Demonstrates Support for New Pentium III Xeon Processor-Based Servers; Integrating the Latest Server Architecture With Powerful Decision-Support Solutions
SAS Institute Inc., a recognized leader in data warehousing and decision support, demonstrated its enterprise software solutions running on Intel Corporation's Pentium III Xeon processor-based servers at launch events for the new processor in New York and San Francisco recently.

Siemens AG Selects Ardent`s DataStage for Global Data Warehouse Initiative
Ardent Software, Inc., a leading global data management software company, has announced that Siemens Semiconductor Group has selected Ardent's DataStage extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) tool to populate and maintain a central corporate data warehouse and several regional data marts throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Informix Delivers Enhanced Decision Support with Availability of SAP Business Information Warehouse on Informix Dynamic Server
Informix Corporation, a technology leader in enterprise database-powered solutions, has announced the release of the latest high-performance version of SAP Business Information Warehouse 1.2B (SAP BW), on Informix Dynamic Server 7.3.

Smith-Gardner Releases New Data Warehousing Solution
Smith-Gardner & Associates, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise-wide software solutions to the global non-store marketing industry, has announced that it has released the Data Mining System (DMS), a new cost-effective, high-performance data warehousing solution.

Data Preparation for Data Mining
Data Preparation for Data Mining (ISBN 1-55860-529-0) addresses an issue unfortunately ignored by most authorities on data mining: data preparation.

Retailers Shop For "Instant Profit" With Information Discovery's PatternWarehouse
The Retail PatternWarehouse gives retailers unprecedented power by providing them with immediate access to refined, pre-mined patterns, trends and relationships automatically discovered within large retail databases without sampling or extracts. With this innovation retailers do not need to mine data, they just use a web-browser to access patterns that have been automatically pre-mined for them.

QueryObject System Version 3.0 Targeted to High Volume Data Analysis; New release Adds Enhanced Data Access; Reduces Data Mart Build Times
QueryObject Systems Corporation has announced the release of Version 3.0 of the QueryObject System software. This new version of the System will allow data intensive industries such as Telecommunications, Healthcare and Insurance, and Financial Services to more rapidly analyze larger volumes of corporate data than is possible using other data mart systems.

Informatica and Partners Launch Web-Based Resource; Provides Valuable Information about Metadata and its Critical Role in Enabling Enterprise Decision Support
Informatica Corporation, provider of one of the leading software platforms for powering enterprise business intelligence and analytic applications, has launched a Web site designed to provide data warehousing professionals with valuable information on metadata exchange and management, one of the most critical aspects of deploying and managing enterprise decision support systems.

Start-Up to Smash Data Bottlenecks
A problem that has long bedeviled database administrators is how to use diverse data sources with different update schedules in different locations, a dilemma exacerbated by the demands of providing information over the Web. But Michael Stonebraker, the long, tall database management pioneer, said he's found a solution -- which is arriving just in time to integrate data for new Web e-commerce applications.

CA to Build Knowledge Portal with Platinum's Technology
Computer Associates hopes to leverage Platinum Technology's experience in data warehousing to build an enterprise-level knowledge portal based on CA's Jasmine object database, said CA President and Chief Operating Officer Sanjay Kumar in a teleconference announcing CA's $3.5 billion acquisition of Platinum.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"We believe Integrated Decision Processing is the wave of the future." ventures, General Electric Financial Assurance

• Dan Greenshields, assistant vice president,

CONFERENCES & SEMINARS 04.6.99

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