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 20, 1999: Vol. 3, No. 16 ***
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For FREE subscription information, email dsfree@dsstar.com
-------------------- * --------------------

IN THIS ISSUE:

ED COLET ADDRESSES THE CONTRIBUTION OF PARTS TO A WHOLE
KPMG AND WESTERN DIGITAL TEAM FOR NEW KNOWLEDGE-BASED SOLUTIONS
UK START-UP OFFERS POWERFUL DATA MINING CAPABILITIES

ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY

ON THE CONTRIBUTION OF PARTS TO A WHOLE
by Ed Colet, Virtual Gold, Inc.

Current technologies make it relatively easy and cost effective to collect and store large amounts of data. A consequence of this is that large databases now have more and more fields. When analyzing such data sets, there are then too many variables or attributes to conveniently analyze "by hand". This has given rise to technologies such as data mining - in which significant patterns that are made up of unexpected but meaningful combinations of attributes can be automatically discovered. But having more attributes means more combinations of such attributes become possible. Discovering an interesting combination of attributes is one thing - but knowing which of the particular attributes within a pattern are most (or least) important is another.

ORACLE AND MAPINFO COMBINE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR INTERNET BUSINESS APPLICATIONS TO DELIVER LOCATION-BASED ANALYSIS FOR BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE, DATA WAREHOUSING

Oracle Corp. and MapInfo Corp. have announced the world's first Internet-based spatial data analysis solution on Oracle8i. This solution will help organizations understand and visualize data and quickly identify business patterns and customer trends.

KPMG TEAMS WITH WESTERN DIGITAL FOR NEXT-GENERATION KNOWLEDGE-BASED SOLUTIONS

Western Digital Corporation, a leader in information storage products and services, has gone live with a comprehensive data warehouse implemented by KPMG LLP to quickly and accurately measure the company's products against the Western Digital standard.

SAS INSTITUTE'S NEW INFORMATION DELIVERY ARCHITECTURE PROVIDES FOUNDATION FOR ENTERPRISE DECISION SUPPORT PROJECTS

SAS Institute Inc., a market leader in integrated data warehousing and decision support, has announced plans to begin delivering in June the final phase of the Nashville Project, an open, scalable architecture for Web-enabled enterprise information delivery.

ALTERIAN: UK START-UP COMPANY EXPANDS DATA ANALYSIS SOLUTION TO OFFER POWERFUL DATA MINING CAPABILITIES

Alterian Limited, an innovative UK start-up company, has announced that it has extended its data analysis suite by adding a series of new components that will allow users to automatically mine very large quantities of data. This technology is critical for companies to enable them to take advantage of the information locked in their databases to better understand buying behaviour, assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns or monitor customer "churn".

FIRST UNION DEVELOPS INDUSTRY'S LARGEST DATA WAREHOUSE; DATA MART TO TAILOR MARKETING TO 16 MILLION CUSTOMERS

First Union Corporation announced plans recently to triple the capacity of its customer data warehouse to 27 terabytes, a banking industry record, in its quest to deliver customized marketing to its 16 million customers.

ACTION ITEMS

Lawson Delivers Financial Analysis Data Mart on AS/400
Lawson Software, The Web Enterprise Company, has announced general availability of its Financial Analysis data mart for the AS/400 platform. Lawson's Financial Analysis data mart is a packaged, on-line analytical processing (OLAP) and data warehousing solution that delivers critical business information effortlessly to the desktop, via a standard Web browser.

Recognition Systems' ideas Solution Campaign Management Software Helps Macromedia Connect With Customers Online
Recognition Systems, a global leader in the development of campaign management software, has announced that Macromedia, Inc. has installed its ideas Solution campaign management software. The first campaign to use the product's multi-channel capabilities is presently underway.

Anheuser-Busch Standardizes on QI Analyst; SPSS' Fastest Growing Group Claims Yet Another Large Customer
Anheuser-Busch Inc. has purchased 200 network licenses of QI Analyst statistical process control software (SPC), SPSS Inc. announced recently. The world's largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch, will implement the software in the company's labs and production floor. From the malt houses to the packaging plants, Anheuser-Busch employees will use QI Analyst in its 12 breweries for quality improvement.

HP and SAS Institute Achieve New Performance Advantages for Data Warehousing
Hewlett-Packard Company and SAS Institute Inc. have announced the first 64-bit SAS Scalable Performance Data Server available only on HP platforms.

DataSage and Spectra Pact Creates Breakthrough Product For Retail Market Supermarkets, Drugstores to Gain New Generation Customer Intelligence Software Solution
DataSage, Inc., a leading provider of customer intelligence software solutions, has signed a licensing and development agreement with Retail Marketing Systems (RMS), an affiliate of Spectra Marketing, to combine features from DataSage Customer Analyst software with RMS' MarketEXPERT product.

Accrue Software Announces Accrue Insight 3.0 for Advanced Enterprise eBusiness Analysis
Accrue Software, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise eBusiness analysis software, has unveiled Accrue Insight 3.0 at the Spring Internet World conference in Los Angeles. With new features that enhance Web data collection, analysis, storage and reporting, Accrue Insight 3.0 advances the state of the art in data mining and analysis for high-volume, complex Web sites.

Decisionism Ships Version 2.3 of Aclue for Rapid Delivery of OLAP Analytical Applications
Decisionism Inc., a leader in OLAP data mart management software, has announced the general availability of Release 2.3 of its Aclue Decision Supportware. Aclue enables organizations to rapidly create, deliver, and manage OLAP-based analytical and reporting applications that share consistent, synchronized corporate data.

Autodesk to Standardize Global Decision-Support System on Informatica's Data Warehousing Software
Informatica Corporation, provider of one of the leading software platforms for powering enterprise analytic applications, has announced that Autodesk is using Informatica's PowerCenter data-integration software to consolidate its worldwide operational data and optimize it for enterprise-wide business analysis.

Prime Response Partners with IBM Software to Deliver Leading Marketing Automation Solution on Native Universal Database
Prime Response, a marketing automation solutions provider offering leading campaign management software, has announced the general availability of its DB2 Universal Database-enabled Prime Vantage campaign management software.

HP Drives Market Leadership With Next Wave of Business-Intelligence Solutions For ERP And Extended Supply Chain
Building on its experience as a leader in business-critical data warehousing, Hewlett-Packard Company has announced the next wave of its business-intelligence solutions, and the HP 9000 N-Class Enterprise Server, the first in a new class of high-performance midrange data-warehousing servers.

MathSoft Partners with Logical Information Machines to Link Powerful Data Analysis Tools with Rich Financial Database
MathSoft, Inc., provider of a broad line of technical calculation and analytical software for business and academia, has announced a partnership with Logical Information Machines, Inc. (LIM), a leading financial software developer and data provider. The collaboration will link MathSoft's S-PLUS software, a tool for data analysis, visualization, and statistical modeling, with LIM's sophisticated historical equity, bond, and commodity time series database.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"We are providing our clients the capabilities to focus on fact-based decision making in a global economy."

CONFERENCES & SEMINARS 04.20.99

D S * INFORMATION

D S * welcomes bylined comments for publication.

All comments regarding editorial content should be sent to: dseditor@tgc.com

[ FIRST ARTICLE ]