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
*** Jun 22, 1999: Vol. 3, No. 25 ***
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IN THIS ISSUE:

HOW DO YOU GET STARTED IN DATA MINING?
CA & PLATINUM FORGE INTELLIGENT E-COMMERCE PLATFORM
INSURANCE FIRMS CAN TURN TO ENHANCED DW SOLUTIONS

ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY

CONSIDERATIONS FOR INITIATING DATA MINING INTO AN ORGANIZATION
By Ed Colet

Executive Editor-at-Large Inderpal Bhandari presents a guest editorial by Virtual Gold's Acting Director of Research:

Data mining is an evolving technology for discovering meaningful patterns hidden in large amounts of data. Its roots derive first from technological advances that allowed organizations to collect and store large amounts of data relatively easily. Then came the recognition that information within these large databases represented a competitive asset and thus standard querying tools are routinely used to extract information. More recently, it became clear that further competitive advantages can be gained if hidden patterns (i.e., unknown to the analysts) can be extracted as well. Data mining is the technology that promises to discover such hidden information -- and there's a high level of interest in implementing data mining technology to realize this promise. But getting started is easier said that done. What are some of the considerations and pre-requisites for successfully initiating data mining into your organization?

BALANCING THE LOAD FOR SCALING UP TO BIG TASKS

There's a performance ceiling that individual servers struggle to pierce to meet the demands of an on-line world. You can only stuff so many processors in a box where they share resources and competition for these shared resources becomes severe.

COMPUTER ASSOCIATES TO LEVERAGE PLATINUM PRODUCTS TO BUILD NEW GENERATION
E-COMMERCE PLATFORM

CA will extend PLATINUM's outstanding portfolio of data mining, data warehouse and knowledge management technologies -- and combine them with CA's industry-leading information visualization, Neugents neural network technology and infrastructure management -- to create the world's most powerful and complete environment for end-to-end e-commerce.

INKTOMI INTRODUCES FIRST CUSTOMIZABLE, AUTOMATED DIRECTORY ENGINE

Inktomi Corp., developer of scalable Internet infrastructure software, has announced the Web's first customizable, automated Directory Engine. The Inktomi Directory Engine uses breakthrough new technology, leveraging human intelligence to categorize millions of documents within an automated Web directory.

WORLD RESEARCH COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS REPORT FINDS IBM DOMINATES BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND DATA WAREHOUSING MARKET

World Research, Inc. of San Jose, California, a leading provider of online market research, announced the availability of its 1999 Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing (BI/DW) Program Competitive Analysis Report. According to the report, IBM is the 1998 worldwide revenue and market share leader in the business intelligence and data warehousing market. Big five consulting giant Andersen Consulting/Arthur Andersen was the services segment leader, capturing a 29% market share on revenues of $550 million.

NCR AND PINPOINT BRING ENHANCED DATA WAREHOUSE SOLUTION TO INSURANCE COMPANIES

NCR Corporation and Pinpoint Solutions have announced the formation of a strategic partnership to provide insurance companies with a data warehouse solution for actuarial and profitability analysis. By combining Pinpoint's ProfitCube multi-dimensional business analysis solution with NCR's industry-leading Teradata database, insurers will be better able to determine the profitability of their customers and policies.

ACTION ITEMS

Informix and HP Provide Rapid Value to Business Intelligence Solutions for SAP Business Information Warehouse
A joint program from Informix and Hewlett-Packard Company, the leader in business-critical data warehousing, the CDW program is targeted at reducing the risk and time to implement data warehousing solutions, such as SAP-BW on HP and Informix technology. Through a collaborative process of SAP-BW configuration definition, sizing and verification on HP 9000 Enterprise Servers and HP NetServer systems using Informix Dynamic Server 7.3, HP and Informix are providing customers with tested and "certified" business intelligence solutions.

Columbus Molecular Software, Inc. to Collaborate With Pfizer Ltd. on Development of New Technology for Chemistry-Based Decision Support System
Columbus Molecular Software, Inc. ( http://www.columbus-molecular.com ), a premier developer of new decision support software for lead discovery and development has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Pfizer Ltd. to collaborate on the use and development of Columbus Molecular's chemistry-based decision support system to identify new candidates for drug development.

Windmill Solutions: TRUEDATA -- Setting New Standards In Data Cleansing
Windmill Solutions, the Surrey based Data Services specialists has announced a unique new process for providing a "clean data environment". TRUEDATA is a seven step process for handling large volumes of data to deliver a clean and complete view of customer data across all enterprise sources.

Data Warehousing Implementers Tap Hyperion for Best Practices Insights that Maximize Return on Investment
With large numbers of corporate data warehousing initiatives driven by technology rather than business requirements, many are failing to provide actionable information and a measurable return on investment.

Gelco`s One-of-a-Kind Solution Makes Data Analysis Quick and Easy with Leading Edge Technology
ExpenseLink Analysis Service (EAS) is a self-service web-based application providing Gelco clients with an information portal to the enterprises' business travel expense data. Gelco's technology offering is a breakthrough beyond business intelligence software tools in that it combines the power of data warehousing with the ease of use and distribution of the web.

Mathsoft Announces S-PLUS 2000 for Windows; New Version Offers Links to Bloomberg, FAME and LIM Financial Databases
The premier tool for data analysis, data mining, and statistical modeling, S-PLUS 2000 delivers powerful new visualization and analysis capabilities for a wide variety of applications and especially for finance, life sciences and manufacturing.

Sybase and Unica Partner to Deliver High Performance Campaign Management Tools
Sybase, Inc. and Unica Technologies, Inc. have announced an agreement to create a platform for data mining and campaign management, enabling organizations to fully leverage marketing campaigns and maximize their return-on-investment. Unica will provide data mining and campaign management software and services to complement high-speed database access provided by Sybase Adaptive Server.

With New Easyseeker, Any Internet User Can Perform Simple, Yet Comprehensive Information Searches Free-of-Charge
Blue Squirrel, Inc. has announced the introduction of EasySeeker, a simple-to-use data mining software application that enables any Internet user to find and organize valuable online information.

Alterian Customer Loyalty Solutions Gain Critical Power Boost
Alterian Limited, an innovative provider of data analysis and data mining products, has announced that its technology has been selected to power a new breed of customer loyalty applications from Carlson Marketing Group.

Sequent and Oracle Offer E-Business Customer Relationship Management Solutions for ERP Customers
Oracle CRM 3i applications running on Sequent's data center servers leverage tight integration between Oracle CRM and ERP applications. The initiative is an extension of a larger Oracle-Sequent alliance that boasts over 400 joint customers over the last three years.

K.wiz 2.0 Expands the Realms of Knowledge Discovery; New Algorithms and Visualization Techniques Boost High Value Markets
K.wiz is known in the market place for its unique "plug and mine" technology and distributed open architecture that delivers unmatched scalability, performance, automation and deployment capabilities. With K.wiz 2.0 now released, the addition of new features, particularly the Accelerated Database (ADB), has further increased its unique attributes.

Data Into Action Installs Data Warehouse/Knowledge Management System at International Rectifier
The new system, now operational at the firm's El Segundo, Calif. headquarters, allows top management throughout the world to gain instant access to, and analyze, valuable information in a variety of report formats, vastly improving the company's decision support environment.

3Com Implements Worldwide Decision Support System Standardized on Informatica Software
Informatica Corporation has announced that 3Com Corporation has used Informatica's PowerCenter and PowerMart to build and deploy a large-scale corporate data warehouse which consolidates data from across 3Com's global enterprise for strategic business analysis.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"The business intelligence and data warehousing market is growing at an average rate of more than 50% and is expected to reach $113 billion by 2002."

CONFERENCES & SEMINARS 06.22.99

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