Data mining, data warehousing, decision support and knowledge discovery make up the universe of DSstar, the only executive business newsletter supporting strategic employment of these technologies.

The On-Line Executive Journal for Data-Intensive Decision Support
*** Nov 2, 1999: Vol. 3, No. 44 ***
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IN THIS ISSUE:

CRACKING VERY DIFFICULT PROBLEMS WITH DATA MINING
BROBST NOW CTO OF NCR'S DATA WAREHOUSE BIZ
WHAT ARE THE FUNDAMENTAL STEPS IN DATA MINING?

ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY

WHEN THINGS ARE INCONCLUSIVE AFTER YEARS OF STUDY - PERHAPS TRY A DATA MINING APPROACH
by Ed Colet

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

There are many situations in which years of effort and tremendous amounts of financial resources have been devoted to the careful study of a specific issue, only to conclude that little can be concluded...Perhaps it's because in situations where effects are truly subtle (but important), traditional analytical approaches are limited. If so, the alternative of a data mining approach may be the one that results in true knowledge and insights being gained. In this column, I expand on this notion by discussing it in the context of a possible link between cell phone use and brain cancer.

ALPHABLOX AND ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS WIN COVETED EXCELLENCE IN BUSINESS INFORMATION AWARD

Chosen by a team of experts in the Business Intelligence market, the Excellence in Business Information Awards recognizes outstanding successful implementations of data warehousing, data access, and decision support solutions in today's dynamic computing environment.

STORAGETEK GIVES ENTERPRISES SIGNIFICANT COMPETITIVE EDGE WITH ATOMIC DATA STORE, FIRST SOLUTION TO EFFICIENTLY STORE AND ACCESS MULTIPLE TERABYTES OF CUSTOMER DATA

Traditionally, due to size and capacity limitations, many warehouses only store and provide access to 20 percent of a company's detailed information. The rest of the data either is summarized or, in some cases, deleted. The Atomic Data Store is the first product to provide direct access to the other 80 percent of business-critical information that can equal tens or hundreds of terabytes (TBs).

LEADING INDUSTRY EXPERT WILL JOIN NCR AS CTO OF DATA WAREHOUSE BUSINESS

NCR has signed a definitive agreement to acquire its new CTO's privately-held, Boston-based company, a specialized consulting firm that focuses on high-end database design and construction, specifically in the area of sophisticated data warehouses.

NEW APPLICATION FOR DATA MINING EVOLVING

A recent venture explores the provision of solutions to the financial community via high-performance computing. A new method of estimating recovery rates and default probabilities implicitly from market prices is in the works.

IBM EXPLORING NEW STORAGE TECHNOLOGY

Could magnetic recording be on the way out? IBM believes so, and they are pushing a lot of money into the development of alternative mechanisms, such as scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic force microscope data storage.

THE STEPS INVOLVED IN DATA MINING

Returning, once again, to the basics, we provide an overview of the fundamental steps involved in data mining. This analysis is certain to clear up any confusion concerning the processes by which queries are answered.

SPSS ANNOUNCES DATA MINING EDUCATION PROGRAM

Combining the latest in software technology and analytical expertise, SPSS Inc. announced its Continuing Education Partner Program (CEPP) at the League of Innovation meeting in Chicago.

SCIMAGIX CLOSES $2.9 MILLION FINANCING TO ENTER IMAGE INFORMATICS MARKET

Scimagix Inc. announced the completion of a $2.9 million equity financing to support the company's emergence into the growing image informatics market.

1999 PIONEERING PRODUCTS FINALISTS SELECTED; SEVEN PRODUCTS CHOSEN TO COMPETE FOR PIONEERING PRODUCT OF 1999

The nominations are in. Seven solutions have been selected as finalists to battle in a head-on competition in mid-November to see which will be crowned Pioneering Product of 1999 by TDWI.

FUTURENEXT KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT EXPERT KEYNOTES DCI'S DATA WAREHOUSE WORLD

A data warehousing and knowledge management thought leader, Tsang addressed the attendees on "Knowledge-Driven Customer Service," providing a wake-up call for both the IT community and executives moving toward Internet-focused customer service.

ACTION ITEMS

Information Discovery Becomes The First ASP For Pattern Analysis
A recent Gartner Group study stated that, soon, "every company will use an Application Service Provider(ASP) to host its applications." Information Discovery is the first to offer web-based pattern access using the ASP model.

DecisionPoint Applications And DMR Consulting Group Team Up In Packaged Data Warehousing Market
By leveraging DecisionPoint Applications' proven technology and the DPAC support services, DMR will receive the resources it requires to deliver premier solutions and services with complete customer satisfaction.

SDSC Acquires 64-Processor Sun HPC 10000 Supercomputing Platform For NPACI Allocations And Strategic Collaborations
In a continuing collaboration with Sun Microsystems, the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) recently installed a "Starfire" Server running the Solaris Operating Environment. Acquisition is the first high-performance Sun system available to the nation's academic researchers through the NSF program.

Informatica, BMC Software And Pine Cone Systems Launch Seminar Series On Latest Strategies For High-Performance Data Warehousing
Featuring live demonstrations and in-depth discussions of the features and benefits that come from building a data warehousing solution the seminar series is designed to help participants meet the ever-changing challenges of data movement, transformation, integration, analysis, and management.

Lancet Announces Lancet Web Framework Version 4.0; Uses Microstrategy Web Technology To Develop Internet-Deployed Intelligent E-Business Systems
Lancet's collaboration with MicroStrategy Incorporated, a worldwide provider of Intelligent E-Business software, provides customers across a broad range of industries with an end-to-end data warehousing solution that capitalizes on the low cost of Internet deployment.

Cognos Reports Second Quarter Results
Business Intelligence license growth of 45 percent drives revenue to new records. "We...believe that our product strategy and plans for the remainder of this fiscal year will continue to set the standard for enterprise solutions," President Ron Zambonini explains.

Oracle Triples The Reach Of The Internet
Oracle's secret "Project Panama" finally unveiled... Portal-To-Go extends reach of Internet three-fold, enables new category of wireless e-business applications.

Pinnacle Launches A Retail Practice Area
The consulting firm is hoping to leverage its expertise and experience with business intelligence challenges unique to the retail business environment

Prime Response and MicroStrategy Team To Deliver eMarketing Solutions With Real-Time CRM Capabilities
Prime Response and MicroStrategy Incorporated, a worldwide provider of Intelligent E-Business software, announced a partnership to integrate Prime Response's eMarketing software, Prime@Vantage.com, with MicroStrategy Web, part of MicroStrategy's Intelligent E-Business Platform.

Second Annual Event In Washington, D.C. To Offer Informational Data Mining Programs For The Public Sector
SPSS Inc. continues to provide data mining solutions for shaping the vision of government and education in the new millennium by hosting the 1999 SPSS Public Sector User Exchange: An Eye on the Future.

Sun Microsystems Announces Sun StorEdge Instant Image Software
This announcement advances the Sun datacenter.com Initiative, which focuses on delivering the continuous availability and predictable performance required by enterprise customers to achieve their business goals.

Survey.Com Appoints Sylvia Waelter As Vice President Of The Business Intelligence And Data Warehousing Research Program
Survey.com replaces vacated VP position for Business Intelligence and Data Research Program. New VP will be responsible for all sales, marketing, and research operations of the program.

Informatica Brings Velocity To Enterprise Business Intelligence
Informatica Corporation, provider of an enterprise software platform for powering e-business and analytic applications, recently launched Velocity, a standardized methodology for guiding customers through the complete life cycle of data warehouse design, development, and deployment.

SEI And Wisdom Deliver Advanced Treasury Decision Support And Optimization Analytics Via Treasurypoint.Com
TreasuryPoint.com is meant to increase the effectiveness of treasury professionals and the financial performance of their companies by gathering and analyzing real-time market information and providing decision recommendations while minimizing risk.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"To know today's customers, you must analyze how they travel the Internet in the sales process."

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