DS* dsstar Dec 14, 1999: Vol. 3, No. 50

* VERY IMPORTANT *

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Dec 14, 1999 / Vol. 3, No. 50

The On-Line Executive Journal for Data-Intensive Decision Support

DSstar wishes all readers a joyous Holiday Season and prosperous New Year!
Volume 3 of DSstar concludes with this issue; the first edition of volume 4
will be published January 4, 2000.

IN THIS ISSUE:

WHAT DRIVES ONLINE BUYING?
NEW CHURN MANAGEMENT SOLUTION FOR TELECOMS
INFORMIX TO ACQUIRE ARDENT

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

In the past year, significant design and development work on front-end interfaces, back-end databases, and integrated infrastructures were undertaken specifically to keep traffic through e-commerce channels flowing. In this column, Ed Colet takes a good look at studies that identify the factors that drive online buying behavior.

SAS Institute announced a solution that will help telecommunications companies reduce customer defection, known in the telecommunications industry as "churn." The Churn Management Solution for Telecommunications -- announced at the National Center for Database Marketing Conference & Exhibition -- is the first offering from SAS Institute's CRM Knowledge Solution Series (CKSS).

Informix and Ardent Software announced that they have reached a definitive agreement to combine their operations in a transaction valued, on a fully diluted basis, at approximately $880 million, based on the closing price of Informix common stock on November 30, 1999. The combination accelerates the strategies of both companies and creates a $1 billion open software infrastructure.

Technology-enabled business projects such as data warehousing, which aim to bring together information from all areas of the organization, are steadily moving up the corporate agenda. However, according to Ovum there is another vital ingredient to consider if this vision of "joined-up" business is to be realized. This is the role of metadata: the often hidden "information about information", which defines the context, assumptions or usage restrictions behind corporate data or assets.

Just six months after a BP6.3million investment package was unveiled by Edinburgh-based software house Quadstone, the company has announced three senior appointments to its board. The appointments comprise a new chairman and two new directors and are aimed at accelerating the growth of Quadstone's customer behavior modeling business in the US and Europe.

DCI And Meta Group Present A Data Warehouse World Event
DCI announced that it has created a new industry event: DCI's Business Intelligence World. The show has evolved from the successful DCI's Data Warehouse World, and will focus on the most current and important business intelligence issues and technical trends of today.

Hong Kong Commercial Bank In New Commitment For CRM
In a 1 million dollar agreement with market leading decision-support software supplier SAS Institute, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) has made a firm commitment to use SAS technology for customer service.

Hummingbird Unveils Metadata Strategy
Hummingbird Communications Ltd. unveiled its metadata strategy and announces Genio MetaExplorer. A fully customizable, Web-based solution, MetaExplorer is designed to support the information search and analytical needs of information consumers by providing access to all decision support metadata repositories within an organization.

MathSoft Introduces StatServer 2000
Optimized to deliver sophisticated analyses and graphics via corporate intranets, StatServer 2000 offers enhanced performance, scalability, improved administration, and new Web deployment tools.

MAX Int'l Launches DataMina
MAX International has launched the first Business Intelligence (BI) package designed to be used throughout a manufacturing company, from the CEO to the shop floor.

Merrill Lynch Selects Neovision For Data Visualization
NeoVision Hypersystems, Inc. announced a licensing agreement with the Government Strategies Group of Merrill Lynch, a global financial management and advisory company specializing in improving the process of analyzing government securities. Under the agreement, the Government Strategies Group will use Heatmaps to analyze current government securities.

Nestor Launches Next Generation PRISM 5.0 Fraud Solution
Nestor, Inc. announced PRISM 5.0, a major enhancement to the Company's fraud detection system for credit, debit, and retail cards. PRISM 5.0 provides card issuers with a solid infrastructure for customized, responsive enterprise risk management, while allowing the institutions to more easily customize the products to their unique fraud detection requirements.

Informatica Hits Need For Cross-Channel Data Integration
With its release of PowerCenter.e, the industry's first multi-channel data-integration infrastructure software for e-business analysis, Informatica is addressing companies' critical need to gain enterprise-wide insight into customer, sales, supply-chain, and procurement activity from both their traditional and Internet-based businesses.

NCR Showcases Innovations In Relationship Optimizer
NCR Corporation announced a preview of the NCR's Relationship Technologies exhibit at the BAI Retail Delivery '99 Conference in Miami from December 7th - 9th. The NCR products and services on display represented the suite of NCR's customer-centered, growth-oriented business solutions offerings designed to better serve customers in a networked society.

Nucleus Enhances Oracle, SAS In Access To Customer Data
DunnHumby Associates is now able to offer its clients direct access to fast ad hoc customer analysis thanks to the implementation of award-winning Nucleus Exploration products from Sand Technology Systems International Inc.

Syntel Given DW Dvpt Project By School Specialty
Syntel, Inc. announced it has been awarded a contract to develop and implement a data warehousing solution for Appleton, WI-based School Specialty, Inc. With estimated fiscal 2000 revenues of over $690 million, School Specialty is the largest and fastest-growing supplier of non-textbook education products to educators in the United States. School Specialty offers over 60,000 different products to more than 108,000 schools throughout the United States.

"The recent loss of a NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars is a terrific -- if perhaps extreme -- example of the importance of managing metadata."

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Dec 14, 1999 / Vol. 3, No. 50

* VERY IMPORTANT *