IBM unveils new DB2 software

BANGALORE: IBM has introduced DB2 Cube Views, new software that is aimed to make complex information suitable for analysis by third-party business intelligence applications, enabling them to share information more easily with one another.

Code-named Aurora while it was being developed, DB2 Cube Views uses unique algorithms to automate the creation of Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) metadata -- that is, defining, describing and indexing information contained in the database so that it can be examined from many perspectives. With DB2 Cube Views, for the first time, OLAP metadata can be created once and repeatedly shared among end users, programmers and business intelligence applications during every phase of data gathering and analysis.

Programmers can use the metadata to further prepare information for analysis by aggregating data into cube-like, multi-dimensional charts, which show data from different perspectives. For instance, a cube may show product sales by region, time period, salesperson, profit margin, and marketing campaign. End users can then immediately use a variety of query and reporting tools from different vendors that best suit their particular analysis needs. For example, one department can use a particular application to look at their product from a historical perspective, while another department can use a different set of tools to predict future sales for another product or region.

Because it employs industry protocols, and because the technology is centralized and standardized in the database, a variety of applications from diverse vendors involved in various phases of OLAP can now more easily share metadata with one another. These applications can now also be used without as much training. More than 15 business intelligence vendors have lined up in support of the new DB2 tool, as they see it as complementary to their own offerings. They believe that the value of DB2 as a business intelligence platform has been dramatically enhanced.

With Cube Views, DB2 now offers offer a built-in "performance advisor" that optimizes and automates the process of gathering and tagging of information prior to its analysis. DB2 Cube Views also previews an XML, Web-serviced-based Web Services interface, returning answers to OLAP queries in a Web-friendly format.