Hyperion offers full online analytical processing capability.
What is it?
Business intelligence supplier
Hyperion sells analytical application software for management
reporting, analysis, modelling and planning. In 2003, it took over
Brio, one of the smaller business intelligence suppliers. Hyperion
now faces the challenge of integrating Brio with its Essbase Olap
(online analytical processing) product to create a fully functional
business intelligence suite.
Hyperion has had a long and productive relationship with IBM, which
resold Essbase and now badges it as DB2 Olap Server. Partly thanks
to this relationship, Essbase has a large customer base, but
according to independent research resource The Olap Report, the
Hyperion product has been in decline since Microsoft's Analysis
Services were shipped in 2000.
The latest Hyperion Business Intelligence Platform combines Essbase
7 and the Hyperion (formerly Brio) Performance Suite. It is
integrated with IBM's information management platform, including
DB2 and Websphere.
Where did it originate?
Essbase was developed
in 1992 by Arbor software, which hired relational database guru Ted
Codd to write the rules for Olap. In 1998, Arbor merged with
Hyperion Software, an Olap application supplier with roots in
financial software. However, it took until 2002 to integrate the
companies' product lines and sales teams.
What's it for?
The Hyperion Business
Intelligence Suite includes query and reporting tools, analytical
applications, "dashboards" aimed at management and information
workers, and a suite of tools for developers. The MDX query
language is used by developers to build customised business
performance management applications.
Essbase is a multidimensional database that can be used as part of
a datawarehouse or as the central business intelligence engine.
With Essbase 7, the Olap capabilities previously used for
historical data analysis can be used for predictive analytics. Like
other business intelligence suppliers, Hyperion has added triggers
and alerts to give real-time information about changes in business
data.
What makes it special?
The Olap Report said,
"Although Essbase remains under competitive pressure from Microsoft
today (and Oracle in the future), Hyperion still offers a stronger
and more complete set of financial Olap capabilities that are not
equalled by those from any single competitor."
How difficult is it to master?
Hyperion
offers a five-day "boot camp" to take you through Essbase design,
maintenance, data loading and report building for £1,995. The
Hyperion Application Builder uses Java 2 Enterprise Eedition.
Where is it used?
Hyperion claims to have
more than 9,000 customers, including 91 of the Fortune 100
companies, although this needs the usual qualification that large
companies tend to use more than one business intelligence product.
What systems does it run on?
Essbase was the
first Olap server to ship on Linux; it is also available on IBM
mainframes, Aix and OS/400, Solaris, HP-UX and Windows.
Not many people know that
Hyperion, a moon of Saturn, is the largest non-spherical body in
the solar system. Its axis of rotation wobbles so much that its
orientation in space is unpredictable.
What's coming up?
XML for Analysis (XMLA), a web services interface co-sponsored by
Hyperion and Microsoft. The latest release of the Hyperion business
intelligence platform supports XMLA.
Training
Classroom and online training are
available from Hyperion. Courses including the Bootcamp are also
offered by independent training companies.
www.hyperion.com/uk/educationRates of pay
Essbase developers can earn
£35,000 to £45,000. Consultants and project leaders will get more.