Zero Latency Enterprise. Compaq NonStop Himalaya Servers and Compaq NonStop SQL Software in Mission-Critical Business Intelligence

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1 Zero Latency Enterprise Business Intelligence White Paper Compaq NonStop Himalaya Servers and Compaq NonStop SQL Software in Mission-Critical Business Intelligence High-performance Compaq hardware and software turn raw data from online systems into valuable real-time business information

2 Contents 3 Introduction 4 Market overview 4 The business value of information 4 Business intelligence in retail sales 5 Business intelligence in telecommunications 5 Business intelligence in banking 5 Business intelligence in insurance 6 ODS: The next-generation business management system 7 The staging data store 8 The ODS as a component of Zero Latency Enterprise Solutions 9 Compaq business intelligence solutions and advantages 9 Object Relational Data Mining architecture using Compaq NonStop technology 10 Internet-enabled business intelligence 10 A total solutions approach 12 Conclusion 7 The transaction reservoir

3 Building on its history of success, Compaq has become the leading provider of value-added mission-critical business intelligence solutions. Combining proven professional services, leading application software and systems that push the boundaries of computing, Compaq provides solutions that allow customers to create an agile enterprise with a sustainable competitive advantage an enterprise that can access data almost immediately after it is created anywhere in the enterprise. Such an organization is known as a zero latency enterprise. Compaq offers solutions that address the full spectrum of business intelligence requirements from data marts to enterprise warehouses, and from packaged applications to customized integrated solutions. Compaq s innovative solutions, composed of applications, services, and technology, are the foundation for turning knowledge into profit. The wide variety of servers from Compaq gives you the ability to pick just the right technology to solve your business problems. Compaq offers reliable, massively parallel Compaq NonStop Himalaya S-series servers, high-performance Compaq AlphaServer systems, and Windows NT Server based Compaq ProLiant servers. This white paper focuses on business intelligence solutions based on Compaq NonStop Himalaya S-series servers. It also introduces Compaq s new Zero Latency Enterprise Solutions for mission-critical business intelligence and defines the concept of operational data stores. Zero Latency Enterprise 3

4 Market overview Business intelligence the unlocking of useful information hidden away in corporate databases has emerged as one of the most potent business applications of the 1990s. Compaq s Tandem business unit entered the business intelligence market in early 1993 and quickly established itself among the top tier of suppliers of solutions for very large businesscritical data warehouses. The company s revenue from business intelligence solutions has grown because of strong response from the finance, insurance, retail, and telecommunications industries. The business value of information Traditionally, companies have deployed business intelligence solutions for competitive advantage, querying databases to find customer information and to maximize the profitability of products and services. Users of Compaq NonStop Himalaya servers deploy business intelligence solutions for high-value applications such as targeted marketing, fraud detection, retail basket analysis, customer life-cycle management, risk management, and customer support centers. As these strategic applications have become business necessities, business intelligence has become an increasingly complex environment. Single-subject data marts exist side by side with multisubject data warehouses or operational data stores (ODSs). End users can now query this data with tools ranging from ad hoc and sophisticated relational online analytical processing (ROLAP) to advanced Compaq Object Relational Data Mining technology.the Internet, meanwhile, is providing a medium for rapid and universal access to data warehouses, leading to the development of Internet-enabled business intelligence applications. Business intelligence in retail sales One of the largest general-merchandise retailers in the United States (and a Fortune 30 company) uses Compaq NonStop Himalaya systems to improve the efficiency of its operations while reducing costs. This company s nearly 1,100 stores generate massive amounts of information day in and day out. The company needed a boundaryless data warehouse system that could integrate and process all of this information quickly, reliably, and around the clock so it could stay ahead in the highly competitive retail business. To support its data warehouse, the retailer chose Compaq NonStop SQL database management software running on massively parallel Compaq NonStop Himalaya S-series servers. This company is realizing the benefits of massively parallel hardware and software from Compaq for setting up data warehouses that give them a strong, competitive edge. Zero Latency Enterprise 4

5 Business intelligence in telecommunications The largest telecommunications provider in Japan realized that it could gain a competitive advantage by providing superior customer service as well as low prices. But with a total of 60 million subscriber lines, the company needed a data warehouse that could handle 10 terabytes of data and keep growing for future needs in addition to providing rapid access to data whenever a customer called with a question. At the same time, the company had to keep costs as low as possible to succeed in the highly competitive Japanese telecommunications marketplace. To handle these demanding requirements, the company chose Compaq NonStop Himalaya K20000 servers with Compaq NonStop SQL database management software. This system not only supports the huge volumes of data coming into it today but also offers the scalability needed to handle even more data as the company enhances its customer service capabilities. A global communications company in the United States presents another example. This company selected Compaq NonStop Himalaya S70000 servers and ProLiant 7000 servers with Compaq NonStop SQL relational database software for its ODS. This solution enables the company to more effectively gather and store critical information about the network such as operational measurements and traffic statistics in real time. This represents a real-world implementation of the emerging enterprise requirement of zero latency that information be presented the instant it is available. In addition, using powerful business tools, internal customers ranging from network design engineers to business unit managers can evaluate network performance and usage over time. This creates a mixed workload environment in which the system handles large business intelligence queries at the same time it inserts call detail records at a rate of millions per day. Only the Compaq NonStop Himalaya platform is capable of such transactions. Business intelligence in banking A major European bank was looking for ways to develop products and services that would strengthen its position in the world financial market while streamlining its headquarters organization. Specifically, the company wanted to implement a comprehensive customer information system that could analyze the profitability of each financial product, assess the lifetime value of each customer, and support one-to-one marketing. With this information, the company could focus its efforts on the products its customers most needed both individually and as a group. The demanding criteria for the new system included ODS capabilities that is, the ability to perform both online transaction processing (OLTP) and business intelligence solution queries at the same time. The system also had to be fast and highly scalable. After careful consideration, the bank chose Compaq NonStop Himalaya servers with Compaq NonStop SQL software. The system allows bank personnel to rapidly retrieve and analyze customer information. Business intelligence in insurance Deregulation of the Japanese insurance market has allowed providers in that country to offer a wider variety of products to a broader range of customers. In response to these new opportunities, a leading life insurance company wanted to further its market penetration by developing customized strategies for each of its 161 branch offices. To accomplish this flexibility, the company needed something radically different from its existing reporting system, which provided only monthly summaries of sales for the whole country. The solution chosen by this insurance provider uses Compaq NonStop SQL software running on Compaq NonStop Himalaya servers. Client systems based on the Windows NT Server operating system provide agents with a user-friendly way of retrieving up-to-date information that can be used to create customized sales programs. Zero Latency Enterprise 5

6 ODS: The next-generation business management system An ODS stores the detailed information required to make the right business decisions in today s fast-changing world. It is updated continuously with information from other business systems, and it provides continuous access for hundreds of end users who need the detailed information. It also supports complex queries from end users who, for instance, want to profile customer interaction for direct marketing activities. The core difference between an ODS and an enterprise data warehouse is that an ODS is available continuously and allows a mixture of continuous inserts, a high number of users posing queries, and a small number of users issuing complex queries. Greg Battas, a long-time Compaq employee, wrote Building the Operational Data Store together with coauthors Bill Inmon and Claudia Imhoff. Their book, published in 1996, includes the original definition of an ODS: an integrated, current, moving snapshot of business operations. The authors point out, Whereas a warehouse might have your average daily account balance for the past 12 months, the operational data store would have your current balance. Data therefore would be updated in place rather than appended. By definition, an ODS must be Subject oriented, as with most traditional data warehouses Integrated (referring to the updates received from operational systems) Volatile, due to the continuous updates from operational systems Current, so you can use the data to run your business Detailed, to reflect information required for operational purposes versus only historical query-type questions Business uses of an ODS include online risk management for major financial institutions and customer service interactions in which the agent needs a complete, integrated, and current view of the customer at the point of contact. Zero Latency Enterprise 6

7 Business intelligence solutions: Definitions The transaction reservoir Almost as soon as the term operational data store was in the public domain, it began to be used for different purposes. One extension of the term is based on the criteria of current and detailed. One interpretation is that the ODS is a transaction reservoir or cache of a company s critical transactions. This cache is available to help integrate the enterprise and to provide an up-to-the-minute view of each customer s interactions with the company. Because every transaction is kept in the cache, these ODS databases can become very large. An ODS may also be used to store a snapshot of a customer s activity. For instance, consider the challenge of answering a traditional ODS query such as What is John s current account balance? using millions of debit or credit transactions.the combination of aggregated summaries of activity as well as the detailed activity can provide the critical information to a successful customer relationship management (CRM) program. Typically, a company s information resources are split into two separate functions. Executing business operations, referred to as online transaction processing (OLTP), is an update-intensive application and typically has been hosted on mainframes to achieve the performance and reliability required for business-critical activities. Analyzing business operations in order to make better business decisions is usually referred to as business intelligence solutions. These analytical tasks are mainly retrieval intensive. Recently, the industry has seen the two functions merge, especially for customer services applications. A retrievalintensive application that also requires the ability to perform some update tasks (or snapshot transfers from operational systems) is referred to as an operational data store. The following are definitions of common terms used in regard to business intelligence solutions: The staging data store In addition, some consider an ODS to be a staging area for data before it is loaded into an enterprise data warehouse. It is often necessary for data to be retained for some period of time for reconciliation.then it is used in the warehouse and often in operational systems as well. (For more definitions, see Business intelligence solutions: Definitions. ) Data mart: An information database designed to solve a single business problem. A data mart is often referred to as a departmental data warehouse because it is designed to solve a task within a single department or business unit. However, some Compaq customers have data marts that contain thousands of gigabytes (terabytes) of data, so a data mart is not necessarily small. Data warehouse: A dedicated information database that solves multiple business problems, often across different business units. As data warehouses grow and become essential to the operations of a business, issues such as reliability and scalability become crucial for the solution s success. Zero Latency Enterprise 7

8 The ODS as a component of Zero Latency Enterprise Solutions Zero latency in business processes is achieved by integrating applications and data sources across an enterprise. Some organizations use messaging software to integrate applications and decentralized databases. Other organizations use a centralized ODS. Compaq s Zero Latency Enterprise Solutions enable customers to achieve even greater business benefits by combining both approaches to integration in the same solution. Compaq offers an architecture and a set of products able to handle this mixed environment of application and data store integration. The ODS is the data-centric component of the new Zero Latency Enterprise Solutions. Compaq NonStop Himalaya servers, in conjunction with the Compaq NonStop SQL database management system, offer the reliability, scalability, online maintenance, and mixed workload required for all ODS platforms. Definitions (continued) Operational data store: A dedicated information database used primarily for retrieval of information, but in situations in which the user needs to update records frequently in the database. This is the merging of an operational and analysis-based data warehouse. Zero latency enterprise engine: A configuration that includes an application integration layer and a data store. All information to and from multiple databases and applications flows through this engine, providing companies with a single view of the various relationships between the company and the customer. The configuration also minimizes delay in passing information from one source to another. A Zero Latency Enterprise Solution encompasses best-of-breed applications while integrating them with other legacy applications and data sources. Unique to the Compaq NonStop Himalaya server is the quality of merging the best of both worlds the unique business-critical OLTP capability as well as the raw parallel query performance capability of a database designed to take advantage of a shared-nothing architecture. Integrating this server with the wide variety of applications and solutions available on ProLiant and AlphaServer systems provides the capability of solving any problem at the best price with the best functionality. Zero Latency Enterprise 8

9 Compaq business intelligence solutions and advantages Compaq has defined a total solutions approach to business intelligence that will help financial service institutions, retailers, telecommunications providers, and other global companies rapidly realize the business value of their information. This approach offers both Object Relational Data Mining technology and Internet-enabled business intelligence solutions and includes applications, end-to-end services, and a range of technology platforms. Compaq offers a broad range of products for business intelligence, from Windows NT Server based ProLiant systems, to AlphaServer systems running the Compaq Tru64 UNIX operating system, to the most scalable and reliable Compaq NonStop Himalaya servers. This last mentioned platform is especially suited to large business-critical enterprise data warehouses and ODSs, which require the utmost in reliability and scalability. Furthermore, this platform is highly appropriate for applications that include operational tasks such as the snapshot updates discussed earlier. Object Relational Data Mining architecture using Compaq NonStop technology Compaq currently is pioneering an open approach to advanced data mining with its Object Relational Data Mining architecture. Data mining, one of the most exciting application areas in business intelligence today, helps business analysts discover useful patterns and trends hidden in their data. In the future, this technology will enable the mining of complex data types that include voice, video, and images. With Object Relational Data Mining architecture, Compaq is tightly integrating a range of core data mining functions into the Compaq NonStop SQL database. This integration allows customers to prepare their data for the most efficient mining operations that can work against a customer s entire data set (not just file extracts, as is the case with conventional preparation for data mining). The integration, in turn, leads to faster, more accurate, and more complete results for data-intensive mining applications such as customer segmentation, churn management, fraud detection, and retail basket analysis. By providing an open-standard data mining interface between the database engine and a range of software tools from multiple vendors, Compaq allows its customers to avoid vendor lock-in and to stay on the leading edge of data mining technology as the technology evolves. Compaq collaborates with prominent software vendors, selected for the breadth and functionality of their algorithms, so customers can take advantage of future breakthroughs in data mining technology. Zero Latency Enterprise 9

10 Internet-enabled business intelligence Business intelligence solutions are now being deployed over intranets and the Internet, extending the client/server paradigm into a browser/server paradigm to provide broadbased, low-cost information access to employees, customers, and suppliers. Compaq is integrating Web-access capabilities into its various solution packages for vertical industry applications. This feature will enable telecommunications companies, for example, to provide customer access to call detail records for cost management and rate plan selection. It will enable insurance companies to allow policyholders to ask what if questions pertaining to coverage plans. In addition, it will allow transportation companies to provide customers with price and routing questions, and it will enable retailers to provide suppliers with access to sales data. A total solutions approach Compaq s total solutions approach to business intelligence encompasses a range of technology platforms, industry-leading applications from a variety of Compaq partners, and end-to-end services. Compaq servers: Interoperability, flexibility, and choice Compaq s total solutions approach provides customers with a choice of solutions based on ProLiant servers running the Microsoft Windows NT Server operating system, AlphaServer systems running the UNIX operating system, Compaq NonStop Himalaya servers, or a combination of these systems. A unique feature of Compaq NonStop Himalaya S-series servers is their use of Compaq ServerNet interconnect technology, the industry s first system area network (SAN) designed to deliver instantaneous response times, virtually unlimited linear scalability, massive throughput, and the highest levels of reliability. ProLiant servers can be configured with the same ServerNet technology. These servers, in conjunction with the Oracle8i database, provide high reliability and excellent price/performance for customers that do not require the extreme scalability and availability characteristics of Compaq NonStop Himalaya servers. The lowercost ProLiant servers offer cost-effective solutions in support of front-end data marts, Internetenabled applications, multisubject data warehouses, and application servers. Database technology The Compaq NonStop SQL database is a clusterenabled parallel database engine that builds on more than 20 years of parallel processing expertise. It is available for Compaq NonStop Himalaya server systems. Key features include A single database image across multiple servers for easy manageability An enhanced parallel query environment for handling complex queries Object Relational Data Mining technology capabilities for advanced knowledge discovery applications Partnerships Compaq s business intelligence solutions partnership program is targeted toward a select group of partners. In addition, many of the leading software providers are also Compaq partners. Packaged applications Compaq s packaged vertical solutions are available for the banking, insurance, and retail industries initially including card marketing and claims analysis. Packages consist of database software, servers, customized applications and reports, data models, and consulting services. They support Web capabilities as appropriate. Zero Latency Enterprise 10

11 Professional services All Compaq business intelligence solutions are accompanied by complete professional and customer support services, available globally. Compaq recognizes the importance of helping organizations select, size, and deliver the appropriate solutions for specific business requirements. The company provides services directly and in conjunction with service providers. Compaq works closely with leading global service providers as well as regional systems integrator (SI) and independent software vendor (ISV) professional service organizations that understand Compaq solutions and the Windows NT Server platform. Compaq Services provides a complete life cycle portfolio to help organizations design and implement Zero Latency Enterprise Solutions. The life cycle of professional services is designed to get business intelligence applications up and running quickly, with minimal risk. Services include Business Exploration Service Solution Architecture Service Proof-of-Concept Service Project Management, Design, and Implementation Services Each step is collaborative, involving close cooperation between Compaq and customer personnel. The process can be applied to both new business intelligence solutions programs and ongoing initiatives as they inevitably expand. Compaq offers development of prototype solutions via our worldwide network of proof-ofconcept centers called Architecture Services Labs. Zero Latency Enterprise Solutions can change a business by enabling individuals to access data created anywhere in the enterprise almost as soon as it is created, regardless of the system or application. Companies can integrate standard, custom, and legacy applications and data for online operation of an entire business. Zero Latency Enterprise 11

12 Conclusion Business intelligence in retail, telecommunications, banking, and insurance has become one of the most powerful applications of the 1990s. Compaq has established itself as a leading supplier of solutions that satisfy the requirements of business intelligence, helping companies analyze their operations and implement better business decisions. Massively parallel Compaq NonStop Himalaya servers with Compaq NonStop SQL database management software offer high-performance solutions for the business intelligence environment. They enable companies to turn raw data from online systems into valuable real-time business information. The hardware and software also are central to Compaq s Zero Latency Enterprise Solutions, which enable customers to achieve even greater business benefits by combining applications with data sources (such as an ODS) across the enterprise. Zero Latency Enterprise Solutions provide an architecture and a set of products able to handle this mixed environment of application and data integration. These products include Compaq NonStop Himalaya servers and Compaq NonStop SQL software. Together, they offer the reliability, scalability, online maintenance, and mixed workload required for all ODS platforms. For More Information WEBSITE: Compaq Computer Corporation. All rights reserved. December Compaq, the Compaq logo, AlphaServer, Tandem, Himalaya, NonStop, ProLiant, and ServerNet, registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Tru64 is a trademark of Compaq Information Technologies Group, L.P. Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. Microsoft and Windows NT are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. Oracle8i is a trademark of Oracle Corporation. System area network and the acronym SAN are being used by Compaq as generic descriptive terms and neither is intended to be interpreted as a trademark of Compaq. Third parties are encouraged to use these terms, as they are generic and descriptive. MIPS, R4400, and R10000 are trademarks or registered trademarks of MIPS Technologies, Inc. SQL Server is a registered trademark of Sybase, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the U.S. and other countries. Other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Technical specifications and availability are subject to change without notice