In This Issue:
A recent IDC report hails the start of a new wave of BI expansion into everyday business. Reading the report will give you insight into the coming market changes--and what you’ll need to know as a database professional.
Also:
Send your solution to this week’s new T-SQL puzzle by Itzik Ben-Gan!
New Instant Poll: Avoiding the Upgrade
"What’s the biggest reason you’ve NOT yet upgraded to SQL Server 2005?" Go to the SQL Server Magazine home page and submit your vote for:
- The cost of licensing SQL Server 2005
- The complexity of licensing SQL Server 2005
- The difficulty of migrating applications that are written for SQL Server 2000
- The difficulty of moving current SQL Server 2000 components such as DTS packages and Analysis Services cubes
- We don’t have a compelling business reason to upgrade
- Other
To ensure that future email messages you receive from SQL Server Magazine UPDATE aren't mistakenly blocked by antispam software, be sure to add SQLServerMag_UPDATE@lists.sqlmag.com to your list of allowed senders and contacts.
Our Sponsors, Who Help Support the Free Delivery Of This Newsletter:
September 14, 2006
1. Perspectives
- Be a BI Expert—or Just Look Like One
2. SQL Server Watch
- FIPS Compliance with SQL Server 2005
- Product Watch: XMLA Consulting and dataReference
3. Hot Articles
- Q&A: Changing SQL Query Behavior
- SELECT TOP(X): SQL Server Migration Assistant
- This Month’s Focus: Disaster Recovery—Database vs. Storage Replication
- Puzzled by T-SQL: Grouping Consecutive Rows with a Common Element
- In a Nutshell: Online Indexing in SQL Server 2005
- Hot Threads: SQL Server 2005 CLR and Reporting Services
4. Events and Resources
- Linux + Unix + Windows—TechX World
- Secure Your Messaging Infrastructures
- The Myths of Linux
- 5 Points for Choosing Anti-Spyware
5. Featured White Paper
- Extend Microsoft Windows Rights Management Services
6. Reader Challenge
- September Reader Challenge Solution: Fixing a Faulty Lookup Query
- October Reader Challenge: Enforcing Uniqueness Without the Unique Constraint
7. Announcements
- Special Invitation for VIP Access
- Get the SQL Server 2005 System Table Map FREE
8. Web Community
Sponsor: ProClarity
Free SQL Server 2005 BI Resources—Visit Today!
Unlock the power of SQL Server 2005 by visiting the SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence (BI) Resource Center, sponsored by ProClarity. It’s full of expert insights and best practices resources:
- Comprehensive toolkits—Provide everything you need to know about SQL Server 2005 organized by topics, including migration, data visualization, the Unified Dimensional Model (UDM), reporting and analytics, and more.
- Educational white papers—Complimentary best practices white papers help you successfully migrate, deploy and maximize your Microsoft BI investment.
- Informative webcasts—Live and on-demand expert webcasts cover topics from cube building, deploying successful dashboards, and effectively communicating data.
Help your decision makers unlock the power of information to make better, faster decisions. Visit the BI Resource Center today!
1. Perspectives
Be a BI Expert—or Just Look Like One
by Brian Moran, brian@solidqualitylearning.com
This summer, leading IT research firm IDC released a report that evaluates the business intelligence (BI) tools and vendor market for the period 2003 through 2005. The study has been on the Microsoft site for a while and if you are a BI person, you might have already read it. But if you don’t think of yourself in those terms, chances are you haven’t read the full report or even scanned the executive summary.
For many of you, devouring 20 pages of BI market analysis might not seem quite as exciting as reading the sports page or the latest best-selling novel. For some, such a task might be on par with scanning the nutritional contents on the back of your morning cereal box. But trust me, reading the report is worth an investment of time if you’re a database professional, even if you’re not a “BI person.” More and more, BI and related technologies are starting to seep into everyday usage within database environments. IDC suggests that trends in the BI market happen in 15-year cycles. IDC also asserts that “the next wave in BI has now begun;” in a few years, we’ll look back to see that 2005 was the beginning of a 15-year cycle that focused on “expanding the reach of BI to more users both inside and outside the organization and a move to automate more decision processes by combining QRA (query reporting and analysis) and advanced analytics functionality.”
Probably not tomorrow or next week, but sometime sooner than you realize, you’ll find it hard to be a senior database professional without having at least a modest grasp of BI technologies. The IDC report is actually a pretty easy and interesting read, and it doesn’t presume much, if any, previous knowledge of the BI market. The market summary does a nice job of categorizing the various types of tools and market segments that exist today. A synopsis of the 20 largest vendors in the BI marker space provides market share and revenue share analysis and will help you understand how each vendor’s tools fit into the BI community at large. Also, although the report is 20 full pages, most of the core report is just 10 pages, so it won’t take as much time to digest as you might think.
The report provides some interesting market-share data that will interest BI veterans and provides a nice introduction to BI terms and jargon that will help newbies better understand the competitive landscape. Reading IDC’s report won’t make you a BI expert, but doing so might let you pretend to be one for at least a few minutes at your next dinner party. You can download the full report from http://www.microsoft.com/bi/IDCvendorshare2005.mspx.
Sponsor: Double-Take Software
Enhance SQL Reporting and Increase Server Performance
Increase your SQL production server’s performance by offloading Reporting Services to a secondary server. Gain additional insight into your important business data quickly and effectively. Download the whitepaper today!
2. SQL Server Watch
FIPS Compliance with SQL Server 2005
A recent Microsoft document can help you increase your level of security compliance. The article “Instructions on using SQL Server 2005 SP1 in the FIPS 140-2 compliant mode” gives a solid overview of how to run your SQL Server 2005 environment in compliance with the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS). FIPS, which was developed by the governments of Canada and the United States, is either recommended or mandated for use in federal government-operated IT systems. The FIPS 140-2 statement, which explains the "Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules," specifies which encryption algorithms and hashing algorithms can be used and how encryption keys are to be generated and managed. The Microsoft article explains the difference between being FIPS compliant and FIPS certified, how to configure SQL Server 2005 for FIPS compliance, how to operate SQL Server 2005 in FIPS-compliant mode, and the effects of running SQL Server 2005 in compliance with FIPS. To read the article and link to more information about FIPS, including how to download the standard, visit the article’s Web page.
Editor's Note:
Regional Events Cover Four Key Interoperability Topics
Are you a Windows fan, a UNIX diehard or a Linux lover? Brought to you by people who understand the world you live in never fits the textbook IT infrastructure, TechX World is an OS-agnostic event that will give you insider tips for coping with your “Windows Plus” world. TechX World is a four-track, one-day event featuring information about OS interoperability, data interoperability, directory and security integration, and virtualization. Technical experts Michael Otey, Gil Kirkpatrick, Dustin Puryear and Randy Dyess will present interoperability tips to help make disparate systems work well together.
Between October 24 and November 2, the regional event series will visit four cities: Washington, DC; Chicago; Dallas, Texas; and San Francisco. At $129 per person for four tracks and a full day of learning, it’s worth sending the entire team to make sure you cover all the sessions. For complete agenda and speaker details, go to http://www.techxworld.com.