Please correct the following observations:

1. Cognos PowerCubes isn't serious OLAP as they are "desktop OLAP"
only, not true client/server OLAP. So they can't handle serious OLAP
data volumes. They take too long to create & queries can be slow. They
are read only. They are cubes for kinder garden.

2. Buisness Objects "Universes" are not really OLAP. They are just a
way of giving dimensional structure to relational data. They are read
only.

3. SAP B/W isn't worthy of being called OLAP. There have been few
successful implementations. It drives end-users mad. It is read-only.

4. MicroStrategy can handle huge data volumes. It is ROLAP. It is read
only.

5. Oracle Express has been merged into the relational database
software. It is still MOLAP though. It is read only. Few people are
buying it today.

6. TM1 is fast as it is RAM based. It can handle writeback. It cannot
cope with large data volumes of the datawarehouse variety.

7. MIS Alea - same as TM1.

8. Essbase suffers from data explosion & takes a bit of effort to
set-up correctly. Hence can result is high consultancy costs.

9. Microsoft AS is probably the best all round OLAP platform. It can handle
large data volumes & do basic writeback. It isn't as quick as TM1.
Complex modelling is also easier in TM1.

10. There arn't any other serious OLAP platforms to be mentioned.

dontcutandpaste (AT) yahoo (DOT) com (sean dixon) wrote in message news:<f4cd0180.0404060259.5fd9466e (AT) posting (DOT) google.com>...
Salient Corporation (Salient dot com) has OLAP type analysis product
(Margin Minder) that competes, and in most cases, surpasses many of
the aforementioned products. It has the same drawback as many, as it
doesn't allow write backs, but it handles a huge amount of data and is
an actual analysis tool, not just a reporting tool. Plus, the front
end is already programmed, if you put the data in properly, you get a
ton of analysis out the client UI

Sorry, you are simply wrong about Cognos Powercubes, despite your obvious
biases.

Cognos PowerCubes ARE true client/server OLAP, NOT Desktop OLAP (for years
and years now). They can handle very large data volumes and take far less
time to create than many classic OLAP cubes. They are read only, so you are
right about that. There are many seriously large implementations of
PowerPlay cubes...

Definitely NOT a toy.




"sean dixon" <dontcutandpaste (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote