FreeAnalysis : Going ‘GA’

Dear Readers,

We finally released FreeAnalysis 1.0 GA, providing a reliable Designer, user friendly java and Web client, and tight integration with the Pentaho platform. All is not perfect, and we have to improve documentation process, to move away from Dojo (we have started to rewrite the Web 2.0 interface using GWT), and to clean some internal process.

New 1.1 branch of development has already started, including many key features, such as palo connectivity for client, more function in the java client, such as spreadsheet functions, integration with a scheduler to process molap cube refresh, repository compliance (JSR170), tight integration with FreeDashboard, …

Using FreeAnalysis platform, you can think to migrate from both molap or rolap products into an Open Source Platform based on the best of bread technology (Pentaho, Liferay, Mondrian). Just think about the current cost of your olap installation and the money you can save moving to FreeAnalysis … now for the same functional features !

Have Fun,

Patrick

Migration Year

Dear Readers,

I have received last week a marketing mail from Microstrategy that contains information to enter into migration process for customers who have Cognos or Business Objects licences. Great marketing idea from Microstrategy, because nobody can forecast what will happen in terms of product’s strategy for Cognos & BO. Microstrategy offers migration licences at low cost (we all know that software delivery cost is now free), in order to reenforce its new positon of “first independant BI vendor”.

In the Open Source area, we had the same position 6 months ago, in offering both : software at low cost and migration toolkit utilities to help Cognos & BO users to save some of their development investment, and we had some interesting success, especially with the migration toolkit. Open Source BI vendors have consistent and reliable pieces of software that can compete against commercial offers. Talend has also the same kind of offer for the ETL market, and I’m certain they have some nice success.

Recent buying of BI vendors has definitly changed the BI market : if a customer has to launch a BI project today, will he be in position to choose Cognos, BO or Hyperion/Brio ? I don’t think so, and in a short period of time, new BI leaders will emerge. It will have collateral impacts in many areas : training, exposition, resources, OEM agreement …

I will be at LinuxExpo in Paris in january and talk about our migration strategy. LinuxExpo is an important moment of the year, it will give some input and trend to the Open Source market.

’08’ is definitly the year to think about your BI strategy, and to address a migration strategy with a reliable partner. We all know that processes and decisions take time … I’m not certain there will be thousant of migration projects in ’08’, but rather in ’09.

Have Fun,

Patrick