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DPRO-90854Alan H. Tiedrich
Product Report21 July 2003
Hyperion Solutions Essbase XTD Business Intelligence
Summary
Based on Essbase XTD Analytic Services, XTD is a more complete business intelligence platform thanoffered previously, with hybrid analysis, query and reporting, and application development options.
Table of Contents
Overview
Analysis
Pricing
Competitors
Strengths
Limitations
Recommended Gartner Research
Insight
List Of Tables
Table 1: Overview: Hyperion Essbase XTD
Table 2: Features and Functions: Hyperion Essbase XTD Architecture and Analytic Services
Table 3: Features and Functions: Hyperion Essbase XTD Administration and Deployment Services
Table 4: Features and Functions: Hyperion Essbase XTD Client Reporting Tools
Table 5: Features and Functions: Hyperion Essbase XTD Application Development Tools
Table 6: Features and Functions: Hyperion Essbase XTD Integration Services
Table 7: Features and Functions: Hyperion Essbase XTDThird-Party Support
Table 8: Price List: Hyperion Essbase XTD
Hyperion Solutions Essbase XTD Business Intelligence
2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9085421 July 2003 2
Corporate Headquarters
Hyperion Solutions Corporation
1344 Crossman Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089, U.S.A.
Tel: +1 408 744 9500; +1 800 858 1666
Fax: +1 408 744 0400
Internet: www.hyperion.com
Overview
Table 1: Overview: Hyperion Essbase XTD
Version 6.5.3
Product Type Online analytical processing (OLAP) server-based business intelligence (BI)
platform, including query, reporting and OLAP front-end tools and application
development tools.
Platforms Essbase XTD Analytic ServicesWindows 95/98, Windows NT (Intel), Solaris,
HP-UX, AIX, AS/400, OS/390 and Linux servers across all major networks:
The AS/400 Essbase technology, including source code (Showcase), was
acquired by SPSS, which now offers it.
Hyperion Essbase Spreadsheet Add-In supports Microsoft Excel 2000 and Lotus
1-2-3 Millennium Release 9.5.
Relational Database
Support
Oracle, IBM DB2, Informix, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase and Teradata.
Base Price (US$) Essbase XTD Classic Edition10,000 per server plus 1,500 per end user.
Essbase XTD Standard Edition40,000 per server plus 1,800 per end user.
See Pricing table for detailed pricing.
User Interface Windows for administration.
Windows and all supported Unix and mainframe platforms for development in C,
C++.
HTML and Java development for Web delivery.
Windows, Unix, Web for end users.
Date Delivered Release 6.5March 2002.
Release 6.5.3March 2003.
Customer Base Over 6,000 active Hyperion Essbase customers worldwide:
4,000+ Essbase XTD Analytic Services customers.
2,000+ Hyperion Analyzer customers.
Over 1,000,000 seats worldwide.
Hyperion Solutions Essbase XTD Business Intelligence
2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9085421 July 2003 3
Table 2: Features and Functions: Hyperion Essbase XTD Architecture and AnalyticServices
Architecture
Multitier Server acts as a shared resource, handling data storage, calculations and data
security.
Supports higher concurrency through clustering.
Client is used to retrieve, manipulate and view server-resident data.
This architecture minimizes local-area network traffic and supports installed PC
resources and thin clients without upgrades.
Multithreaded Multithreaded creates a thread (processing stream) for each programmed activity
(data load, query, specified calculation and so on) and takes advantage of
symmetric multiprocessing hardware platforms.
By supporting SMP hardware, Hyperion Essbase applications can be scaled to
support very large communities of users or very large databases or both.
Business Intelligence
Services
Hyperion divides its technologies and products into two categories:
Application Framework
Platform Services
Platform Services
Components
Essbase XTD Analytic Services
Essbase XTD Administration Services
Essbase XTD Deployment Services
Hyperion Integration Services:
Essbase XTD Integration Services
Hyperion Application Link
Query & Reporting (Hyperion Essbase XTD Q&R)
Application
Framework
Components
Hyperion Analysis Studio:
Hyperion Central
Hyperion Analyzer
Essbase XTD Spreadsheet Services
Hyperion Reports
Hyperion Essbase XTD Q&R
Hyperion Developer Workbench:
Hyperion Application Builder
Hyperion Essbase Objects
Hyperion Analyzer Application Programming Interface (API) Toolkit
Performance Management Accelerators
Essbase XTD Analytic Services (OLAP Server)
A hybrid OLAP server that supports both multidimensional and relational data
stores, operates on systems ranging from Microsoft Windows 98 to enterprise-class
Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) computers:
Previously, this product was known as Hyperion Essbase OLAP Server.
Will be referred to throughout this document as Hyperion Essbase XTD Analytic
Services.
With Hyperion Essbase supporting Windows 98 (personal version of Hyperion
Essbase Analytic Services), enterprises can deploy OLAP applications that scale
from desktops and laptops to large multiuser systems supporting the enterprise.
Multithreaded/parallel engine:
Login, load, calculate, query, writeback, export.
Hyperion Solutions Essbase XTD Business Intelligence
2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9085421 July 2003 4
Table 2: Features and Functions: Hyperion Essbase XTD Architecture and AnalyticServices
Architecture
Multidimensional
Database (MDDB)
Stores and supports analysis of an unlimited number of data dimensions (for
example, product, market, channel, time period) and data elements within a
dimension.
Database Outline The application programmers determination of database structure, members and
business rules (or formulas):
The structureor consolidation relationshipsinfluence the drill-down capability.
Data Blocks The internal storage structure of the MDDB, related to the dense/sparse attributes
defined for each data dimension.
Essbase does not create data blocks until data exists for a cell in that block.
Further optimizes storage required and data access speed by compressing data
within an allocated block.
Block Mapped Index Reference scheme to the various data blocks.
Essbase often can build an index that resides completely in memory.
Hyperion Solutions Essbase XTD Business Intelligence
2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9085421 July 2003 5
Table 2: Features and Functions: Hyperion Essbase XTD Architecture and AnalyticServices
Architecture
Calculation Engine Provides over 200 analytical functions; for example, Financial, Mathematical,
Boolean and Relationship.
Dynamic cross-tab analysis, forecasting and trending, advanced profitability
modeling and statistical capabilities.
OLAP calculation options include precalculate, calculate-on-the-fly and calculate-
on-the-fly and store, which can be combined.
All calculationsrollups, allocations, percentages, variances, time-series analysis
and so oncan be performed in batch mode as part of the load cycle,
precalculating given intersections of data.
Essbase can also dynamically calculate derived values and rollups at query time if
the application designer chooses that.
Support of both incremental data loads and interactive data input is supported
because of the speed and flexibility required for analysis and planning applications.
The Calculation Engine only recalculates derived data elements that are altered by
data changes or additions.
Calculation capabilities include counts, ranks, medians, modes, moving averages,
moving maximums and minimums, variances, correlations and standard deviations
and other statistical functions:
Standard metrics (count, sum, average, min., max.) can be calculated
dynamically on specific dimension intersections, enabling users to ask questions
within a cross-tab report.
Correlation calculations can look at large sets of numbers and give a numeric
score to indicate how directly they vary with each other.
Functions include linear regression and exponential smoothing for forward-looking
forecasting and trending.
Allocation functions for delivery of sophisticated profitability models include linear
and dimensional allocations, using a variety of methods, for example, share, spread,
percent, divide and so on:
