Trying to cash in on the data warehousing wave, Sybase Inc is shipping what it calls the first all-in-one data mart package by reselling products from Carleton Corp, Cognos Software Inc, Brio Technology Inc and Business Objects SA with its Sybase IQ database query technology. The bundle, called QuickStart DataMart, may be a one-stop-shop for customers; it’s also an admission that the sixth largest software company can’t dominate the data mart market without a little help from its friends. Although the Emeryville, California-based firm has a data warehouse strategy – centered around the Sybase MPP 11.0 enterprise server – it says only 2% of its customers are implementing full, data warehouse systems and claims most users want data marts. The rationale: its data mart bundle supposedly won’t require users to make crystal ball predictions about what their future data warehouse needs, but allow systems to evolve department by department. To target mainframe users, QuickStart DataMart is initially shipping with Carleton Passport data access tools and a five user license for Cognos Impromptu business intelligence tools. Next month Sybase will bundle BrioQuery and BusinessObjects. Sybase chose the partners in part because they all use MDI gateways and because Carleton has an IQ loader for meta data integration. QuickStart DataMart costs $125,000 – Sybase says the per-product cost is twice that – which includes training on Passport tools by Carleton and four weeks consulting and implementation from Sybase. The latter is a key selling point, according to Sybase data warehouse solutions group director Joshua Bersin. If Informix offered this same bundle, they couldn’t provide that service, they’d have to call in a third party, he said. Sybase is currently schooling its 1,300 professional service organization employees world-wide on Sybase IQ tool integration. Sybase is targeting its own customers and MVS users with the bundle. It’s recommending Solaris, is in beta for AIX and will add HP-UX in the fourth quarter and Windows NT by year end.
