Compagnie des Machines Bull SA has announced its Warehouse Initiative, a program through which the company will supply data warehousing products – hardware, middleware and software – as well as systems integration and services. Bull officially entered the data warehousing market 18 months ago, with the launch of its DDW, Distributed Data Warehouse software suite (CI No 2,686), which comprises Access, Integration and Replication modules. The Warehouse Initiative is heavily reliant upon input from Bull’s various partners: Oracle Corp, Informix Inc, and Sybase Corp provide database technology; EMC Corp and Data General Corp’s Clariion unit provide data storage; Business Objects SA, SLP Infoware and Oracle bring front-end tools to the table, while IBI and Evolutionary Technologies Inc supply data extraction and data transformation tools. Bull uses its own hardware at the data mart end but also resells NCR Corp’s WorldMark servers and the Teradata database at the higher end. The company’s strategy is to provide step-by-step deployment, focusing on the data mart end of the market initially and then working up to bigger projects. Bull also announced two new programs within the Initiative. Business Objectives, is a first step package that includes a four-user license of Business Objects tools, enabling the customer firm to input its own operational data into a Business Objects Universe and 10 days of consulting for $15,000. PowerWareHouse, a prototyping package provides evaluation copies of DDW, Oracle7, an eight-user license for Business Objects and 20 days worth of consulting services on Bull Escala servers for $20,000. Data warehousing customers include the UK’s Channel Four Television company and, on a larger scale, the corporate data warehouse for the US State of Michigan.
