Adaytum Software Inc plans to use the Microsoft SQL Server user base as the springboard to topple analytical applications provider Hyperion Solutions Corp, the market leader for budgeting software. Minneapolis-based Adaytum has made its e.Planning budget planning software compatible with Microsoft’s Data Warehouse framework, and in return Microsoft has welcomed Adaytum into its Data Warehouse Alliance 2000 (DWA2000).
Microsoft Corp’s SQL Server customers represent a substantial user pool for Adaytum’s budgeting software. Adaytum CEO Guy Haddleton says there will be 20 million SQL Server users next year and estimates that 20% of them will use the OLAP (online analytical processing) services component, the multi-dimensional data storage site that Adaytum’s customers can use to create reports on budgeting data. Adaytum expects to increase substantially its customer-list, which currently stands at 1000.
Adaytum’s tie-up with Microsoft has major implications for its battle with Sunnyvale, California-based Hyperion in the budgeting software world. Hyperion’s Essbase application server competes with Microsoft’s OLAP tool, which means that Hyperion is unlikely to ever tap Microsoft’s captive market of SQL Server customers, giving Adaytum a free run at 20 million users.
Adaytum is planning an initial public offering on Nasdaq in the next 18 months to consolidate its Microsoft deal. The Minneapolis company will raise money to market its budgeting software, although Haddleton wasn’t giving any numbers away.
Adaytum, previously a UK firm, became incorporated in the US last December in order to boost its profile in the US market. The privately-held company has worked steadily to build US operations, doubling revenue every year for the last three years, and it is expecting to record revenue over $35m this year. It has even crossed town to poach three executives from Minneapolis-based enterprise resource planning vendor Lawson Software to gain US senior management know-how.
