Although instant NT data mart company Broadbase Information Systems Inc (CI No 3,182) will bundle a slew of tools and services with its home-grown C++ database server engine, it hasn’t quite figured out how its going to package the thing for customers which have made alternative application choices. Because it’s SQL 92-compliant and includes Intersolv’s ODBC driver so mostly everything should plug-in it claims. In addition to the Data Mart itself – designed to optimize ad hoc queries – it includes Microsoft Virtual Machine for Java and Redmond’s Java compiler. The business intelligence tool comes from Brio Technology Inc, data mining engines from DataMind Corp and HyperParallel Inc, one of which it’ll bundle. It’s key attraction is doing work on a department’s data that would ordinarily require half a dozen different tools, if you could get them integrated and working together that is: consider data transformation, warehousing, analysis, administration, middleware, OLAP querying. Broadbase claims a large percentage of data mart projects don’t meet their objectives because of integration issues. General availability is put at the end of September. It comes with 100Gb storage capacity but accommodate more. It’ll be competing with Prism, Informatica, Sagent and ETI for data transformation; Oracle, Sybase, Informix, Microsoft, Arbor and Red Brick on the database side; middleware vendors Microstrategy, Information Advantage and Data Mining; and data analysis tool vendors Business Objects and Cognos (who compete with the Brio tool in the BroadBase software). Broadbase points to Robertson, Stephens & Co numbers which suggest the data warehouse market will be worth $15bn by the year 2000, of which 50% will be accounted for by data marts. VC houses Benchmark Capital and Mohr Davidow have funded Broadbase to the tune of $6.5m.
