Data Warehousing with Informix: Best Practices - Softcover

9780130796226: Data Warehousing with Informix: Best Practices

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0130796220 ISBN 13: 9780130796226

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 1998

A Comprehensive Look at an Exploding Technology Data Warehousing-From Planning Through Performance-By Top Experts in the Field For a large and growing list of industries, data warehouses are rapidly becoming a 'must-have' strategic business tool. Yet data warehouses are made up of a complex mix of products and technologies, making it tough to keep up with all the latest strategies, theories, and approaches to design and implementation. Data Warehousing with Informix: Best Practices was created to provide a comprehensive overview of the latest information, with a special focus on Informix-based systems. This single volume presents the most innovative ideas on data warehousing, from the most experienced professionals. The book is organized around four main themes: Warehouse Design and Implementation Hardware, Storage, and Backup The Decision-Support Community Future Trends Whether a data warehousing novice or veteran, you will find a wealth of information and ideas in these essays from best-selling authors and well-known authorities in the technology. The contributors represent a variety of viewpoints, from theorists, to nuts-and-bolts programmers, to project/organizational managers.

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PREFACE

1997 will be noted as the year data warehousing "crossed the chasm," becoming a standard business practice in industries such as retail, telecommunications, and financial services. Data warehousing is rapidly gaining momentum in other industries as well, including hospitality, health care, manufacturing, transportation, and government.

Just how much momentum?

International Data Corporation (IDC) reported compelling statistics: over 20 percent of organizations are using data warehouses, and over 30 percent or more are either implementing or evaluating the building of data warehouse implementations.1 There's no doubt that these numbers will continue to rise-the promise of competitive advantage for those who implement the technology will mandate data warehousing as a key strategic weapon.

Whether you are a data warehousing novice or veteran, this book has something for you. The advice, experiences, and lessons learned from some of the industry's most well known early adopters, authorities, and vendors are contained in this volume.

"Part One: The Decision Support Community" illustrates the roles of the key constituencies surrounding a data warehouse-end users, application developers, and warehouse administrators. Each participant in a data warehouse project must eventually learn the new skills described in this section. It is our experience that the most successful data warehouse implementations are those that foster a strong sense of community and teamwork, qualities that are essential in overcoming the barriers created by traditional organizational structures.

In many ways, building a data warehouse is less a classic computer science IT problem and more a challenge of coordination.

"Part Two: Design and Implementation for Decision Support" defines a complete data warehouse architecture. This section starts with a bird's-eye view of decision support, then moves on to specific components of a data warehouse, including data modeling, data integration, OLAP data marts, and data mining.

"Part Three: Hardware, Storage, and Backup Issues in a Data Warehouse" provides guidelines and insight on choosing the right physical hardware architectures for the data warehouse, including the computers and disk systems. This section also includes insight on massively parallel computers, symmetric multiprocessors, and clusters, with examples of hardware architectures from Digital Equipment Corporation, IBM Corporation, and the Hewlett-Packard Company, all of which complement Informix's products. An excellent example of MCI's real-world warehouse implementation is also provided.

The book concludes with "Part Four: The Future of Data Warehousing," with the spotlight on Informix's database technology vision, including a case study on the use of object-relational technology. Informix intends to capitalize on this architectural lead in data warehousing, which in turn can translate into competitive and strategic advantages for your organization into the 21st century. We hope you enjoy the book.

Tony Rodoni General Manager, Data Warehousing Informix Software, Inc.