======================================================================== REALITY CHECK: EPHRAIM SCHWARTZ http://www.infoworld.com ======================================================================== Tuesday, September 14, 2004
THE AGE OF REAL-TIME INTELLIGENCE By Ephraim Schwartz Posted September 10, 2004 3:00 PM Pacific Time The fact that customers want data on demand is nothing new. Passengers who make airline reservations want instant feedback that their frequent flier miles were credited, for example. ADVERTISEMENT -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- INFOWORLD PRESENTS A SPECIAL REPORT ON STORAGE MANAGEMENT The unrelenting growth of data storage needs, which set off a chain reaction of solutions targeted at the Fortune 500, has filtered down to affect IT operations of small and midsize businesses (SMBs). This report features 10 tips to help purchase storage management solutions. Additional information, including results from InfoWorld's research on the storage market is also included. Sponsored by Veritas. REGISTER AND DOWNLOAD NOW http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=8B0E53:2B910B2 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- To provide that feedback, there must be a tight link between the OLTP (online transaction processing) system that records the reservation event and the query system that allows the customer to ask whether it's been credited, with little time lag. Some call this active data warehousing. What is new, however, is the number of queries that require instant responses. The volume of data or events that companies consider worth recording has increased by an order of magnitude. For example, FedEx used to record data only as granular as the location of a package at a depot. Today it tracks every time a package gets scanned, so it knows where the package is at all times. With the right BI software to query these events, FedEx could match its current package locations and destinations with new logistical opportunities in real time and adjust its shipping routes accordingly. Similarly, traditional telecommunications companies log a detailed call record that includes the source and destination of each call, its duration, and its cost. But now picture VoIP. Here, the detailed data is each individual packet flowing across the network. Telecom companies can use that packet data for least-cost routing and to help them plan network capacity. Retailers have also begun experimenting with data collection such as providing shopping carts that include RFID (radio frequency identification) tags and video displays. A customer swipes a loyalty card through the reader on the display and the system begins recording every shopping event, including what was put in the cart and later taken out, with special offers displayed on the screen and based on the customer's shopping history. The impact of this technology will be huge, says Richard Winter, president of Winter Corp., a consultancy specializing in large database implementations. "You have moments with your customer. What you do with those moments is a big factor in the success of retailing, and this is technology that makes more of those moments," Winter says. What is happening before our eyes is the meeting of active data warehousing with CEP (complex event processing). Traditionally, CEP has mainly been used in the financial industry. Finance companies regularly track and store the universe of equities-trading data in real time, including derivatives, at the rate of 50,000 events per second during peak trading hours. With opportunities lasting only seconds, these companies take advantage of CEP for programmatic trading. Portfolio managers set up complex rules that determine when to buy and sell. The systems can then execute trading orders by analyzing market data against the rules in real time as the stock prices fly by. The need for real-time access to an ever increasing amount of detailed data is expanding beyond financial applications. Industries such as transportation, telecom, and retailing will soon be demanding the same kinds of capabilities. As always, you must weigh cost vs. return. But thanks to distributed systems, increasingly cheaper storage, and inexpensive packaged applications, CEP and active data warehousing solutions will be mainstream and cost effective very quickly. Get ready to see the value. Ephraim Schwartz is an editor at large at InfoWorld. ======================================================================== Looking for a new IT Career? 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