Hyperion debuts graphical tools

Just months after it finalized its merger with the former reporting tool maker Arbor Software, Hyperion Solutions today debuted a suite of graphical tools and integration services for developing analytic applications using data from enterprise resource planning systems and other sources.

The company debuted Hyperion Integration Server, the first major product release since the two analytical software makers announced their merger in May.

Priced at $20,000 per server, the Hyperion Integration Server includes an enterprise OLAP (online analytical processing) metadata catalog which assembles OLAP dimensions, hierarchies, and calculations. It is available now on IBM AIX, Microsoft Windows NT, and Sun Solaris, and supports both Arbor Essbase OLAP Server and IBM DB/2 OLAP Server running on Windows 95, Windows 98, NT, IBM OS/2, and Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX.

"Analytical applications were traditionally considered software for the elite," said Hyperion Solutions vice president of marketing Daniel Druker. "Now the Web is enabling these products to go out to end users throughout the enterprise."

Third-party software developers are building connector applications for tying major enterprise resource planning systems from SAP and Oracle to Hyperion's server, so users can use OLAP applications with data from these business application vendors, the company said.

The popularity of analytical applications has grown as the enterprise resource planning market has flourished over the past few years. Recognizing this, even the big ERP players have begun developing their own or partnering with makers of these useful tools.

Business software makers like market leaders SAP, Oracle, and PeopleSoft are all in the process of building applications designed to aid managers and executives in making vital business decisions.

Such OLAP applications take transactional and other departmental data, stored in ERP systems and turn it into information that can be used to gauge such executive level issues as profitability of a venture, worth of corporate assets, and performance of a particular product line. With the information at hand, the managers can make quick changes to the business to meet ever-changing market demands.

Baan hooked up with Hyperion Solutions last year to gain such the capability for its products. And Oracle, at the direction of its CEO Larry Ellison, is linking its vast array of data analysis tools to its applications.

Hyperion said it is working with Oracle database administration toolmaker Aris to integrate its tools with the Hyperion Integration Server.