IBM Makes Cognos BI Available For Linux On The Mainframe (TechWeb)
Antone Gonsalves Mon Jul 7, 12:27 AM ET
IBM has made its Cognos 8 business intelligence suite available for Linux on System z.
In addition, IBM has opened System z centers worldwide to help customers learn about Cognos BI on the mainframe, benchmark the System z architecture and test other IBM products.
IBM acquired BI vendor Cognos in January. By adding BI on the mainframe, companies are able to look for business trends and track performance through analysis and reporting on data flowing through transactional systems, IBM said in unveiling the offering last week.
Cognos is the latest of hundreds of applications IBM has introduced on the mainframe over the last year and a half. In 2007, IBM introduced more than 600 applications, bringing the total number to more than 4,000, the company said.
In February, IBM launched the System z10 Enterprise Class server. The system has more capacity and faster and better performance than the previous generation of mainframes.
The z10 is the equivalent of nearly 1,500 x86 servers, with a smaller footprint and lower energy costs, according to IBM. The 64-processor system can support hundreds of millions of users, and manage transactions based on preset policies.
This year, IBM plans to bring new master data management capabilities to System z, including the InfoSphere MDM Server for Linux, which enables businesses to centrally manage customer, product, and account data across an enterprise.