In-Memory Analysis
is poised to revolutionize the Business Intelligence (BI) industry
as it becomes the predominate approach. The BI industry is a major
focus for organizations making investments, and according to Gartner,
“demand for fast queries against big datasets, coupled with lower-priced
64-bit computing will increase the use of in-memory
technology.” The analyst firm expects that “by 2012, 70% of Global
1000 organizations will load detailed data into memory as the
primary method to optimize BI application performance.”
The OLAP Tradition
Twenty years ago
memory was expensive and processors were slow.These constraints,
they pre-calculated all measures across every possible combination
of dimensions.This is what is traditionally referred to as “calculating
the cube” and the “cube” is the mechanism which organizes and
stores the results.
In-Memory Analysis
(IMOLAP)
differs from ROLAP
and MOLAP in that the primary storage mechanism for data to be
analyzed is memory. Typically vendors in this space don’t pre-calculated
measures, but rather rely on the speed of memory to allow values
to be calculated as they are needed.
Advantages of In-Memory
· Memory is significantly faster than disk which results in fast
queries and calculations.
· Eliminating building cubes speeds deployment and allows revision
to analysis more quickly
· Fast access to queries and aggregates allows new ways to visualize
and manipulate data (such as QlikView’s Association Technology).
Disadvantages of
In-Memory
· Typically refreshes are time consuming because all data needs
to be loaded in to memory (unless product supports incremental
reload).
· Without 64-bit technology there is a significant limit to the
amount of data that can be held in memory.
· Data is analyzed in memory, not in the underlying store. Therefore
data in memory is always “out of date.” This eliminates the possibility
of “real-time” analysis.
| |
|
Technology
|
Vendor |
Response |
64-bit
Platform |
In
Memory Query |
In
Memory Aggregate |
visualization
UI |
| QlikTech |
Granted patents
on in-memory associative technology
|
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
SAP BI Accelerator
|
|
Y |
Y |
Y |
- |
Oracle (Siebel)
Analytics
|
Acquired Siebel
Analytics |
Y |
- |
Y |
- |
| Cognos |
Acquire Applix
(TM1) in 2007 |
Y |
Y |
Y |
- |
