IBM Cognos 8 BI Now Available for Linux on System z

Decision-makers benefit from relevant information when, where and how they need it, while IT delivers cost and energy efficiencies within the infrastructure

As BI solutions gain enterprise-wide adoption, organizations are looking for a solution with capabilities that enable the business to receive relevant information when, where or how they need it, while ensuring IT can cost-effectively scale to meet growing user demands. Organizations are looking for an open business intelligence (BI) platform that fits with their enterprise infrastructure and addresses business needs—while not adding to existing IT complexity.

These requirements join market trends facing information management, such as power and cooling constraints, consolidation objectives, budget limitations, risk management initiatives and virtualization goals. Together, they mean that many organizations are investigating the mainframe as a potential platform for BI solutions.

The need for business intelligence tools to access data on demand and the surge in software and hardware enhancements for IBM System z have lead enterprises to re-examine their current business intelligence deployment strategies. In response, IBM Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z offers a comprehensive business intelligence solution for the mainframe. IBM Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z provides the optimal solution for business intelligence on System z.

The combination of IBM Cognos 8 BI and System z demonstrates the mainframe's resurgence as the strategic platform of choice for running modern applications. It provides organizations, such as Satyam Computer Services Ltd., with the means to transform their disparate pieces of data into consistent, actionable business information on a modern mainframe that has been designed from the ground up to help dramatically increase data center efficiency. The IBM System z mainframe significantly improves data center performance and reduces power, cooling costs, and floor space requirements with unmatched levels of security and automated management and tracking of IT resources.

"Our BI Center of Excellence evaluated the tool for very large volumes of data. With IBM Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z customers can gain a single, current and consolidated view of business information to support operational processes and disperse to the right teams across the company for more effective-decision making," said Indira Munjuluri, Head of BI Architecture & CoE group , Satyam Computer Services Ltd. "Aligning such a broad range of BI capabilities with our infrastructure strategy helps us deliver consistent business solutions through a powerful, ultra-efficient data center."

There are three key considerations organizations to understand if a BI solution on the mainframe makes sense as part of your overall BI strategy:

1. What is my strategic platform for mission-critical applications?

   New advances in mainframe technology and infrastructure consolidation mean organizations gain more from their System z platform investment beyond traditional transactional applications. New sources of value come from other solutions, such as BI, which have become strategic to the business.

   IBM Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z is built on the open Cognos 8 platform, allowing organizations to gain more from their investment in System z as they deliver BI across the enterprise.

2. What are my BI solution requirements?

A BI solution must be able to meet the needs of all employees—from executives to front line workers. It must deliver the technology requirements for an enterprise solution— security, scalability, availability and reliability.

With IBM Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z, organizations can leverage the strengths of the Cognos 8 platform and the System z platform to meet the most demanding technology requirements.

3. Where is the data and how often do I need to access it?

Data on the mainframe continues to increase. Traditionally, to access mainframe data, organizations move the data in off-peak hours to a data warehouse on another platform. This causes a time lag to access information and increases maintenance cost as data proliferates on a variety of platforms. New technology advances in the mainframe mean companies can cost-effectively build BI solutions on the same platform as their transactional systems. With IBM Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z—a BI solution on the same platform as the transactional data organizations—can reduce the time to deliver and access critical information for the business. This means lower costs for IT, while delivering on business needs.

IBM Cognos 8 BI for Linux on System z addresses all three considerations. Gain the advantage of an acknowledged leader in business intelligence software, and deliver a comprehensive BI solution on your mainframe platform.