Cognos 8 Launch

[moonraker]

Hi all,

who did listen to the worldwide webcast of the Cognos 8 launch yesterday.
I couldnÃ,´t see the huge benefit to the Cognos 7 Products, only that now is all integrated in one product and some little new features?

[Darek]

Little new features? I agree that the performance was mediocre as compared to ReportNet's original release two years ago, but still ...

1. I do like the ability to combine data from multiple cubes and database in S8
2. Being able to create reports with mixing dimensions and different levels of granularity is nice, too
3. Cube in QS and RS? I LOVE IT
4. And so I do Event Studio

There will be things we all will like, it's just to bad COGNOS did not put a better show.

[GoWestGw]

The show will never be the same now Ron Zambo is not heading up things, he knew how to get an audience captured.

I thought the new product was excellent. 

My only fear is the release of SQL2005 and the impact to Cognos.

[Darek]

I'm not sure if the impact will be significant. Sure, SQL2k5 is a very promising product, but it still requires fat client to design reports.

[mms]

what do you mean by 'fat client' ?

[mms]

With a season of new generation BI tools rolling out :
Business Objects XI
MicroStrategy 8
Information Builders WebFocus 7
SAS Enterprise BI Server
Hyperion
Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Cognos 8

has anyone done any comparison of the competitors recently?
Cost / Benefit analysis ?
Advantages / Disadvantages ?
Is it catching up / or leading the field ?
Are there any articles ?


PS recent news article for cognos 8 below :

http://www.intelligententerprise.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=171000642


Cognos Joins the 'BI Platform' Chorus

By Doug Henschen

The common refrains in every big business intelligence product debut this year have been "unified," "comprehensive" and "bringing BI to more users." The chorus began in January with the launch of both BusinessObjects XI and MicroStrategy 8. It continued in March with Information Builder's WebFocus 7 and in April with SAS's Enterprise BI Server. Last week it was Cognos' turn with Cognos 8 Business Intelligence, and in November, Hyperion will launch its next-generation platform.

The goal is to be selected as the enterprisewide BI standard, so comprehensive capabilities and consistent user interfaces, security and integration are key. The variation on the theme at Cognos' September launch was "single product, single architecture." Due in November, Cognos 8 consolidates formerly separate products, including PowerPlay, Visualizer, Metrics Manager and NoticeCast, into the services-oriented architecture underlying ReportNet, the Web-based reporting environment Cognos introduced two years ago.

"What they're doing is pretty profound," says Forrester analyst Keith Gile. "One, they're getting rid of all their separate brands in favor of one Cognos brand. That tells you they're serious about providing a single platform. Two, it's huge going from client/server for everything except ReportNet to an entirely services-oriented architecture."

Cognos says it has rearchitected its products rather than simply creating Web services calls on legacy code. Gile had yet to see the product, but he speculates that much is true given that Cognos could have delivered a more superficial approach "within a month of introducing ReportNet."

Cognos 8 will let users apply BI functionality including reporting, analysis, dashboarding, scorecarding and event management to be performed against any data, including both relational and OLAP sources. The platform also presents a single metadata layer and a single query engine.

"This blurs the lines between OLAP and reporting, which have long been separate in Cognos," says Cindi Howson, president of BI consultancy ASK. "That's somewhat in response to the success of Microsoft Analysis Services and a trend in the industry that OLAP data storage belongs more with the database vendors. Yet it's also customer-driven: Users shouldn't have to care where the data is or whether its relational or OLAP to be able to analyze or report off of it."


Does Cognos' claim to "the industry's first single product to deliver complete BI" ring true? Not quite, says Gile. "BusinessObjects is an integrated platform that has multiple services that can be turned on and off," he says. "You can argue that the services haven't been decoupled down to the same level as Cognos 8, but it represents the same thing."

As for spreading BI to more users, database vendors are also eying mainstream needs (ie., Microsoft SQL Server 2005). The tools offered by the platform players may not be as mature or as deep as those of the pure-play BI vendors ââ,¬â€ and their ability to tap into diverse data sources will no doubt be limited ââ,¬â€ but cost per seat may loom larger than qualitative concerns.

[Blue]

Forrester analyst Keith Gile: "One, they're getting rid of all their separate brands in favor of one Cognos brand." 

Based on this statement this guy doesn't know much about Cognos' toolset.  Notice the package is called "Cognos 8 BI".  Probably because the ADT package is already at version 8.  Cognos 8 BI doesn't include the applications such as Consolidation and Planning either.

"Cognos 8 will let users apply BI functionality including reporting, analysis, dashboarding, scorecarding and event management to be performed against any data, including both relational and OLAP sources. The platform also presents a single metadata layer and a single query engine."

No mention of Data Manager (nee DecisionStream).  I wonder why this wasn't named Data Studio.

"Not quite, says Gile. "BusinessObjects is an integrated platform that has multiple services that can be turned on and off," he says. "You can argue that the services haven't been decoupled down to the same level as Cognos 8, but it represents the same thing."

Besides its OLAP tool and the client/SQL based Crytal Reports what else does BO XI have in it?

"but cost per seat may loom larger than qualitative concerns."

Based on historical precedent in the ICT industry these are VERY true words!  Only the short term bottom line justifies most HW/SW purchases these days. :(