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> Speedware Corporation Introduces Esperant 4.0 Major Release Includes
> New Reporting and Analysis, Data Visualization, and Graphical
> Administration Capabilities <>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Date: Tuesday, February 18, 1997
> Source: PR Newswire
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> TORONTO, Feb. 17 /CNW-PRN/ via Individual Inc. -- Speedware
> Corporation (SPW:TSE/ME) today released Esperant(R) 4.0, the latest
> version of its award-winning end user query and reporting tool.
> Esperant 4.0 offers faster and easier reporting, improved charting and
> graphing, comprehensive enterprise-level security features, a fully
> graphical Administration System, an upgraded user interface, and
> integrated ROLAP (relational online analytical processing) features
> including Data Visualization. These combine to provide corporate end
> users with a robust and easy-to-use tool for analysis of critical
> business information.
>
> Esperant 4.0 builds upon the current version's unique ability to
> generate complex, accurate queries easily and without SQL knowledge,
> while allowing end users to transparently join data from two
> heterogeneous databases. The new version of the product also
> incorporates some of the most useful functionality of ROLAP tools,
> including data pivoting, data surfing, data visualization, and
> drill-down. In addition, Speedware Corporation is announcing that a
> new desktop edition of its proven Media EIS/OLAP product, Media/PE,
> will be sold in conjunction with Esperant 4.0. The two products are
> being tightly integrated to allow Esperant query results to be
> instantly transferred into Media/PE's multidimensional database (MDDB)
> with a single mouse click. Media/PE extends Esperant by delivering an
> even higher level of information analysis capability against the
> results of any Esperant query.
>
> ``Esperant's reputation has been built on three factors: Its patented
> SQL Expert, which protects users against incorrect results; its robust
> SQL Generator, which allows users to perform far more complex queries
> than with similar tools; and its overall ease of use,'' says Rob
> Vonderhaar, general manager of marketing for Speedware Corporation's
> Business Intelligence Division. ``Esperant 4.0 builds upon these
> strengths by making the product even more intuitive and faster to use,
> while adding many important ROLAP features that our customers have
> requested to permit more powerful data analysis.''
>
> Karen Heater, president of Speedware Corporation, adds, ``Speedware is
> committed to being the premier supplier of enterprise-scale business
> intelligence tools for advanced data access and analysis. With
> Esperant for query and reporting, Media/PE for desktop OLAP, and our
> proven Media and MediaWeb products for enterprise-wide EIS/OLAP, we
> are able to provide our customers with a comprehensive suite of
> business intelligence solutions.''
>
> New Esperant 4.0 Features
>
> Integrated ROLAP Functionality
>
> The new version of Esperant includes drill-down/drill-up support that
> allows users to easily launch increasingly detailed queries with a
> single mouse click. It also provides a new Data Pivot Wizard and the
> ability to `surf' the data by applying Named Filters to query results.
> Unlike many tools, these centrally or user-defined filters can
> represent extremely complex business rules. An all-new graphing and
> charting module can produce sophisticated three-dimensional graphs,
> including rotation and animation. There is also a unique built-in Data
> Visualizer, a data mining capability that helps users easily uncover
> hidden relationships within their data. Finally, Esperant 4.0 is fully
> `aggregate-aware'-it automatically navigates and utilizes aggregate
> and partitioned data tables that are often incorporated within ROLAP
> data warehouses to deliver efficient performance.
>
> New Reporting Capabilities
>
> Esperant 4.0 incorporates an all-new, fully integrated report
> formatter that is easier and more intuitive to use. Users now work
> directly with the `live data', where any changes to the report layout
> and formatting are seen instantly - a more intuitive approach than
> tools that use separate `design' and `preview' modes. The new report
> formatter is fully compatible with Version 3.0 queries and reports,
> which are automatically upgraded to the new format. Also new is the
> unique Merge Wizard that allows users to easily combine the results of
> several different queries - which can even come from different
> databases - into a single report. This process is either impossible or
> very difficult to accomplish with most query tools, but often required
> to address real-world reporting needs.
>
> Improved Enterprise-Level Support
>
> Esperant 4.0 introduces comprehensive new features to make it easier
> to support the product in large corporate environments. These include
> Data View (metadata) import/export capabilities, and a fully
> hierarchical security system that supports multiple inheritance.
> Security is now extremely fine-grained, permitting absolute access
> control all the way to the data value level. In addition, Esperant 4.0
> offers a special user exit that allows tight integration with
> site-specific security systems through a documented API and custom
> .DLL routine. Version 4.0 also offers support for OLE2 Automation,
> allowing users to integrate Esperant capabilities within applications
> written with tools like Visual Basic and Powerbuilder. OLE2 Automation
> support is also expected to be of great interest to value-added
> resellers (VARs) who wish to deliver Esperant to their customers as an
> embedded ad hoc query and reporting component within their own
> products.
>
> Upgraded User and Administrator Interfaces
>
> Esperant 4.0 has a redesigned user interface that provides users with
> the `look and feel' and improved productivity of Windows 95, including
> features such as tabbed dialog boxes, multi-purpose pull-down icons,
> and extensive right-mouse-button support. Esperant's Administration
> System now has an all-new graphical interface, in which the physical
> database structures are defined and displayed using a powerful
> Entity/Relationship Diagrammer. Administrators can view the actual
> database relationships and joins, enabling faster and more accurate
> setup of Esperant Data Views against complex data warehouses. Further
> aiding the administrator is a new Data View Wizard, which simplifies
> the process of keeping Esperant Data Views in synch with changes made
> to the underlying physical databases.
>
> Media Personal Edition (Media/PE)
>
> Esperant 4.0's new server-based ROLAP features will meet the needs of
> many users and applications. However, certain applications are highly
> multidimensional in nature and can benefit from the more powerful and
> rapid analytical capabilities of Media/PE, a Desktop OLAP (DOLAP)
> product that will be sold in conjunction with Esperant to handle this
> requirement.
>
> Media/PE contains all the features of the proven enterprise-scale
> Media product, but reconfigured to work with a desktop-based version
> of the Media multidimensional database (MDDB) engine. The results of
> any ad hoc or predefined Esperant query can be populated directly into
> Media/PE's MDDB by simply clicking an con on the Esperant toolbar.
> This provides virtually instantaneous ad hoc creation of a robust
> desktop OLAP environment for multidimensional analysis of `personal
> data caches' retrieved from the RDBMS or data warehouse, with no setup
> effort or involvement of MIS staff. Media/PE introduces a new
> automated development environment that examines incoming data and
> identifies indicators (measures or data values), dimensions, and the
> hierarchy between dimensions (for example, city within state). In
> addition to loading the data into the MDDB, Media/PE automatically
> creates a default Briefing Board with several graphs that portray the
> data across different dimensions, including built-in drill-downs to
> all levels of the dimensional hierarchy.
>
> When combined with Esperant 4.0, Media/PE allows users to query,
> investigate and analyze business-critical information in a variety of
> ways. Media's unique Briefing Board concept summarizes and presents
> any number of critical business factors simultaneously, giving users a
> clear understanding of the situation at a glance. Media/PE
> incorporates Media's powerful CAR (computer assisted request) facility
> that lets users create new analyses with the click of the mouse and
> present the results in any form desired. The CAR also enables rapid
> data pivoting, `slice and dice', and definition of simple or complex
> drill-down analyses. Finally, Media/PE users can easily define new
> calculations and alerts which automatically highlight both
> ``problems'' and ``opportunities''. The user can customize the
> Briefing Board, and then use Esperant to refresh the underlying data
> cube or append new data into it on a periodic basis.
>
> Esperant and Media/PE operate on IBM PCs and compatibles running on
> Windows 3.x, Windows 95 and Windows NT. Esperant supports most popular
> RDBMSs such as Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, the DB2 family,
> ADABAS C and ADABAS D, Informix, and many other ODBC data sources
> including local PC files (dBase, FoxPro, Paradox, Microsoft Access,
> flat files, etc.).
>
> Pricing and Availability
>
> Esperant 4.0 is available today, with pricing of the End User Edition
> remaining the same as it was for Version 3.0: $595 per user for one to
> eight copies, with discounts to $355 each at the 500-copy level. There
> are no optionally-priced components-all features are included in the
> base price. Esperant's Administrator Edition is priced at $795. (All
> prices in U.S. dollars.) Media/PE, adapted for integration with
> Esperant, is currently targeted for availability at the end of Q1
> 1997. Pricing will be announced as the shipping date nears. For more
> information or to place an order, call Speedware in the U.S. at (800)
> 447-0745; in Europe at +44 (0) 171 828 1897, and in the Asia-Pacific
> region at +61 (0) 2 9956 7699. More information is also available at
> Speedware's web site, www.speedware.com, or by email to:
> moreinfo(at)speedware.com.
>
> In 1994, when it was first introduced, Esperant received PC Week Labs
> ``Top Products of the Year'' and Datamation ``Editor's Choice''
> awards. In October 1996, Speedware Corporation acquired Esperant from
> Software AG, one of the world's largest independent software
> companies, based in Darmstadt, Germany. Software AG remains a
> non-exclusive worldwide distributor for Esperant, and will sell and
> support both Esperant 4.0 and Media/PE.
>
> About Speedware Corporation
>
> Speedware Corporation is a global supplier of client/server and
> Internet-based solutions for rapid application development (RAD) and
> business intelligence. It has sales and marketing centers in eight
> countries, plus a network of distributors and value-added resellers
> worldwide. Speedware has partnerships with many other leading hardware
> and software companies, and is a member of key industry associations
> such as the OLAP Council. Its home page, www.speedware.com, includes
> interactive demonstrations of Media, Media/Web, Speedware Autobahn -
> the world's first full 4GL development environment designed for the
> Internet - and Speedware Store, a ready-to-use application for
> Internet commerce.
>
> Esperant is a registered trademark of Speedware Corporation. All other
> trademarks are acknowledged as the property of their respective
> owners. SOURCE Speedware Corporation
>
> /CONTACT: Jennifer Jackson Riggle, Copithorne & Bellows, (202)
> 973-5847; Pat Arcand, Copithorne & Bellows, (617) 450-4300; Joanne
> McGarry, Speedware Corporation, (416) 408-2880 ext. 264/ (SPW.) CO:
> Speedware Corporation ST: Ontario IN: CPR SU: PDT -30- OP -- TO061
> -- 2097 02/17/97 11:14 EST http://www.prnewswire.com
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