Intelligent Enterprise

Extract, transform and load (ETL) technology is still heavily used for data warehousing (DW) and business intelligence (BI) initiatives, but it's also being tapped to support complex challenges including real-time and near-real-time data integration. In fact, use of ETL sometimes overlaps with techniques such as enterprise information integration (a.k.a. data federation) and targeted source-data-access methods like change data capture.

How do the latest ETL products stack up for these broader integration needs? The Forrester Wave Report on Enterprise ETL, Q2 2007, evaluated leading vendors across 68 criteria and found that IBM and Informatica maintain leadership positions in ETL thanks to their "ability to scale and perform batch and operational data integration in complex environments." Other key findings include the following:

• Business Objects and Oracle have emerged as "Leaders" thanks to usability and scalability improvements, but they are "still primarily used in data warehousing and have not been widely adopted for operational data integration;"
• SAS is a "Strong Performer" but remains most attractive as a complement to a SAS BI platform;
• Ab Initio offers a highly scalable and configurable data processing platform, but its "secretive corporate culture" limits customer visibility into its strategy;
• iWay, Microsoft, Pervasive and Sunopsis (acquired by Oracle) round out the "Strong Performers."
• Sybase has some of the raw materials needed to develop a competitive solution, but "it must integrate the tools it has acquired."

A free copy of the report is available at Forrester's Web site.