EntelliCache is a data query retrieval accelerator that improves the performance of both ad-hoc and pre-formatted queries through business intelligence tools against transactional databases and data caches. The product runs on Windows 2000 or better platforms, and the vendor notes that it "... should work with any software that can access data via the OLEDB standard," such as Cognos 7/8 and Microsoft Reporting Services. The vendor additionally notes that the product works with all industry-standard relational DBs, including SQL Server, Teradata, Oracle, DB2 and MySQL.

In brief, EntelliCache achieves performance improvements by deciding on the fly whether user queries should be routed directly to the DB for fulfillment or instead routed to the organization's existing aggregate cached data; with the vendor noting that in a typical implementation 80 percent of the queries are routed to cached data stores while only 20 percent require hits to the live DBs. Because EntelliCache makes these decisions dynamically, the vendor notes that users are free to query the DBs directly in an ad-hoc fashion without needing to rely on pre-designed queries for cached data.

EntelliCache is implemented as an application server between the BI server and the backend DBs and data caches; it connects to the BI server through a standard OLEDB interface (and is thus transparent to the user; who continues to query the BI server as they had been) and includes a Data Cache Manager that allows DBAs to describe the contents of their existing data caches via metadata. In addition, the EntelliCache server can also accept the definition of business rules unique to the organization.

The data caches utilized by EntelliCache can be stored across multiple disparate DBs; and can additionally be stored in repositories separate from the main DB. Queries received by EntelliCache can be load-balanced against multiple copies of the cached data.

As aforementioned, EntelliCache works against existing data caches that are established and populated by the customer's DBA. New to the product line is an additional Query Analysis component, that the vendor states will provide the ability to define and load historic query sets using multiple filters as well as analyze historic query sets; as well as construct "what-if" models in an attempt to identify the most optimal data for caching. The analysis tool will additionally support the ability to import query sets generated separately from EntelliCache.

EntelliCache is available now. The Query Analysis component is included with the product; or can be purchased by itself separately ($5,000).

Contact Teksouth Corporation for further information.