MicroStrategy

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MicroStrategy
Type Public (NASDAQ: MSTR)
Founded 1989
Headquarters McLean, Virginia, USA
Key people Michael J. Saylor, Chairman of the Board
President and Chief Executive Officer
Industry Business intelligence
Products MicroStrategy 8
Revenue $351 million USD (2007)
Employees 1,500 worldwide
Website www.microstrategy.com

MicroStrategy is a business intelligence (BI), Enterprise Reporting, and OLAP (on-line analytical processing) software vendor. MicroStrategy's software allows reporting and analysis of data stored in a relational database, multidimensional database, or flat data file. MicroStrategy describes its core reporting software as having a "ROLAP" or "Relational OLAP" architecture, meaning that a complex relational database can be expressed using a virtual multidimensional cube structure that can be more easily understood by business users who wish to navigate through the data. MicroStrategy has also supported multidimensional MOLAP processing since it released MicroStrategy 7i in 2003.

The company's most recent software suite is called MicroStrategy 8. Launched in February 2005, MicroStrategy 8 offered major enhancements from its predecessor, MicroStrategy 7i. Some of these enhancements included a redesigned web interface, interactive reporting in Report Services, WYSIWYG report design over the web, direct access to SAP BW metadata, and improved reporting by joining heterogeneous databases.[1] Previous software products included DSS Agent, DSS Web, DSS Broadcaster, and DSS Architect.

As a result of the consolidation in the BI industry, MicroStrategy remains one of the few independent BI software providers.[2] When IBM announced its plans to acquire Cognos and SAP announced plans to purchase Business Objects, MicroStrategy announced its plans to aggressively recruit employees and customers from its competitors.[3]

MicroStrategy has several thousand customers including Lowes,[4] McDonalds,[5] U.S. Army,[6] Universal Studios Hollywood,[7] KB Toys, and Priceline.com.[8] Many MicroStrategy customers have invested in the development of large scale data warehouses or data marts as part of their business intelligence initiatives.

In the BI Survey 7, an independent survey of the business intelligence market released in 2008, MicroStrategy received the top product loyalty score of all BI vendors surveyed. [9] This is the fourth consecutive year that MicroStrategy has been rated number one in customer loyalty. Also in 2008, MicroStrategy was placed in the Leader quadrant of Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms report. [10]

MicroStrategy has direct operations in 41 cities in 23 countries across the world.

Contents

[edit] History

MicroStrategy was founded in 1989 by Michael Saylor, Sanju Bansal, and Thomas Spahr[11].

MicroStrategy became a public company in 1998 - Nasdaq: MSTR.

MicroStrategy started as a consulting firm focused on multidimensional modeling and simulation. Early customers included DuPont, Rhone Poulenc Rohrer, McDonald's, Ameritech, and Detroit Edison. In 1992, the company released its first BI software product, EISToolkit. MicroStrategy published a white paper in 1994, 'Enterprise Data Delivery Architecture,' which outlined the principles of relational OLAP. In the same year, MicroStrategy developed and released DSSAgent 2.0, a client server software based on the principles of Dynamic SQL generation and Relational OLAP.

In 1995, the company released DSSAgent 3.0, one of the first three-tier ROLAP-based architectures in the industry. MicroStrategy published a white paper in 1996 entitled,'The Case for Relational OLAP,' comparing Relational OLAP to Multidimemsional OLAP architectures.

MicroStrategy DSSWeb was released in 1996, marking the industry's first web-based query and reporting environment. In 1999, MicroStrategy DSSBroadcaster was launched, one of the industry's first products to deliver BI alerts via email, cell phone, and pager. MicroStrategy founded two noteworthy dot-coms. Strategy.com in 1999 was among the first service to broadcast custom alerts (such as stock price alerts) to wireless devices, but now it is just a mirror of microstrategy.com. It founded Angel.com in 1999 as a customizable telephone-based portal.

In 2000, Michael Saylor and other executives of the company were fined for their role in an accounting scandal. That same year, MicroStrategy released MicroStrategy 7, which was a complete rewrite of its software product line.[12] In 2002, MicroStrategy 7i was released offering the MOLAP style of analysis.

In 2003, MicroStrategy released Report Services to offer a pixel-perfect report writer similar to Crystal Reports. MicroStrategy 8 was announced in 2005, which included MicroStrategy Universal, providing support for 64-bit Unix operating systems.

MicroStrategy was among the companies to have its stock value skyrocket during the dot-com boom. It was a prominent advertiser during the Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000. An accounting scandal in 2000 caused the stock to drop 61% on March 20, 2000 alone, losing over 95% of its value in a few weeks. Adjusted for stock splits, the company traded for an all-time high of $333 on March 10, 2000, and an all-time low of $4.20 on July 3, 2002 during the stock market downturn of 2002[13]. MicroStrategy remained focused on its technology and its customers and, by 2007, MicroStrategy's revenues had exceeded $300 million and the company had offices in more than 20 countries worldwide. [14]

MicroStrategy was named to the Forbes 200 Best Small Companies in America List in October 2007.[15]

MicroStrategy was positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the Leaders quadrant in the 2008 Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms report. [16]

[edit] Latest releases

In 2007, MicroStrategy released its Dynamic Enterprise Dashboards, with advanced data visualization and animation capabilities. The dashboards include a library of widgets built using the Adobe Flex Builder 2 Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which renders in Flash Player 9.[17]

The company also released MicroStrategy Mobile, which delivers BI information directly to BlackBerry smartphones,[18] and MicroStrategy Integrity Manager, which tests the accuracy of BI applications by validating data and report integrity.

[edit] Products

  • MicroStrategy 8 Platform
  • MicroStrategy Dynamic Enterprise Dashboards
  • MicroStrategy Mobile
  • MicroStrategy Integrity Manager
  • MicroStrategy Intelligence Server
  • MicroStrategy Report Services
  • MicroStrategy OLAP Services
  • MicroStrategy Web and Web Universal
  • MicroStrategy Narrowcast Server
  • MicroStrategy Office
  • MicroStrategy Desktop
  • MicroStrategy Architect
  • MicroStrategy Administrator
  • MicroStrategy SDK
  • MicroStrategy BI Developer Kit

[edit] References

  1. ^ MicroStrategy 8 Gets Thumbs Up from Analysts, Users. Retrieved on February 19, 2008.
  2. ^ Customers Trust MicroStrategy's Independence. Retrieved on February 19, 2008.
  3. ^ MicroStrategy Eyes Rivals’ Employees and Customers. Retrieved on February 19, 2008.
  4. ^ Lowe's builds up infrastructure to support 'lifeblood' BI. Retrieved on March 13, 2008.
  5. ^ McDonald's Credits Business Intelligence for Recent Growth. Retrieved on February 25, 2008.
  6. ^ MicroStrategy strikes RFID deal with US Army. Retrieved on February 25, 2008.
  7. ^ BI and CPM a blockbuster for Universal Studios Hollywood. Retrieved on February 25, 2008.
  8. ^ McLean's MicroStrategy Nets Three More Clients. Retrieved on February 25, 2008.
  9. ^ 'The BI Survey 7' Details Purchase Practices, Ranks Loyalty by Brand. Retrieved on February 25, 2008.
  10. ^ Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms, 2008. Retrieved on March 13, 2008.
  11. ^ A decision-support software company finds Washington offers the high-tech talent it needs
  12. ^ MicroStrategy 7. Retrieved on March 13, 2008.
  13. ^ The rise, fall and recovery of MicroStrategy. Retrieved on March 8, 2006.
  14. ^ Software Company's Strategy Pays Off. Retrieved on February 20, 2008.
  15. ^ MicroStrategy Named to Forbes 200 Best Small Companies List. Retrieved on November 29, 2007.
  16. ^ Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms, 2008. Retrieved on March 13, 2008.
  17. ^ MicroStrategy to roll out 'dynamic' dashboards. Retrieved on February 19, 2008.
  18. ^ MicroStrategy Offers Business Intelligence Software For BlackBerrys. Retrieved on February 19, 2008.

[edit] External links

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