DATA GENERAL DEMONSTRATES SQL SERVER 7.0
SCALABILITY WITH MULTI-TERABYTE DATA WAREHOUSE
Data General Corporation, a leader in the Windows NT midrange server market according to IDC, unveiled at Data Warehousing '98 in London, a powerful demonstration of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 scalability with a multi-Terabyte data warehouse. The demonstration, developed by Microsoft and Data General, uses a medical data warehouse, called TeraCLIN, running on eight-processor AViiON servers and CLARiiON full Fibre Channel storage subsystems.
"TeraCLIN confirms the enterprise-readiness of SQL Server 7.0 for a wide variety of applications beyond the clinical information we chose for this demonstration," said David Flawn, vice president of NT Marketing at Data General. "TeraCLIN is the first product of Data General's and Microsoft's Healthcare Competency Centre. As a true joint product, its successful completion leveraged Microsoft's expertise in SQL Server 7.0 and its associated OLAP tools. and Data General's Professional Services Data Warehousing practice. "
"Data General's expertise in high-end systems and its ability to deliver innovative solutions based on Windows NT Server and the BackOffice line has helped drive Windows NT into the enterprise mission-critical space," said John Carpenter, worldwide Healthcare Industry Manager at Microsoft Corp. "Our collaboration on TeraCLIN clearly shows that SQL Server 7.0 can now compete effectively with the established UNIX databases."
The TeraCLIN Project
The TeraCLIN project was undertaken to demonstrate the scalability and performance of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0. ActiveX, and Data General enterprise Windows NT platform built on AViiON servers and CLARiiON full Fibre Channel storage subsystems. The project focus was to construct a multi-terabyte medical data warehouse system that could store and provide easy access to a wide variety of clinical information. The simulated customer for this application is a large healthcare provider network.
"Making medical diagnoses is often difficult and subjective. Physicians and other healthcare workers have to make timely decisions based on access to a great deal of information that is rich in content," commented Mr. Flawn. "For example, medical record may consist of MRI's, X-rays, PET scans, lab results, demographics, reference consultations, dictated reports, and more. "
Tracking and utilising these component and the information they contain is a challenging job. However, new technologies introduced in SQL Server 7.0 can easily handle it. For example. data is stored in its binary mode allowing virtually any type of file to be stored inside the database and referenced by the SQL system. As a result, TeraCLIN can electronically archive images, faxes, MS-Word documents, audio files. streaming video, and a variety of other data formats.
End user access to the powerful data warehouse is provided by Microsoft English Query and OLAP tools, complemented by a custom-developed graphical user interface built from the Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 development system, ESRI Map Object, and ActiveX components. This custom program not only interfaces with Microsoft English Query and OLAP tools, but also allows users to easily view medication profiles, encounters, billing, patient demographics, scanned images, scanned reports and much more. ESRI's software displays query results with respect to geographical locations. For example, for the query "Show me the concentrations of angina in women in the US," a map of the US shows the geographical distribution of angina throughout the US.
Future enhancements to TeraCLIN will increase web access to the information stored in the data warehouse, clustering support, and backup/restore capabilities.
The design and implementation of the TeraCLIN data warehouse was achieved with the expertise of Data General's Professional Services' Data Warehousing Practice using the Iterative Data Warehouse Development Methodology. This methodology emphasises flexibility in both design and implementation to facilitate evolution in core business as analysis as needs change. In addition. this approach is designed to provide tangible business benefits in 6-9 months.
"Microsoft's SQL Server 7.0 and the English Language Query put very powerful analytical tools in the hands of non-IT workers. With the TeraCLIN demonstration. Data General showed how this power can be applied to help solve one of healthcare's more pressing issues: lots of data. but no information. " said Bob Iacono, vice president of Worldwide Healthcare at Data General. "We think the healthcare market is ready for this kind of solution."
Microsoft and Data General Healthcare Alliance
Microsoft Corp. and Data General Corporation have joined efforts to promote healthcare enterprise solutions using Microsoft ActiveX for healthcare. As part of the relationship, Microsoft and Data General have established a Healthcare Competency Centre at Data General's headquarters in Westboro, MA. The Centre fosters the development of ActiveX for Healthcare-compliant applications. helps facilitate the development of ActiveX for Healthcare-compliant solutions for independent software vendors, and provides a setting for technology demonstrations. such as TeraCLIN.
About Data General
Data General, based in Westboro, Massachusetts, is a major supplier of storage and enterprise computing solutions for customers worldwide. The company's products include high-end Windows NT and UNIX AViiON servers, CLARiiON Fibre Channel storage systems and related software and services. The company reported fiscal 1997 revenues of $1.5 billion. Additional information on the company, its products, and services is available on the Internet at http://www.dg.com