SPSS Ships Data Mining And Data Analysis Software For AS/400 Users; Data Preparation, Report OLAP And Advanced Statistics Complement IBM's Intelligent Miner

Turning data into useful business information requires powerful analytical software. Until now, AS/400 users did not have access to statistics-based data mining and analysis software to help them realize the full potential of their data. SPSS Inc. has changed all that with the introduction of SPSS 9.0 for Windows NT and SPSS 6.1.4 for AS/400 servers. AS/400 users now have easy access to SPSS business intelligence functionality including data preparation, report OLAP and advanced analytical methods. Both SPSS for Windows NT and SPSS for AS/400 are now shipping in North American and are priced at $799 for the pair.

"SPSS is a natural complement to IBM's current business intelligence tools for the AS/400," said Jack Noonan, SPSS Inc. president and CEO. "IBM has had great success with its line of business applications on the AS/400 -- and SPSS is ideally suited to this class of applications. Together, SPSS and IBM's data mining capabilities will drive the success of data warehousing projects on the AS/400 platform."

SPSS for AS/400 was created through the shared vision of IBM and SPSS to provide leading-edge analysis and data mining capabilities, as well as market research and analytical data preparation to AS/400 users. "SPSS is one of the world's leading statistical data analysis vendors. Our partnership with SPSS demonstrates a shared commitment to delivering world-class solutions to our customers on the platform of their choice. With this release, SPSS solutions are now supported across all our Business Information platforms, including AS/400, RS/6000, S/390 and Netfinity servers," said Van Symons, business intelligence executive, IBM AS/400 division.

With SPSS 6.1.4 for the AS/400, users get native AS/400 analytical data preparation and production data mining tools to:

• Win new business - Identify new service and product opportunities. Cluster analysis automatically identifies segments that can help refine marketing messages.
• Increase customer loyalty - Compare known customer groups (won versus lost deals) to refine messages to customers by using discriminate analysis.
• Increase cross-selling - Identify the "major issues" underlying a set of product/service attribute ratings with factor analysis.
• Detect fraud - Predict fraud amount using background characteristics with regression analysis.
• Maximize the efficiency of business operations - Forecast the future more accurately and better allocate resources with time-series forecasting and regression techniques.

SPSS is the only full-featured statistical analysis package available for the AS/400 environment. It complements IBM's Intelligent Miner data mining software to provide business analysts, market researchers, business managers and IT staffs an unparalleled range of analytical functionality including analytical data preparation. With SPSS, AS/400 users now have the data management, data mining and reporting capabilities to turn raw data into information for all types of customer relationship management applications including customer loyalty programs, fraud detection, etc.

SPSS For Windows NT Features

• Data preparation - Customers can easily access data and prepare for more meaningful analysis with over 60 powerful data transformation functions to help get data cleaned and ready for analysis.
• Report OLAP - SPSS delivers report OLAP, a fast, flexible way to create, distribute and manipulate information for ad hoc decision making. Create tables, graphs and report cubes that feature unique pivoting technology. Then, users can distribute reports with the optional SmartViewer Web Server - SPSS' product for Web-based reporting.
• Advanced methods for data mining - SPSS includes segmentation methods such as cluster, factor and discriminate analysis and prediction methods such as regression. With these methods, customers can create predictive models that go beyond reporting, enabling them to better understand their business and therefore make better decisions.

Add-on modules are also available for other types of advanced statistical analysis, time series forecasting and analysis of survey data including complex tabular reports. More information can be found at http://www.spss.com/software/spss/as400/.

SPSS for NT and SPSS for AS/400 are shipped together and are priced at $799 for a single user copy in North America. Network and site licenses are also available.

SPSS NT System Requirements

• RISC coprocessor
• Version V4R2 or higher of the OS/400
• For a more detailed list of system requirements for running Windows NT on the AS /400 see http://www.as400.ibm.com/nt/ntbrhigh.htm.
• To see a complete list of requirements for SPSS 9.0 for Windows NT see http://www.spss.com/software/spss/spss90/specs.htm.

SPSS 6.1.4 For AS/400 System Requirements

• Option 33 (PASE) must be purchased directly from IBM
• E-series machine
• V4R4 or higher of the OS/400

Company Information

SPSS Inc. is a leader in the large markets for analytical solutions: business intelligence, survey/market research, quality improvement and scientific research. SPSS products and services transform organizations by helping users leverage information to grow revenues and improve processes. Today, more than 2 million people use SPSS, the world's best-selling software for desktop analysis, to create and distribute information for better decision making.

Founded in 1968, SPSS is one of the most enduring software companies in the world. SPSS has won the following awards: named No. 28 in DM Review's Data Warehouse Top 100; placed No. 23 on the 1999 Soft-letter 100, a ranking of the top 100 personal computer software companies in the United States; and No. 97 in the 1999 Software 500, a ranking of the world's largest software vendors by Software Magazine. Headquartered in Chicago, SPSS has offices and distributors around the world.

SPSS information is available on the World Wide Web through the SPSS Press Center at: http://www.spss.com/press/.