Hummingbird Unveils Metadata Strategy

Hummingbird Communications Ltd. unveils its metadata strategy and announces Genio MetaExplorer. A fully customizable, Web-based solution, MetaExplorer is designed to support the information search and analytical needs of information consumers by providing access to all decision support metadata repositories within an organization.

At the heart of MetaExplorer is MetaData Server, an intelligent middle-tier solution with a driver-based, plug-and-play architecture. MetaData Server enables dynamic access to the rich variety of decision support metadata stored within the enterprise. Hummingbird will provide drivers to access the leading industry metadata repositories in addition to providing APIs to build drivers for accessing other metadata repositories.

"Metadata is the life-blood of an organization's infrastructure as they strive to embrace the e-business model of the new millennium," said Dr. Wolfgang Martin, vice president of META Group's Application Delivery Strategies, a leading IT research and advisory firm. "Latest generation metadata management solutions using an open, driver-based architecture have been designed to integrate enterprise metadata and provide accurate information on demand, thereby improving business performance management. Companies who offer these solutions, such as Hummingbird, can help their customers gain strategic flexibility when building their e-business architecture."

Complementing MetaExplorer and MetaData Server, is the new Hummingbird Enterprise Repository (HERO) that leverages XML-enabled metadata access and interchange. With HERO, organizations can now move to a common repository of metadata that provides the architectural glue that binds together the various components of the enterprise intelligence environment.

"Hummingbird has a reputation for developing feature rich products with a high level of functionality and that is exactly what customers in the ETL market are demanding," said Sylvia Waelter, Vice President of Survey.com's BI/DW Research Program. "Our research clearly shows that ETL vendors have done a poor job addressing customer requirements for features, functionality and performance. MetaData Server and MetaExplorer are enabling technologies that will allow organizations to provide metadata interoperability for easier use with data modeling and data design tools enterprise-wide. This is an important requirement for any ETL-type product."

Hummingbird's metadata strategy provides the following core benefits:

• Universal Metadata Access -- Leverages full value via access to all decision support metadata, supporting data lineage, navigation in context and enterprise exploration. As a metadata portal, MetaExplorer offers complete search and query capabilities and will provide drivers for the most commonly deployed repositories from industry vendors, including Hummingbird, Cognos, Business Objects, Brio, Microstrategy, Microsoft and Oracle, among others.
• Universal Metadata Exchange -- An exchange mechanism that embraces several competing industry standards, including the business rules for bridging these repositories and managing the movement of the metadata via XML.
• Integrated Metadata for Enterprise Decision Support Needs -- Through HERO and dynamic access to all other decision support metadata, this integrative repository supports diverse enterprise metadata around Hummingbird's core offerings of Data Integration and Reporting Solutions, including the upcoming EIP solution.

Availability:

Genio MetaExplorer is expected to be available in Q1 2000.