Web data warehousing for banks

There's a thorough front page story in the October issue of Bank Technology News about what banks are starting to do with web front ends to their data warehouses. "They hold the promise of reaching more users more quickly than non-Web data warehouses." "By 'Webifying' a data warehouse, query tools can be centralized and streamlined." "With the Web, you can put out a query application that is immediately available to all users," says the HP Open Warehouse program manager. "If you want the warehouse to be accessible to 500 branches, a Web-based strategy is going to be the most cost-effective and quickest way to getting that done," says an Ernst & Young senior manager. The Web even allows the possibility of extending warehouse access all the way to a bank's customers. According to an Informix director, customers can give you feedback on the Web, and that information can be populated into your warehouse. Security First Network Bank uses Informix to perform real-time analyses of customers as they hit the bank's Web site, and target-market them instantly. According to First Union Bank in Charlotte, "Web Warehousing brings a relational database to life." That bank is beta testing Sybase's WebSQL. The bank's capital markets group is extending access to its Intranet warehouse throught the use of Netscape browsers. Mike Willett Storage Computer http://www.storage.com/