March 25, 2011
Department Store Stein Mart Opts for Microsoft SQL Server 2008
By Raju Shanbhag
TMCnet Contributor
Florida-based Stein Mart, a large department store chain, has selected Microsoft SQL Server 2008 built on a HP technology platform for faster data reporting and new analysis capabilities.
After looking at technologies from Oracle, Netezza (News - Alert), and Microsoft, the company decided on a new Microsoft solution based on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise database software, Microsoft announced.
Stein Mart can now produce sales reports in as few as three hours with its move to SQL Server 2008 Enterprise, SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services and SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse. In its compressed form, Stein Mart’s data warehouse is now approximately four terabytes. That would have been approximately 12 terabytes in the company’s previous, uncompressed data warehouse system.
“The Microsoft (News - Alert) SQL Server 2008 platform is an industry leader in both scalability and performance, designed to streamline data processing and help customers more effectively harness their business intelligence,” said Fausto Ibarra, senior director of Microsoft Business Intelligence. “The ease of access and enhanced analysis will empower Stein Mart executives to be more responsive and bolster the company’s position in the market.”
While saving the company $50,000 each month in hardware leasing and maintenance costs, the executives of the company will now have greater business insight with the power of new analysis tools. The company’s earlier data warehouse system was based on IBM (News - Alert) DB2 and AS/400 data servers. The company was spending thousands of dollars a month in hardware, licensing, and maintenance costs to support its AS/400 data warehouse.
In April 2010, SafeNet announced that its Luna SA and Luna PCI (News - Alert) Hardware Security Modules (HSM) make the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 more secure. The SafeNet HSMs provides companies with a highly secure platform for storing and managing sensitive data as it works with the database management system. The integration of SafeNet's (News - Alert) Luna SA with SQL Server 2008 R2 separates select key management functionality, the company stated in a press release.
Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Raju’s articles, please visit his columnist page.Edited by Tammy Wolf