OLAP is an increasingly popular technology that can dramatically improve business analysis. Historically, OLAP has been characterized by expensive tools, difficult implementation, and inflexible deployment. Microsoft SQL Server OLAP Services is a new, fully featured OLAP capability provided as a component of SQL Server 7.0. OLAP Services includes a middle-tier server that allows users to perform sophisticated analysis on large volumes of data with exceptional results. OLAP Services also includes a client-side cache and calculation engine called Microsoft PivotTable Service, which helps improve performance and reduce network traffic. PivotTable Service allows end users to conduct analyses while disconnected from the network.
OLAP Services is a middle-tier OLAP server that simplifies user navigation and helps improve performance for queries against information in the data warehouse.
OLAP is a key component of data warehousing, and OLAP Services provides essential functionality for a wide array of applications ranging from reporting to advanced decision support. OLAP functionality within SQL Server 7.0 helps make multidimensional analysis much more affordable and bring the benefits of OLAP to a wider audience, from smaller organizations to groups and individuals within larger corporations. Coupled with the wide variety of tools and applications supporting OLAP applications through Microsoft OLE DB for OLAP, OLAP Services helps increase the number of organizations that have access to sophisticated analytical tools and can help reduce the costs of data warehousing.
For more information about Microsoft SQL Server OLAP Services, see SQL Server Books Online.