In recent years, companies looking for an infrastructure that can support their business intelligence (BI) needs have sometimes turned to what the computer industry has labeled a “BI appliance.” These dedicated, high performance servers, packaged for scalability and security and with an operating system, relational database, and BI software, can simplify BI implementation, reduce risk, and lower costs.

Now, IBM has announced a partnership with NGS to create an opportunity for mid-size companies to obtain a dramatically more affordable and easy-to-use BI appliance based on IBM i and DB2 running on POWER7 servers with New Generation Software, Inc.’s NGS-IQ software.

IBM showed its belief in the BI appliance market when it invested approximately $1.7 billion in 2010 to acquire privately held Neteeza, one of the leading vendors of UNIX-based BI appliances. BI appliance solutions from the Neteeza division of IBM typically range from the six to seven figures and are not typically marketed to mid-size companies in the distribution and manufacturing industries.

This IBM-NGS partnership enables companies to receive substantial price reductions when they order any one of three POWER7 servers – a model 720 four core, a model 720 six or eight core, or a model 740 four to 16 core – along with NGS software and services. Click here for more information.

The IBM i and DB2 environment on POWER7 has the performance, scalability, security, reliability, and low cost of operation to tackle most BI workloads. Its integrated architecture speaks directly to the goals of BI appliance buyers. In fact, you can make a convincing argument that competing BI appliance vendors start with a commodity hardware platform, add the UNIX or Linux operating system and a database, and then do everything they can to tune their solution to work like IBM i.

Ask your IBM Business Partner about the IBM POWER7 Solution Edition offer from IBM. Tell them you’re interested in a proposal that includes the NGS-IQ software.

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NGS and IBM Offer an Integrated, Modular BI Solution