Path Infotech and Microsoft launch CoE for BI

DQW News Bureau

New Delhi: Noida-based Path Infotech announced the opening of a Center of
Excellence (CoE) for Business Intelligence (BI) solutions in collaboration with
Microsoft. The CoE will develop solutions on Microsoft platform and provide
end-to-end solutions in the area of BI and offer customers a place for
technology demonstrations, situation specific proof of concepts, and the ability
to see a working setup on Microsoft's BI platform.

In the initial phase, the CoE will develop solutions to cater to new global
entrants and mid-market companies in the financial services industry. Going
forward the CoE plans to develop solutions that will cater to the needs of large
FSI customers and other industry verticals like manufacturing, retails and
insurance.

Speaking on the announcement, Sudhanshu Jain, Chief Architect-BI Solutions,
Path Infotech, said, "We are seeing increasing demand for Microsoft's BI
solutions from customers, who cite competitive pricing, ease of use and
manageability as some of their key requirements when evaluating options. Through
the CoE we hope not only to cater to this market need by providing customized BI
solutions, but will also work towards defining best practices, and creating
industry specific data models."

The BI CoE will act as enabler and facilitator to provide solutions in hands
of decision makers who need to have a minute view of business. "Gartner has
acknowledged Microsoft as one of the top three BI vendors in India, and with the
establishment of Microsoft BI CoE, we hope to add more robust and affordable
offerings to our existing stack of BI offerings to fully address customer demand
and tap the growing market potential. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner,
Path represents the competence and expertise with Microsoft technologies and has
access to the resources and support needed to stand out in the marketplace,"
added Jain.

Commenting on the partnership with Path Infotech, Radhesh Balakrishnan,
Director Platform Strategy, Microsoft India said, “Through a combination of
the capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server, Office 2007 system and Path Infotech's
expertise in seamless transition and solutions deployment, this partnership will
help organizations unlock the value of their data, irrespective of the database
in use. We are proud to be partnering with Path Infotech to provide customized
and integrated BI solutions to customers”

Path Infotech will develop BI solutions based on Microsoft's SQL Server
2005 and Microsoft Office System, specifically, Microsoft Office's Excel, Excel
Services (in the 2007 Office system) and SharePoint Server 2007. SQL Server 2005
offers set of BI components covering online analytical processing (OLAP), data
integration, data mining and enterprise reporting.