With this new release Jedox has further improved fast In-Memory-Technology for OLAP databases with another significant boost in performance. In addition, numerous new features have been introduced with the new 3.2 version, further improving Palo’s ease-of-use and functionality and the overall user experience.
Included in this release is the GPU version of Palo that enables extraordinary performance with its innovative Palo OLAP Accelerator for multi-dimensional data analysis. The OLAP Accelerator uses one or more Nvidia GPU graphics cards as a calculation engine, instead of only CPU processors. This allows data queries to be 20 to 30 times faster than when using ordinary CPU-based processing as with other OLAP databases. After 6 months of Beta testing, including tests with several key customers, Jedox is convinced that this technology, which is applied for the first time ever in the OLAP world, will revolutionize the Business Intelligence market, and will enable many new opportunities and applications in the field of planning, analysis and reporting.
Performance increase from 15 minutes to a few seconds for the DEHA Gruppe
One of the first customers to test the 3.2 GPU version was the DEHA Group. This trading company markets a large line of goods including over 2.7 million items from a wide range of different electrical manufacturers. DEHA Group was able to reduce queries on its Oracle data warehouse from 15 minutes down to a few seconds with Palo GPU. Holger Schleicher, Head of IT for DEHA Gruppe, explains the business benefit of this significant speed increase: “Our buying agents can now calculate margins of certain items in real-time during sales calls with our suppliers, and are able to identify gross sale discounts for the supplier during the same phone call. This gives us a strong position for negotiation and saves a lot of time!”
Improved usability
Leaving the GPU version aside, a key focus of the new release was to achieve even better usability. Matthias Krämer, Head of Technology for Jedox AG explains: “Of key importance for the new 3.2 release was to maintain our high level of usability, while also improving the level of performance. In addition to GPU-based speed increases, we also improved the speed and stability of the CPU version and added several new functions as well. For example, our enhanced web reporting capabilities which now makes Palo even more capable of addressing daily reporting requirements.”
The Palo GPU version is available for download on the Jedox Website along with the Palo 3.2 version, and can be used when the appropriate GPU hardware is installed on the server. Jedox is cooperating with different hardware vendors in order to supply hardware and software as a combined package, specifically configured for the customer’s needs. The GPU version is a server-side-only implementation and there is no hardware update required on the client-side (user computers do not need to be upgraded).
Next step: Faster planning applications with Palo GPU
Kristian Raue, CEO of Jedox AG comments on the significance of Palo 3.2 as follows: “The record breaking speed that we are able to reach with Palo GPU brings Business Intelligence and Performance Management to a new level. We are proud that Jedox is the first BI vendor to present a GPU solution in this field. This head start we have in development will now be followed-up, and next year we will introduce a GPU version which supports complex algorithms, rules and write-back functionality which will allow countless new possibilities in the area of OLAP-based planning, analysis and reporting.”