Microsoft buys Zoomix to add data quality to SQL Server

Top Stories

Related

• Microsoft to buy up to $100M in Novell SUSE Linux support vouchers
• Wi-Fi in-flight comes to some American routes
• Apple: iPhone update improves 3G; users disagree
• Yahoo Buzz poses serious threat to Digg, some users say
• Opera patches 7 bugs, but keeps one secret
• IBM pumps $300M into business continuity centers

• Microsoft delays SQL Server 2008 RTM to Q3
• Q&A: Next version of SQL Server will boost scalability, development features
• New Windows Server will lead march to 64-bit OS
• Microsoft lifts licensing restriction on virtual mobility
• Sybase sues database start-up in east Texas court favored by 'patent pirates'

Zone

SAS Business and Analytics Zone No matter where your organization is on the path toward evolving your IT infrastructure, SAS can adapt to your situation to meet your long-term enterprise intelligence needs. We can help you drive intelligence evolution to the next level, while leveraging and extending the value of your existing IT investments. Learn more in the Business and Analytics Zone See All Zones

July 14, 2008 (IDG News Service) Microsoft Corp. has agreed to purchase Zoomix Data Mastering Ltd., a small Jerusalem-based company that provides data-quality technology, to bolster its SQL Server business, the company confirmed Monday.

Microsoft did not reveal the terms of the deal, which has been rumored since early June. Zoomix's Accelerator software combines semantic and linguistic analysis with machine learning to classify, match and standardize complex corporate data, according to the Zoomix Web site.

Microsoft plans to add Zoomix's technology to future releases of its SQL Server database, the company said through its public relations firm. Zoomix said its development team will join the SQL Server team at Microsoft's research and development center in Israel.

Managing data has always been a problem for business customers, particularly large enterprises that have multiple instances of data stored in different systems that may vary slightly from each other.

Data-quality software helps automate the process of ensuring that data being entered and stored -- and later mined for decision-making -- is the most accurate.

"One of the problems we face today is that there is so much data out there, trying to figure out what's really important -- to get information, and from that information to get knowledge about what's happening -- is difficult," said Richard Ptak, managing partner of IT analyst firm Ptak, Noel & Associates.

Vendors that provide databases, business intelligence and data management software are increasingly integrating automated data-quality capability into those products to improve the overall quality of an organization's data, he said.

Microsoft's plan to add automated data-quality technology to its database product, especially to the data-entry workflow, could greatly help the overall quality of data and reduce errors and inconsistencies, Ptak said. "You want to correct it as early in the stream as you can," he said.

Zoomix primarily targets the manufacturing, distribution, retail and financial enterprise vertical markets in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East, according to its Web site.

Reprinted with permission from

IDG.net
Story copyright 2008 International Data Group. All rights reserved.