Actuate's Updated Reporting Application Enables Distributed Queries

Besides its new enterprise information integration (EII) capabilities, available as a licensed option, Actuate 8 also delivers an enhanced spreadsheet designer, a common meta-data layer and usage tracking functions.

"As a stand-alone market, EII is a technology looking for a value proposition, said Vijay Ramakrishnan, director of strategic communications for the South San Francisco company. "We think we've added that killer application element with this release."

Actuate's EII technology comes by way of its acquisition of Nimble Technology last July. Since then, the vendor has moved to integrate the distributed data query technology into its business intelligence platform, giving users immediate access to realtime data.

"EII now resides on the server, and we use licensing keys to turn that functionality on," said Ramakrishnan.

Actuate 8 also features a unified meta-data layer that allows customers and solution providers to create and reuse complex queries. The resulting "information objects," as Actuate calls these reusable services, can be used in Actuate-created reports, spreadsheets and database queries. The enhanced e.Spreadsheet Designer enables users to generate native Excel spreadsheets from within Actuate.

Actuate 8 will be available in limited quantity on June 30. It is expected to be generally available in July. Pricing starts at $500 per named user.