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SQL Server 2008 R2
SQL Server Magazine's Michael Otey and Sheila Molnar visited Microsoft recently to talk with Donand FarmerTpTincipal program manager for SQL Server SQL Analysis Services, about the business intelligence (Bl) piece of SQL Server 2008 RZ currently code-named Gemini. Farmer is from Scotland, prefers Donald to Don, and comes to B) as both a subject-matter expert and an IT and analytics expert
SQL Server Magazine: Can you share your background with us and what led you to Microsoft?
Farmer: My background's a bit unusual for Microsoft: I studied Celtic history, philosophy, and languages. I worked as an archeologist and historian for several years, but all the time 1 was working with computers. We started a software lab specifically to develop software for use in archeology. From that I drifted into doing consultancy, and I specialized in rural industries. I was in Scotland, so 1 ended up working in industries for the two valuable liquids that we export - oil and whisky. From there I worked in a BI consultancy that built rapid development tools for data marts and BI infrastructures. We were Microsoft partners, and it seemed inevitable Io come from working on the tools to working on the platforms at Microsoft.
SQL Server Magazine: So you joined Microsoft to work on Bl?
Farmer: Yes, I worked on the Analysis Services team; then I went to [SQL Server] Integration Services until we shipped SQL Server 2005. After that I came back to Analysis Services as program manager on the data mining learn. Then we started the Gemini project. Now I'm working on the client tools for Gemini.
SQL Server /Magazine: That's a good lead-in to our next question: What do our readers need to know about Gemini, and what's the relationship between Gemini and Analysis Services?
Farmer: For your readers, the easiest way to describe Gemini is that it's the next generation of business intelligence technology. Gemini is in many ways Analysis Services. Think of it in terms of capabilities rather than technologies. The Gemini capabilities are what we call "self-service analysis." Self-service analysis means that end users, information workers, knowledge workers - people who currently work in the Excel environment -...