64-Bit BI

Another week comes to pass. And so too does another chapter (the third of four) in the Great Tech Call-'Em-Like-You-See-'Em Contest. This week, we ask you to share your opinion on technology's Next Big Thing.

Maybe I shouldn't try to bias the voting, but my choice for winner is 64-bit computing. In short, 64-bit computing will have a revolutionary impact on business intelligence, in terms of data processing capabilities, reporting complexity and data integration speed. If you're involved in business process management, 64-bit computing is going to enrich the complexity of the workflows you can oversee and direct. Hey, what can I say. I'm a business intelligence guy. To me, something's "big" if it has an impact on data and analytics.

Along the lines of BI news, there were two items in particular this week that I think are worth your attention. The first involves Business Objects, which struck a deal with integration software maker Ipedo and Edgar Online to make it easier for companies to analyze XBRL data. We've been returning to XBRL repeatedly for months now, and for good reason: It's going to revolutionize competitive analytics. Check out Business Objects' developments to get the latest.

Also this week, open-source BI startup Pentaho formally announced that, well, it exists. Perhaps feeling swamped by all the news coming from the Business Intelligence Reporting Tools (BIRT)initiative of late, Pentaho took the time to introduce itself and tell a little about what it expects to do for the open-source and BI communities. You can read more here.

Lastly, let me direct your attention to two cool new launches being made by CMP Media, the publisher of Business Intelligence Pipeline. The first is actually related to a re-launch -- of InternetWeek and its newsletter. The publication will cover Internet business, Internet software, Web-based services and other Web-related technology. Try giving InternetWeek's newsletter a test drive.

The other launch is "The News Show," a daily -- yes, daily -- online TV news program that will take an informative, interesting and sometimes funny look at the intertwined worlds of business and technology. You might even see my mug on there one of these days. Online TV is a growing initiative here at TechWeb. Hey, if ESPN can do it, so can we.