Holos was an influential

OLAP Online analytical processing, or OLAP (), is an approach to answer multi-dimensional analytical (MDA) queries swiftly in computing. OLAP is part of the broader category of business intelligence, which also encompasses relational databases, repor ...

(Online Analytical Processing) product of the 1990s. Developed by Holistic Systems in 1987, the product remained in use until around 2004. The core of the Holos Server was a

business intelligence Business intelligence (BI) comprises the strategies and technologies used by enterprises for the data analysis and management of business information. Common functions of business intelligence technologies include reporting, online analytical p ...

(BI)

virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/ emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized h ...

. The Holos Language was a very broad language in that it covered a wide range of statements and concepts, including the reporting system, business rules, OLAP data, SQL data (using the Embedded SQL syntax within the hosting HL), device properties, analysis, forecasting, and data mining. Holos Server provided an array of different, but compatible, storage mechanisms for its multi-cube architecture: memory, disk, SQL. It was therefore the first product to provide "hybrid OLAP" (

HOLAP Online analytical processing, or OLAP (), is an approach to answer multi-dimensional analytical (MDA) queries swiftly in computing. OLAP is part of the broader category of business intelligence, which also encompasses relational databases, repo ...

). The Holos Client was both a design and delivery vehicle, and this made it quite large. Around about 2000, the Holos Language was made object-oriented (HL++) with a view to allowing the replacement of the Holos Client with a custom Java or VB product. However, the company were never sold on this, and so the project was abandoned. Before its demise, the Holos Server product ran under

Windows NT Windows NT is a proprietary graphical operating system produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released on July 27, 1993. It is a processor-independent, multiprocessing and multi-user operating system. The first version of Win ...

(Intel and Alpha), VMS (VAX and Alpha), plus about 10 flavors of UNIX, and accessed over half-a-dozen different SQL databases. It was also ported to several different locales, including Japanese.

Company

Holistic Systems was purchased by the hardware company Seagate Technology in 1996. Along with other companies such as Crystal Services, it was used to create a new subsidiary company called

Seagate Software Seagate Software, Inc., was an international software company formed when Seagate Technology, merged its software assets with Arcada Software. Kevin Azzouz, Arcada CEO was elected by the Seagate board as president. Seagate Software was sold to V ...

. Only Holistic and Crystal remained, and Seagate Software was renamed to

Crystal Decisions Crystal Decisions (previously known as ''Seagate Software Information Management Group'') was a company that was known for its business intelligence products. The company was formed when hard disk drive manufacturer Seagate Technology acquired Ho ...

. Holistic and Crystal had very different sales models. The average sale for the Holos Product in the United States was in excess of $250,000 and was sold primarily to Fortune 500 companies by a direct sales force. The main Holos development team finally started to leave around 2000, and Crystal Decisions was finally taken over by

Business Objects A business object is an entity within a multi-tiered software application that works in conjunction with the data access and business logic layers to transport data. For example, a "Manager" would be a ''business object'' where its attributes c ...

in 2004. Following the takeover, support for Holos was outsourced to Raspberry Software, which was set up by former employees of Crystal Decisions.

References

{{Reflist Data management Online analytical processing