Forrester, the technology research and information company, have released a document reviewing SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Microsoft's impending entry into the Enterprise ETL market. The document can be viewed here although you have to pay a small fee for it.
The article is very complimentary about what SSIS has to offer particularly in terms of
- Performance - Massive improvement from DTS (the product that it is replacing)
- Cost - Free with SQL Server
- Collaborative Development - Multiple developers able to work on one solution
- Impact Analysis via Metadata Management - Common metadata ensures metadata-based analysis
- Data Quality Handling - e.g. Fuzzy matching enables handling of poor quality source data (e.g. Erroneous manually inputted data)
- Management - Management tool is seperate from development tool
- Scalability - Multithreaded pipes ensure huge data volumes can be handled in a timely fashion
- Reliabability - Realised through check-pointing and transaction control
Here are some sample quotes:
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"These enhancements bring Microsoft out of the data quality ghetto where DTS played and into the enterprise ETL arena , where SSIS will compete favourably with midtier vendors"
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"DTS has always had an appealing price-to-performance ratio but the new performance level of SSIS makes the ratio downright seductive."
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"SSIS <serves> corporate organizations that need a more productive, powerful, and modern tool than DTS to accommodate the demands of enterprise ETL."
All great news for people that are looking forward to building SSIS solutions in the future (i.e. people like me).
-Jamie