ABSTRACT
Data warehousing has become one of the most significant technologies of the past decade, and has permeated virtually every business sector, from retailing to finance, in one form or another.
The International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that revenue from the total worldwide data warehouse software market, including data access, warehouse management/storage, and data transformation/warehouse generation, will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.8 percent during the period from 1995 to the year 2000. Worldwide market revenue was $1.4 billion in 1995; based on this forecast, it will grow to $5.4 billion by the year 2000. This growth pattern is a certain indication that data warehousing is well beyond the stage of early adoption and has been accepted by pragmatic businesses as a proven technology for enhancing their business operations.
