SQL Analysis Services provides a unified and integrated view of all your business data as the foundation for all of your:
Users are given a complete and integrated picture of the business regardless of the location of the data.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services builds on a strong foundation of analytical tools to provide a truly enterprise scale solution. Performance and scalability are substantially improved with faster processing, improved large database backups, and new monitoring functionality. Data is more available to users by combining data marts into a Unified Dimensional Model (UDM) and centralizing access and manageability of key enterprise metrics. Analytical capabilities are extended with the predictive abilities of an enhanced data mining toolset.
Access to data is not sufficient to drive this information into the business. Users need familiar tools and application developers need to be able to integrate the data into their applications. Analysis Services provides optimized Microsoft Office interoperability to provide a familiar interface and an open, embeddable architecture to allow developers to integrate the data.
For more information on SQL Analysis Services, click here to visit the Microsoft site.