News

CA Looks To Broaden Use of Modeling Tool to Data Integration, Cloud

• By Jeffrey Schwartz
• February 14, 2011

CA Technologies last week updated its ERwin modeling tool with an eye toward broadening its use beyond database developers.

The new ERwin Data Modeler r8 also is aimed at allowing business users to create models that can bring disparate data types together, according to the company. CA says this will also appeal to organizations looking to move data into public and private clouds.

"The Erwin product is good at inventorying and looking at the data that you have presenting it in a model so that you can clearly identify what is at hand and use that as a planning tool for what you want to bring to the cloud," said Shawn Rogers, an analyst with the IT consulting from Enterprise Management Associates, in an interview.

CA says there are 70,000 users of ERwin, who have historically used it for database design. While it is still targeted at that core use, CA has added new visualization capabilities to the tool that enable those who are not database developers to gather disparate data and create their own models.

"So it's not just [for] the database administrator, we often are talking to business people and developers to those with different roles across the organization," said Donna Burbank, CA's senior director of product management for data management, in an interview. "I don’t have to be an expert in all those platforms any more."

The new release adds support for the latest database versions including SQL Server 2008 R2, as well as extended support for IBM's DB2. 

It will also offer extended reporting. CA has embedded Crystal Reports from SAP's BusinessObjects division. "If I want to present some of my business definitions to a business user, a click of a button opens up Crystal Reports with a report," Burbank said. For users of other reporting tools, they can link to ERwin via an ODBC connection, she added.

A standard edition of the software costs $3,995 per user. A workgroup version is available for $5,590 and a read-only license costs $795. The software will ship Feb. 18.