In Shakespeare's Macbeth, "fair is foul, and foul is fair." When separating fact from fiction, Bill Shakespeare could've been a systems analyst.

Written by Steven C. Pitcher

When I began my current role about seven years ago, I joined a true-blue AS/400 shop, and I had many new ideas I wanted to bring in the door with me. At the top of my list was deploying Linux on iSeries, desktops, thin clients, or anything else because it was "free" and "open."

Join us Feb. 9th at 4:00 EDT for a live demonstration of StarQuery. End-users will be empowered to build ad hoc queries within Excel based on views created by IT. Includes drill down and cube analysis. Works with virtually any database or ERP. Eliminate JDE date fieldname & decimal quirks. StarQuery: powerful Business Intelligence without breaking the bank. Click here to register.

Businesses demand immediate, ready access to real-time data integrated from disparate sources. Software-based data sharing fulfills that need.

Written by Craig Johnson

Editor's note: This article is an extract from "Get the Facts: Real-Time, On-Demand Information for Business Intelligence and Data Integration," available free from the MC Press White Paper Center.

Business moves at the speed of light. At one time, the preceding statement would have been rhetorical. Today, it's often literal.