HP this week became the latest infrastructure vendor to attempt to muscle its way into the business intelligence (BI) market with the launch of a new data warehouse platform and expanded services.

Unveiled at a launch event in Berlin, HP said that the Neoview data warehouse solution would offer an integrated hardware and software platform capable of providing customers with a comprehensive view of corporate data.

The company said that providing a pre-integrated hardware and software solution would reduce installation and maintenance costs for customers, while integration with HP remote management and monitoring tools would make administration easier. The ability to scale the platform to handle "hundreds of terabytes" of data also makes it an ideal product for data mart consolidation projects, HP argued.

Ben Barnes, vice-president and general manager for HP's BI group, said that the company had secured alliances with Business Objects, Cognos, Informatica, MicroStrategy and SAS, which would see the vendors integrate advanced BI functionality with the data warehouse platform.

HP also said that following the acquisition last year of BI consultancy Knightsbridge Solutions, it now planned to expand its BI services portfolio with new offerings designed to enhance customers' data quality, integration and BI project planning.

HP is the latest in a line of infrastructure vendors to attempt to break into the BI market. Last year IBM also announced plans to expand its reporting and data warehousing capabilities, while Oracle bolstered its presence in the BI market earlier this month with the acquisition of reporting tools specialist Hyperion.