What is AQL?

Traditional OLAP technology was good enough at the time it was developed, but it has some major disadvantages.

OLAP-based Hyper-Cubes limit users to a small number of dimensions. Measures have to be defined when the application is developed and redefinition of a measure is time-consuming. The user interface is complicated for non-IT people to understand. The bottom line is that OLAP-based Hyper-Cubes and Data Warehouses are expensive and time-consuming solutions to install and maintain.
 

QlikView's patented AQL (Associative Query Logic) technology works in a different way, by building and maintaining a non-relational, associative and highly space efficient database that resides in RAM (In Memory Analysis).

The advantage of the AQL architecture is that the source data is retained and immediately available offline for analysis, all the way down to the source transactions. The result is powerful analytical capabilities provided through a highly intuitive user interface that encourages exploration and creativity.  

In October 2006, Gartner forecast that by 2012, 70% of the Fortune 1000 will use In Memory Analysis, as the Primary BI technology, replacing OLAP (Document Reference No: G00141540).