<s>
PowerHouse	B-Language
is	O
a	O
byte-compiled	O
fourth-generation	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
(	O
or	O
4GL	B-Language
)	O
originally	O
produced	O
by	O
Quasar	O
Corporation	O
(	O
later	O
renamed	O
Cognos	O
Incorporated	O
)	O
for	O
the	O
Hewlett-Packard	O
HP3000	B-Device
mini-computer	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
Data	O
General	O
and	O
DEC	O
VAX/VMS	B-Operating_System
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PowerHouse	B-Language
was	O
introduced	O
in	O
1982	O
and	O
bundled	O
together	O
in	O
a	O
single	O
product	O
Quiz	O
and	O
Quick/QDesign	O
,	O
both	O
of	O
which	O
had	O
been	O
previously	O
available	O
separately	O
,	O
with	O
a	O
new	O
batch	O
processor	O
QTP	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1983	O
,	O
Quasar	O
changed	O
its	O
name	O
to	O
Cognos	O
Corporation	O
and	O
began	O
porting	O
their	O
application	O
development	O
tools	O
to	O
other	O
platforms	O
,	O
notably	O
Digital	O
Equipment	O
Corporation	O
's	O
VMS	B-Operating_System
,	O
Data	O
General	O
's	O
AOS/VS	O
II	O
,	O
and	O
IBM	O
's	O
OS/400	B-Application
,	O
along	O
with	O
the	O
UNIX	B-Application
platforms	O
from	O
these	O
vendors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cognos	O
also	O
began	O
extending	O
their	O
product	O
line	O
with	O
add-ons	O
to	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
(	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
Architect	O
)	O
and	O
end-user	O
applications	O
written	O
in	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
(	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
MultiView	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Subsequent	O
development	O
of	O
the	O
product	O
added	O
support	O
for	O
platform-specific	O
relational	O
databases	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
HP	O
's	O
Allbase/SQL	O
,	O
DEC	O
's	O
Rdb	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Microsoft	O
's	O
SQL	B-Application
Server	I-Application
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
cross-platform	O
relational	O
databases	O
such	O
as	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
,	O
Sybase	B-Application
,	O
and	O
IBM	O
's	O
DB2	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
language	O
represented	O
a	O
considerable	O
achievement	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compared	O
with	O
languages	O
like	O
COBOL	B-Application
,	O
Pascal	B-Application
and	O
PL/1	B-Language
,	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
substantially	O
cut	O
the	O
amount	O
of	O
labour	O
required	O
to	O
produce	O
useful	O
applications	O
on	O
its	O
chosen	O
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
achieved	O
this	O
through	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
a	O
central	O
data-dictionary	O
,	O
a	O
compiled	O
file	O
that	O
extended	O
the	O
attributes	O
of	O
data	O
fields	O
natively	O
available	O
in	O
the	O
DBMS	B-General_Concept
with	O
frequently	O
used	O
programming	O
idioms	O
such	O
as	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
order	O
to	O
support	O
the	O
data	O
dictionary	O
,	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
was	O
tightly	O
coupled	O
to	O
the	O
underlying	O
database	O
management	O
system	O
and/or	O
file	O
system	O
on	O
each	O
of	O
the	O
target	O
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
case	O
of	O
the	O
HP3000	B-Device
this	O
was	O
the	O
IMAGE	B-Application
shallow-network	O
DBMS	B-General_Concept
and	O
KSAM	O
indexed	O
file	O
system	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
entire	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
language	O
reflected	O
its	O
origins	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Like	O
all	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machine	I-Architecture
languages	O
,	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
is	O
CPU	O
intensive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cognos	O
practice	O
of	O
tying	O
license	O
fees	O
to	O
hardware	O
performance	O
metrics	O
resulted	O
in	O
high	O
licensing	O
costs	O
for	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cognos	O
initially	O
attempted	O
to	O
move	O
to	O
the	O
Intel	O
platform	O
in	O
1988	O
with	O
the	O
DOS-based	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
PC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
Cognos	O
eventually	O
produced	O
Axiant	O
(	O
c.1995	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
ported	O
PowerHouse-like	O
syntax	O
to	O
an	O
Intel-based	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
visual	O
development	O
environment	O
and	O
linked	O
it	O
to	O
SQL	B-Language
aware	O
DBMS	B-General_Concept
running	O
on	O
these	O
machines	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
radical	O
changes	O
wrought	O
by	O
the	O
PC	O
revolution	O
,	O
which	O
began	O
just	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
was	O
introduced	O
,	O
eventually	O
brought	O
down	O
the	O
cost	O
of	O
host	O
computers	O
to	O
such	O
an	O
extent	O
that	O
high-priced	O
software	O
development	O
tools	O
such	O
as	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
became	O
unattractive	O
to	O
customers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Around	O
1999	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
Web	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
support	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
web-aware	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Products	O
like	O
Business	O
Intelligence	O
and	O
Financial	O
Performance	O
Management	O
that	O
run	O
on	O
commodity	O
architectures	O
and	O
high-end	O
UNIX	B-Application
servers	O
now	O
form	O
the	O
core	O
of	O
the	O
Cognos	O
product	O
line	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
Application	O
Development	O
Tools	O
including	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
server	O
,	O
Axiant	O
4GL	B-Language
and	O
PowerHouse	B-Language
Web	O
were	O
acquired	O
from	O
IBM	O
by	O
UNICOM	O
Systems	O
,	O
a	O
division	O
of	O
UNICOM	O
Global	O
on	O
December	O
31	O
,	O
2013	O
,	O
and	O
UNICOM	O
continues	O
to	O
support	O
the	O
worldwide	O
customer	O
base	O
for	O
the	O
products	O
.	O
</s>
