Portable Database Image

The Portable Database Image, also known as .pdi file, is a proprietary loss-less format designed for analytics, publishing and syndication of complex data. The .pdi format, generation process, and GUI, were invented by Dr. Reimar Hofmann and Dr. Michael Haft from Siemens AG Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning.

The .pdi footprint is typically 100 to 1000 times smaller than the footprint normally found in structured data files or database systems, and is rendered without any loss of detail. The word portable in the name derives from the idea that the smaller footprint allows a .pdi runs in the main memory of a user's’ computer without disk or network input/output (IO).

The .pdi is a digitally rights protected, encrypted data source that can be accessed by any ODBO (OLE DB for OLAP) compliant OLAP tool, including Microsoft Excel and the Panoratio's Explorer GUI[1].

The .pdi presents detailed discrete or binned data without pre-calculation or cardinality reduction. It allows for real-time correlation and relationship exploration of unrestricted bounds — throughout all dimensions. They (.pdi’s) have been tested in excess of 5,000 dimensions and 500 million rows of information, with query response times in the .1 to 8 second range.

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