Education
After receiving a Doctor of Philosophy in 1973 from Stanford University in electrical engineering (specializing in man-machine systems), Ralph joined the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (Palo Alto Research Center).
After receiving a Doctor of Philosophy in 1973 from Stanford University in electrical engineering (specializing in man-machine systems), Ralph joined the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (Palo Alto Research Center).
He is one of the original architects of data warehousing and is known for long-term convictions that data warehouses must be designed to be understandable and fast. His methodology, also known as dimensional modeling or the Kimball methodology, has become the de facto standard in the area of decision support. At Palo Alto Research Center Ralph was a principal designer of the Xerox Star Workstation, the first commercial product to use mice, icons and windows.
Kimball then became vice president of applications at Metaphor Computer Systems, a decision support software and services provider.
He developed the Capsule Facility in 1982. The Capsule was a graphical programming technique which connected icons together in a logical flow, allowing a very visual style of programming for non-programmers.
The Capsule was used to build reporting and analysis applications at Metaphor. Kimball founded Red Brick Systems in 1986, serving as Chief Executive Officer until 1992.
Red Brick Systems was acquired by Informix, which is now owned by International Business Machines Corporation. Red Brick was known for its relational database optimized for data warehousing.
Ralph Kimball Associates incorporated in 1992 to provide data warehouse consulting and education. The Kimball Group, founded by Kimball, formalized existing long-term relationships between Ralph Kimball Associates, DecisionWorks Consulting, and InfoDynamics Limited Liability Company.
