Book excerpt: Your in-depth guide to using the new Microsoft data mining standard to solve today's business problems Concealed inside your data warehouse and data marts is a wealth of valuable information just waiting to be discovered. All you need are the right tools to extract that information and put it to use. Serving as your expert guide, this book shows you how to create and implement data mining applications that will find the hidden patterns from your historical datasets. The authors explore the core concepts of data mining as well as the latest trends. They then reveal the best practices in the field, utilizing the innovative features of SQL Server 2005 so that you can begin building your own successful data mining projects. You'll learn: The principal concepts of data mining How to work with the data mining algorithms included in SQL Server data mining How to use DMX-the data mining query language The XML for Analysis API The architecture of the SQL Server 2005 data mining component How to extend the SQL Server 2005 data mining platform by plugging in your own algorithms How to implement a data mining project using SQL Server Integration Services How to mine an OLAP cube How to build an online retail site with cross-selling features How to access SQL Server 2005 data mining features programmatically