Summary
As you have seen in this chapter, tabular models are really the future of BI. The in-memory world brings a lot of benefits to BI solutions. It is really simple to work with tables and columns; there is no hassle working with aggregations and tuning of models. Instead, you can also use the computing powers of modern servers. On the other hand, you do not have all the functionality that a mature multidimensional model has. In future, the gap between the functionality that exists today will be removed. This means that tabular models will be used more often.
In the next chapter we will cover how Analysis Services fits into the larger architecture of a complete BI solution. A complete solution not only needs to include a semantic model but also end user tools and portal solutions.