As the volume of data continues to grow, companies and organisations applying network visualization and analyses usually reach a point where they no longer want to store the data they have collected and analyses they have performed in separate files or charts. An excellent solution for central storage is the i2 iBase. The iBase is a database application that stores the entities and their links in a specialised format that is flexible for the analysis. iBase Designer is used to define the schema of the iBase database, i.e. the types and all the attributes of the entities and links that are stored in the database.

Once the database has been created and loaded, it is then easy to find the relationships that were not possible with individual file storage. Searching is possible using a variety of functions, ranging from the simplest Browse or Quick Search options to more complex Queries.

In addition to being a database of individuals and relationships, iBase has several analytical functions. You can create sets containing a group of individuals or relations, so that you can later apply common operations to the elements of these sets (e.g. delete elements of a set). If, due to some error, the same element is entered several times in the database, we can merge them if we want.

Another useful feature is the "Alert" function, which sends a notification when an event occurs in the database according to your settings.

i2 iBase és Analyst’s Notebook
As iBase's main function is to store data centrally, when more in-depth analysis or charting is required, this can be done using i2 Analyst's Notebook, which can be connected to iBase. From iBase, entites can be highlighted to any depth of connection in the chart interface of i2 Analyst's Notebook. There you can then perform the necessary analyses. If you make a change to these elements in Analyst's Notebook that matches the iBase schema (e.g. rewriting the value of an attribute or creating a new entity/relationship), this change will be immediately reflected in the iBase database. In summary: the two products complement each other well and it is strongly recommended to use them together.