IBM is gunning for ASPs and dot-coms with a major upgrade to its database.
DB2 Universal Database Version 7.0, unveiled today, includes features designed to make it easier for service providers and dot-coms to analyze data for improved customer service, as well as tools that simplify moving database applications from Oracle Corp. and other databases to DB2.
Two Version 7.0 features important for companies developing e-commerce application are new support for XML (extensible markup language) and support for the company's "garlic" technology.
The XML support lets developers quickly define, store and retrieve XML-based documents, which are key in many business-to-business e-commerce applications. Garlic is a wrapper for Enterprise Java Beans that provide access to federated data sources, thus making integration of data from various sources easier.
In another effort to attract application service providers and dot-coms, IBM will offer new licensing schemes that give IBM a percentage of the revenue an ASP derives from its customers. IBM's share will be based on the number of subscribers a service has or the number of transactions a Web site processes.
"We are tying our pricing models to their revenue stream to get them started," said Janet Perna, general manager for IBM's data management group.
Another feature Perna said dot-coms will find attractive is an integrated in-memory database, which basically caches data to speed processing of some operations. Text searches in a Web application, for instance, have performed 10 times faster with the in-memory database, Perna said.
IBM claimed that some beta testers had cut application development time by as much as 40 percent because of the database's new support for SQL stored procedures and nested stored procedures and temp tables.
On the OLAP front
The company has a somewhat slimmed-down version of its IBM OLAP Server online analytic processing engine in the new database. However, unlike the full-feature OLAP engine integrated into rival Microsoft Corp.'s SQL Server database, the OLAP capabilities in DB2 7.0 provide only a taste of the engine's analytical powers. To do more complex queries and analysis of the data in DB2 7.0, a user must buy the full IBM OLAP Server, which is based on Hyperion Software Corp.'s Essbase 6.0 OLAP software, said Perna.
The OLAP capabilities in DB2 7.0 will allow analysts to store data in either a star schema or a multidimensional data store and drill down into that data.
Enhancements to structured query language in Version 7.0 add new analytic options, including the ability to determine moving averages, correlation and regression.
Another technology IBM is integrating into DB2 7.0 is the spatial recognition feature that had previously been available only in its Data Joiner software. This feature, due in September, will let analysts ask questions such as "Where are my customers located?"
"It's not about rows and columns anymore," Perna said. "Companies are using data to target customers they want to win and to maintain customer relationships they have already established.
"Those companies that are best able to leverage information will be the winners in the 21st century." Perna added.
To foster its effort to win business from Oracle and other competitors, IBM added new tools for migrating applications from those databases to DB2. It also will continue an enhanced sales effort that includes hiring 2,000 sales people dedicated to selling DB2 by the end of the year.
DB2 Universal Database Version 7.0 will be available on Windows, Unix and OS/2 in June. DB2 Extended Enterprise Edition for HP-UX and NUMA-Q will be available in September. Pricing will be announced at that time.
IBM is at www.ibm.com.
