Western Cape`s Peninsula Technikon has become the first higher education institution in Africa to join the InterSystems Cach'e Campus Program, a database program designed for academics, researchers and students.
The program, designed by Boston-based InterSystems, the world`s fastest growing and largest independent vendor of database systems for Web applications, facilitates education and research in academic settings to fulfil the requirement for producing people with advanced education in the science of information management.
Peninsula Technikon joins more than 100 education institutions around the world to have implemented the software, and will be including the program as part of the National Diploma in Information Technology and the Bachelor of Technology degree.
Cach'e is a high-performance database fusion of Object and SQL technologies. Its unified data architecture means developers can build applications faster without having to map between object and relational data models.
"Cach'e Campus offers a true object-oriented database that caters for characteristics such as polymorphism and inheritance," says Roland Wagner, lecturer in the Department of Information Technology in the Faculty of Engineering. "The system stores code and data as a single object rather than separately, providing the students with the flexibility of being able to write object-oriented applications and create object-relational tables automatically.
"In line with SA Qualifications Authority (SAQA) requirements, Peninsula Technikon students can work on projects across a range of subjects. Cach'e Campus is ideal for that purpose - an object can be created in Cach'e and used as the underlying database for the various applications, using Java, VB or any language that supports the component object model (COM)," says Wagner.
As part of the Cach'e Campus program, InterSystems SA has donated software licences and will provide technical support at no cost to Peninsula Technikon. The program will also assist the faculty in establishing new elements to enhance the current curriculum, such as additional courses, lectures and projects.
The program assists with the locating of aid grants, scholarships and supplementary employment opportunities during study, and career opportunities after graduating.
As an additional incentive to students on the program, InterSystems has partnered with industry analyst International Data Corporation (IDC) to present the Cach'e Student Innovator Awards for innovative uses of Cach'e technology. The award will be presented at InterSystems` Annual Developers Conference where one winning application will be chosen. The student who wrote the application will receive a $2 000 cash award, a plaque acknowledging their accomplishment, and a free round trip with hotel accommodation to Cach'e DevCon. The winner`s school will also receive a matching US dollar grant.
To be eligible, a fully operational Cach'e-based application must have been developed by a current student at a school that participates in the Cach'e Campus program. There is no requirement that they be deployed prior to submission.
"We are proud to be associated with Pentech and pleased to make a real contribution to skills development in SA," says Henry Adams, country manager at InterSystems SA.
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