New features as well as a clear roadmap for future developments have revealed a strong commitment from IBM to its U2 databases. Following a recent DB2 conference in Orlando, Florida, Workgroup says it was encouraging to see more buy-in and added backing in the market, with both UniVerse and UniData now being given a focused position within the IBM DB2 pillar and within the database market.
"IBM is answering the demands of a growing U2 customer base through an expanded feature set and updated functionality. U2 represents a major growth point in the database environment, and we can look forward to seeing more of the type of features users want, such as point in time recovery, updated replication demon services and SOAP server that offers Web Service functionality," says Kurt Neumann, U2 senior technical consultant at Workgroup.
Further GUI interfaces and functionality will also replace some of the traditional "green screen" interfaces and functionality. "Locally, these developments will garner more market interest. Web services and much improved Web interfacing are further features to look forward to," he says.
In his opening address at the conference, Ambuj Goyal, new General Manager, Information Management Solutions Software Group, IBM, mentioned a number of additional features coming down the line.
The connection pooling licensing model will be made available during October 2005. Also to follow is EDA (external database access) functionality - already available in Unidata 7.1 and soon to be released in Universe 11.1 - that will facilitate data extraction and storage in DB2 and other databases. There will also be more focus on service oriented architecture, using XML.
SB+, one of the U2 products that used to run on all multi-value databases, will however now only be available for UniVerse and UniData, and can no longer be ordered from IBM. "This essentially means that an opportunity exists to encourage sites running SB+ on other multi-value databases to convert their applications to U2. IBM and Workgroup will be offering discounted pricing for any such conversions," says Neumann. This follows earlier announcements from IBM that SB 5.3 would be the last port providing support for non-IBM multi-value databases.
IBM and Workgroup will also be hosting its annual U2How2 technical conference in Johannesburg on 19 October, and in Cape Town on the 21st. Notably, Nik Kesic, U2 Advanced Client Support Software Engineer from IBM Denver, will provide more in-depth coverage of the U2 product roadmap and some of this exciting new functionality and features.
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