Understanding the Internet strategies and products of six leading DBMS and tools vendors.
Just about every vendor in the client/server industry suddenly has an Internet strategy, and some vendors are actually shipping products. RDBMS vendors are no exception. In this article, I explain the key strategic initiatives and product plans of six leading RDBMS and tools vendors: Computer Associates (CA), IBM, Informix, Microsoft, Oracle, and Sybase. Despite a few common themes, each vendor's strategy serves its own distinct agenda
Database vendors are flocking to the Internet for several reasons. The expected boom in electronic commerce will generate trillions of new transactions, and these transactions will fill the gaping mouths of database servers. As corporate Intranets apply Web technology to in-house applications, new kinds of browser-based front ends may become ubiquitous, but the data generated will still be stored in the same RDBMS servers used in today's client/server environments. Because all six DBMS vendors also sell development tools, they must rapidly modernize these product lines or watch them wither away. Many but not all DBMS vendors are actually highly diversified software companies that happen to have strong positions in the DBMS market. These software supermarkets have Internet strategies that include but are not limited to database and tools initiatives.
All six DBMS vendors incorporate their own DBMS servers and application development tools into their Internet strategies. Beyond this core commonality, the vendors fall into two groups. This first group wants to provide complete turnkey solutions that include its own Web servers and browsers. This group includes IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft. These vendors have broad Internet product lines, including numerous complementary products and services. The second group sticks much closer to its bread and butter, while partnering with other companies that will supply the rest of the essential elements of a full Internet architecture. The latter group includes CA, Sybase, and Informix.
Despite their differences, all six DBMS companies share some common traits. All expect electronic commerce over the Internet to stimulate greater demand for database servers. On the front end, they are also scrambling to protect their turf as Intranets alter the development tools landscape. At a more technical level, they all either have partnerships with or support and integrate with languages and APIs from Netscape, Sun's JavaSoft (including the JDBC specification for accessing databases using Java), and Microsoft. Each DBMS vendor also speaks of the Internet as a major strategic direction, not simply another product line filling the shelves in the storefront.
CA seeks to support commerce over the Internet by enhancing several of its existing products and by introducing at least one major new product. CA is appending "/ICE" to some product names to indicate that these products are members of CA's "Internet commerce-enabled" product family. CA-Unicenter/ICE, a systems and network management program, will help monitor Web servers and browsers, and the networks over which they communicate. CA-OpenIngres/ICE enhances this RDBMS so that it can interact with Web servers and, ultimately, client browsers.
Compared to Jasmine (described later), CA's plans for its existing client/server RDBMS are more modest and straightforward. CA-OpenIngres/ICE will be enhanced to communicate directly with Web servers, which means it will not require separate Web-database integration products. CA-OpenIngres/ICE will communicate directly with both CGI scripts and Java applets, and it will be able to return query results marked up as HTML pages. Beyond the basics, triggers could be used to send email to customers when an order is shipped.
While the enhancements to CA-OpenIngres/ICE will let customers integrate existing database applications with the Web, Jasmine should appeal to developers starting new Internet and Intranet applications from scratch. Jasmine is the first fruit of CA's partnership with Fujitsu Ltd., the source of the object DBMS (ODBMS) technology in Jasmine. The ODBMS serves as a repository that stores large and complex multimedia and text objects, but Jasmine also incorporates some CA-OpenIngres code to support requirements such as transaction management. The server will run on Unix and Windows NT.
Jasmine's application development environment (JADE) includes a multimedia authoring tool that constructs "scenes" composed of objects that respond to user actions. In addition to Jasmine's object-oriented language, developers can also write methods in C, C++, and Java. An SDK lets developers extend Jasmine's built-in class library. Jasmine will also support Microsoft's VB Script, ISAPI (Internet Server API), and OCXs, as well as Netscape's NSAPI. The development environment will run on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
Jasmine applications can run as standalone programs just like existing client/server applications, or as plug-ins that run within a Web browser such as Netscape. Applications can access the Jasmine ODBMS as well as several RDBMSs, including CA-OpenIngres, Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, Informix, and DB2. Jasmine will also access CA-IDMS and CA-Datacom on mainframes.
CA and Fujitsu announced Jasmine on January 30, 1996. It should be in beta by the middle of this year, and generally available in the fall of 1996.
According to Yogesh Gupta, CA's senior vice president for product strategy, CA does not currently plan to enhance its CA-OpenRoad or CA-Visual Objects application development tools with Internet-specific features. However, both tools can create some components of an Intranet application. CA also plans to Web-enable many of its client/server business applications, including its financial and manufacturing software packages.
Large Intranet and Internet applications will require monitoring and management tools, so CA has enhanced CA-Unicenter/ICE to address Internet and Intranet requirements. It bolsters security by securing TCP/IP ports, logging and reporting attempted break-ins (including attempts to run unauthorized CGI programs), and logging activity by authorized users. It monitors the status of Web servers and can alert administrators when error conditions occur. Other monitoring functions include logging CGI requests to CA-OpenIngres, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, and Oracle DBMS servers, and analyzing Web server activity (page hits). CA-Unicenter/ICE also maintains a database of client configurations to aid consistent administration of large client populations.
CA began shipping CA-Unicenter/ICE in January 1996. It is available as a separate package or bundled with Netscape's or Microsoft's server products. CA-Unicenter/ICE can be combined with any of Netscape's four servers: Commerce Server, Communications Server, News Server, and Proxy Server. Each combination is a separate product and will run on Unix and Windows NT systems. The Microsoft bundle is broader because it includes the Windows NT Server, Microsoft's Systems Management Server, and Microsoft's SQL Server 6.0 (CA-OpenIngres can substitute for SQL Server).
CA's current Internet strategy barely scratches the surface of its voluminous software inventory. By ICEing its CA-Unicenter systems management product as part of its first wave, CA is targeting the interests of large customers operating at the enterprise or large-scale systems levels. Otherwise, CA has so far been quite reserved as to the products it is positioning for Internet applications.
IBM's DB2 may be the 800-pound gorilla of the RDBMS market, especially in the mainframe arena, but it's important to remember that database servers are merely one member of IBM's vast menagerie of product lines. IBM's Internet strategy reflects this diversity since the $60 billion giant announced several new products as well as Internet-related enhancements to many existing offerings.
IBM released the DB2 WWW Connection to enable customers to make data stored in DB2 databases available via the Web. The initial version uses CGI to process SQL queries embedded in HTML pages, including HTML forms. According to Drew Clark, IBM's manager of Internet marketing for the Software Solutions division, future versions of DB2 will subsume the functions currently performed by the DB2 WWW Connection, so that no middle layer will be required. DB2 will be able to communicate directly with Web servers. The DB2 WWW Connection currently supports AIX and OS/2, but IBM has plans to support MVS and AS/400, as well as Windows NT, Sun Solaris, and HP-UX later this year.
A similar product is IBM's CICS Internet Gateway, which lets Web browsers access CICS transaction systems on mainframes. It is also based on CGI, and it returns dynamic HTML pages to Web browsers. IBM plans similar offerings for IMS and MQ, but no official announcements were made by press time.
Searching for information is a second focus of IBM's Internet commerce initiative. Two recent new product announcements were about infoMarket Search and infoSage. infoMarket Search is a topic-oriented Web search engine that integrates the ability to search multiple heterogeneous data sources with electronic payment and rights management. The latter is based on a new technology IBM calls "cryptolopes," which are secure containers with price and permission information. A toolkit to build infoMarket applications will be released later this year. (The infoMarket service is now shipping.) infoSage collates and delivers news and other information to a user's Web page or Internet email address. Another database initiative is IBM's Query By Image Content (QBIC) technology, a Web-enabled technique for creating and processing content-based queries against multimedia data.
Visual Age, IBM's object-oriented application development tool based on Smalltalk, will be enhanced with new "Web parts" to serve as an authoring tool for Web applications. The Web parts will encapsulate database access. IBM also hinted at new Internet development tools mostly likely geared to building Java applications, but no announcements were made by press time.
Web servers and browsers round out IBM's Internet product lines. IBM's Internet Connection Servers are available on OS/2, AIX, OS/400, and MVS. Secure versions supporting SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and SHTTP (Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol) are currently available on OS/2 and AIX. In addition to selling its own Web server, IBM will also resell Netscape's servers.
The BonusPak for OS/2 Warp includes the IBM WebExplorer, which is a Web browser. IBM also sells a Web browser for Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 named the Internet Connection for Windows. IBM has licensed Java and will enhance its Web browsers to support Java applets.
IBM still builds boxes, so you can run all your IBM Internet software on IBM hardware servers such as the RS/6000 or even the S/390. (IBM recently announced it will port Java to the S/390.) IBM is fine-tuning its hardware servers to improve performance when supporting TCP/IP. Along with Oracle and Sun, IBM is one of the three initial proponents of low-cost Internet computers.
If you need network access, IBM's Global Network is a worldwide private network that acts as an Internet Service Provider for both businesses and individuals. Given this broad array of Internet products, it is no surprise that IBM also plans to bundle many of these offerings (as well as Lotus Notes) into turnkey systems for electronic commerce and publishing.
Lotus Notes is yet another ingredient in IBM's diverse Internet strategy. In late 1995, Lotus released the InterNotes Web Publisher, a separate $2995 Notes add-on that generates HTML pages from Notes documents. When Lotus released Notes 4.0 in January 1996, it began making InterNotes a free download from its Web site. In the first quarter of 1996, Lotus planned to bundle InterNotes with a Web server and a Notes server. Later in 1996, Lotus will roll out a new version of the Notes server that integrates HTTP, InterNotes technology, and Java support. In addition, Notes 4.0 clients have been enhanced with Web browsing features. The Notes client can now detect URLs in Notes documents and treat them as active hyperlinks.
DBMS servers are an important but not necessarily dominant ingredient in IBM's Internet strategy. This is partly a result of the sheer breadth of IBM's Internet initiatives. With so much going on, it is hard for any one piece to stand out. The DB2 WWW Connection satisfies the basic need to generate dynamic Web pages, but it does little more than that. IBM's current development tool strategy is also evolutionary at best. By contrast, Lotus's recasting of Notes as a platform for integrating the Internet into traditional groupware applications is more aggressive, but then again it has to be. Just as some people speak of Web browsers as competitors to Windows as application hosts, others have considered the Web's potential for supporting groupware functions a noteworthy threat to Notes (so to speak).
Informix Software Inc. recently enjoyed increased popularity in the RDBMS market. (See "Informix on the Move," DBMS, November 1995, page 46.) While Informix aims to overtake Oracle and Sybase, its Internet strategy hinges on an even smaller DBMS company. Informix has acquired Illustra Information Technologies Inc. and plans to merge the Informix Dynamic Scalable Architecture (its core parallel DBMS technology) with the Illustra Server to create a new Universal Server. The Informix-Universal Server is scheduled to ship in the fourth quarter of 1996, but a gateway between Informix and Illustra DBMS servers should be available in the second quarter along with a DataBlade Developer's Toolkit.
As Informix CEO Phillip E. White states in the interview on page 14, "Our core businesses are still application development tools and databases." Unlike Oracle, which offers almost all elements of an Internet architecture, Informix's Internet strategy closely reflects its traditional focus on databases and tools, even with its acquisition of Illustra. Informix will also Web-enable its development tools, but it does not plan to offer its own Web server, browser, or other Internet components. It touts its openness and encourages customers to integrate other products with Informix DBMS servers and application development tools. In December 1995, Informix organized a Web Partner Program. Four early partners offering tools to build Web-database applications that access Informix DBMS servers include Spider Technologies (Spider), net.Genesis Inc. (net.Form), VPE Inc. (WebBuilder), and Bluestone Inc. (Sapphire/Web).
Illustra markets it hybrid object-relational server as a natural platform for multimedia and Web database applications. Illustra's DBMS supports DataBlades, which are modules that plug into and extend the Illustra Server so that it can support new data types and domains as if they were built-in. DataBlades define both the physical structure of a data type as well as the methods (operators) to manipulate the data. Illustra sells its own Web DataBlade, which enables the Illustra Server to communicate with Web servers and browsers and return query results formatted as HTML documents. The Informix Universal Server promised for later this year will incorporate Illustra's DataBlade technology into the Informix-OnLine engine.
Informix also has a tight relationship with Netscape Communications. Netscape will bundle the Workgroup version of the Informix DBMS server into its LiveWire Pro development environment, which was in beta at press time. (Although LiveWire Pro will bundle Informix's DBMS server, it will also work with other vendors' RDBMS servers. The standard version of LiveWire will not include a DBMS engine.) The workgroup version of the Informix-OnLine Dynamic Server supports up to 32 simultaneous users. To support more users, customers must upgrade to another version such as the Informix-OnLine Dynamic Server. Informix will also sell the Netscape Web server, the Netscape Navigator browser, and the Netscape Navigator Gold and Live Wire Pro authoring and development products. Netscape also bundles the Informix-OnLine Dynamic Server in its Netscape Internet Applications family of products, including the Netscape IStore online merchandising system and the Netscape Publishing System.
On the tools side, Informix plans to Web-enable its Informix-NewEra application development product. Informix will provide a class library that enables Java applications to access Informix databases. In 1995, as part of its "phase 1" strategy, Informix posted free Web interface kits on its Web site to enable the Informix-4GL and Informix-ESQL/C products to access databases using CGI. According to Kim Wesselman, Informix's senior marketing manager for Internet Solutions, Informix is reviewing Microsoft's VB Script (VBS) and will probably support it eventually, but Java is Informix's first priority.
Because the Informix Internet strategy is so consistent with its overall business plan, I believe Informix's Internet products serve primarily to satisfy the needs of customers who choose Informix based on the merits of its DBMS server, not the Internet story. The Illustra acquisition may appear to be a calling card to customers emphasizing Internet capabilities, but it is important to remember that the trend to enrich RDBMS servers to better support complex data types and object-oriented features actually began before the Internet mania erupted on the scene. If the Internet never happened, Informix may have bought Illustra anyway, and even if it didn't, it would have had to create similar extensions by itself. The Informix Internet strategy is primarily a defensive maneuver.
Many people enjoy chiding Microsoft for missing the beat on the Internet, at least in the early days of 1994 and 1995. However, those days are history and Internet projects now permeate Microsoft's vast array of product lines. Web-enabled databases are but one aspect of Microsoft's Internet frenzy and, while important, database tools may not even be a central spoke on Microsoft's Internet wheel.
Microsoft is approaching Web database integration from at least two directions: Web-enabling database products, and providing access to ODBC data sources from its Web server API. In addition, several other key Microsoft technologies will support database access in broader ways. These include Visual Basic Script for controlling Web applications, and the ability to embed OCX controls in Web pages.
New wizards and related programs will enable Microsoft's database products to return query results marked up as HTML pages. SQL Server 6.5, which should ship sometime in the second quarter of 1996, will have a new wizard that uses stored procedures to format query output as HTML. Developers can indicate the network directory and file name for the generated file. While this creates static output, pages can be refreshed automatically by running queries on a scheduled basis or as a result of a trigger firing. Microsoft will also provide wizards that let Web browsers query FoxPro and Access databases.
The Internet Information Server (IIS) is Microsoft's Web server for Windows NT. This product was released in February on Microsoft's Web site (it's a free download), and Microsoft will soon bundle it with Windows NT. It includes the Internet Server API (ISAPI), which developers can use to build Web applications. (The spring 1996 release of Visual C++ will have new ISAPI MFC classes.) ISAPI supports ODBC access to data sources, as well as OLE automation and the ability to call DLL functions. Windows NT 4.0, which Microsoft expects to ship by mid-year, will include Network OLE. This will integrate with IIS to support distributed applications that can run over TCP/IP networks.
VBS is a close derivative of Microsoft's Visual Basic and Visual Basic for Applications. In order to support cross-platform applications, Microsoft removed language elements that manipulate hardware devices or assume an application is running on an Intel hardware platform. Microsoft expects to ship VBS by mid-summer.
I suspect that developers most comfortable with Visual Basic will wait for VBS, while C++ and other object-oriented language programmers will embrace Java. Of course, many will use both to develop applications, and this will be another example of how the market can usually accommodate two competing architectures or standards. However, yet another programming angle is Microsoft's Sweeper SDK, a collection of Win32 and OLE-based client services and APIs that developers can use to Internet enable applications.
In addition, Microsoft has partnered with NetManage to develop a set of OCX controls, including a Web browser control and FTP, NNTP (newsgroup), SMTP (email), and Winsock controls. Microsoft will bundle these with its developer products, but they can be used with any development tool that supports OCX controls. The next version of Visual Basic will be able to create OLE controls.
Version 3.0 of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, a Web browser available for Windows 95, Windows 3.1, and Macintosh, will introduce the ability to embed OCX controls in Web pages. Microsoft also provides free HTML converters and document viewers so that you can access Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents from Web pages. Microsoft's browser will also support Java applets. Internet Explorer 3.0 should ship in mid-summer, but you can download beta versions from Microsoft's Web site.
Microsoft also has several authoring products. The original developer product code-named "Blackbird" was designed to produce content for the Microsoft Network. Microsoft decided to skip that release and refocus its efforts on tools to build HTML-based applications. The successor to Blackbird will be Internet Studio. At press time, Microsoft had not yet indicated when this product would be available, but Shawn Morrissey, a product manager in the Internet Platform and Tools Division, described it as "PageMaker for the Web." (The recasting of Blackbird to Internet Studio coincided with Microsoft's repositioning of the Microsoft Network from an online service akin to CompuServe and America Online to an Internet Service Provider.)
Microsoft also acquired a Web publishing program named FrontPage from Vermeer Technologies. This product is geared towards nontechnical end users, and it is managed by the division responsible for Microsoft Office. Microsoft has not said future versions of Office will bundle FrontPage, but FrontPage technology will probably merge with the Internet Assistant for Word, a free add-on that lets Word users format HTML documents.
Like IBM and CA, Microsoft is a diversified software vendor, not simply a database and tools company. One way to discern Microsoft's goals for its Internet strategy is to compare what it gives away for free and what it charges for. In this regard, operating systems, applications, and development tools appear to be more critical than databases.
Microsoft's biggest livelihood comes from operating systems -- primarily Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, but Windows NT becomes more important each year. Incorporating Web browsers into Windows enables users to access the Internet almost as easily as any other file on the user's local machine or network. Turning Windows into a Web browser is another of Microsoft's attempts to thwart the rise of Netscape as an alternative host for Web applications. On the server side, freely distributing the IIS makes this a magnet for more sales of Windows NT, thus further eroding Unix's dominance as a Web server platform. And like Microsoft's free Web browser, Microsoft's IIS is another thorn in the side of Netscape's Web server business.
Microsoft's office suite is another pillar of Microsoft's monopoly on the desktop. By freely distributing HTML authoring and conversion tools that work within each office application, and by enabling its browser to display Office documents in Web pages, Microsoft seeks to bolster its control over the day-to-day applications used by most computer users.
Finally, despite supporting Java in its Web browser, Microsoft's heart and soul pumps Visual Basic through its developers' veins, and VBS defends this territory. Microsoft will make the VBS specification available so that other parties can support it on non-Windows platforms. In addition to VBS, Microsoft's advocacy of OLE and OCX technology for Web applications reinforces its commitment to these essential elements in both its operating system and development tool products.
Oracle's broad Internet strategy hinges on its WebSystem family of products, and WebSystem revolves around its Oracle7 release 7.3 RDBMS server. Oracle's Universal Server is a family of products that includes the core RDBMS plus a simple Web server (licensed from SpyGlass Inc., Naperville, Ill.) and several optional DBMS servers specialized for managing text, video and multimedia, geographic (spatial), and multidimensional data. On the front end, Oracle PowerBrowser is designed for displaying executable content. Oracle is also building development tools for crafting Web applications, and is promoting and developing software for low-cost ($500) "network computers" designed for accessing the Web.
The Universal Server is the latest incarnation of Oracle's diverse collection of database management systems. It is not a single integrated engine, but several engines that can talk to one another. Oracle announced the Universal Server at its February 1996 Developer's Conference in San Francisco. Like other RDBMS vendors, Oracle wants customers to stop storing Web content in static operating system files and to use a DBMS server (such as Oracle7) as a repository for Web content (including text, graphics, multimedia, and other data types) that is dynamically served to clients. In Oracle's case, this includes traditional Web browsers running on standard desktop computers, or the forthcoming network computer.
Oracle proclaims that its release 7.3 is fully Web-enabled because it includes the Oracle WebServer at no cost. However, the bundled version is WebServer 1.0, and this version relies on CGI to coordinate activity between the RDBMS and the Web server. Many developers, including Oracle, do not consider CGI a viable solution for high-volume, transaction-oriented systems. Oracle considers WebServer 1.0 a commodity item, and its inclusion is partly a defensive act in response to Microsoft's decision to make its IIS a free download from its Web site. In contrast, Oracle's WebServer 2.0, which is also shipping, bypasses CGI in favor of Oracle's home-grown Web Request Broker (WRB). The WRB is a software layer that integrates the Web server and Oracle's database servers as well as other APIs such as NSAPI, ISAPI, Java, and third-party add-ons. Oracle positions WebServer 2.0 as the preferred server for large-scale Internet systems because the WRB is faster and more robust than CGI. WebServer 2.0 has a list price of $2495.
The WRB receives and processes page requests and commands submitted by browsers using URLs. An SDK lets developers build plug-ins that work with the WRB. The WebServer also incorporates a Java interpreter as well as support for Server Side Includes and a PL/SQL (Oracle's stored procedure language) agent for accessing the Oracle RDBMS engine. A Java applet downloaded to a client browser can pass database requests to the WRB, which in turn invokes PL/SQL commands on the database server.
In addition to supporting SSL security encryption and authentication, WebServer also adopts the role-based security model used in Oracle's RDBMS, so that security profiles created and managed in databases will be respected by the WebServer. Oracle's WebServer manager is a centralized, browser-based administration tool for multiple Web servers.
Oracle's PowerBrowser supports active content in several ways. In addition to supporting Java applets and Netscape plug-ins, Oracle developed Network Loadable Objects (NLO), its own mechanism for embedded and downloadable applications. Jeff Menz, Oracle's senior product manager or PowerBrowser, acknowledged that NLOs are very similar to Netscape plug-ins and Java applets and that the differences will probably evaporate within a few months.
The PowerBrowser borrows the Basic interpreter from Oracle Power Objects, a client/server application development tool. However, Oracle also plans to support other Internet scripting languages such as JavaScript and Microsoft's VBS. Unlike Oracle Power Objects, which bundles a local DBMS engine named Blaze, the PowerBrowser includes a copy of the Personal Oracle Lite standalone DBMS engine. Oracle plans to release a developer's version of PowerBrowser this spring. It will include a personal Web server that runs on a local machine, an interpreting environment, and the browser. This package will let developers build and prototype Web applications that Oracle hopes will lead to upgrades to the full WebServer and DBMS server. According to Menz, the PowerBrowser and Power Objects will probably merge over time. The initial versions of PowerBrowser run on Windows platforms, but Oracle plans to release Macintosh and Unix versions later this year.
Oracle is promoting the network computer as a more appropriate device for people who need access to email and the World Wide Web, as well as small applets for word processing, spreadsheet, and other office applications. Oracle will not manufacture the hardware devices, but it has produced a specification and will partner with several large consumer electronics companies that will produce the devices. Oracle's stake in the network computer is two-fold. First, Oracle will develop and sell software for these devices, and it also hopes the network computer will access data stored in Oracle DBMS servers. Second, while Oracle acknowledges that many people will use the network computer as a supplement rather than a replacement for a regular personal computer, Oracle hopes the network computer will erode Microsoft's domination of operating environments and software applications.
Oracle's Internet strategy is broader than just database servers and development tools, but Oracle's main interest is selling database servers. Consequently, much of its ancillary products serve to stimulate increased demand for servers. As evidenced by the diverse assortment of specialized database servers, development tools, administration utilities, and other software product lines, Oracle's overall strategy strives to fulfill as many customer needs as possible, and its provision of Web servers and browsers is consistent with this approach.
Sybase plans a series of Internet initiatives under the umbrella name of "web.works." At press time, Sybase had announced two new products. web.sql will bridge Web servers and Sybase's flagship System 10 and System 11 DBMS servers. Sybase's Powersoft tools division also announced Optima++, a new Internet applications development tool. In addition, Powersoft has heralded Internet features in its forthcoming PowerBuilder 5.0. Sybase has also morphed its Gain multimedia technology into a personal authoring tool named media.splash, and it has promised further Internet announcements later in 1996 regarding middleware and databases. Sybase has not yet mentioned plans for Internet-enabling Sybase SQL Anywhere, its desktop DBMS formerly known as Watcom SQL.
web.sql will integrate databases and the Web by facilitating bidirectional communication between Web servers and DBMS servers. Developers will be able to embed queries in HTML documents using either SQL or Perl syntax. External script files will not be necessary. To improve performance when processing multiple queries, web.sql will maintain multiple connections between a single Web browser client and the database. Although Sybase focuses on its support of Sybase System 10 and System 11, Web applications will be able to access other data sources via Sybase Open Client connectivity software, which is included with web.sql.
While web.sql will support the Netscape API (NSAPI) and CGI, Margaret Grover, director of marketing for Sybase's New Media Division, acknowledges that NSAPI will be faster. Sybase also indicates that web.sql will support access to databases through Java applications. Customers can download beta versions of web.sql from Sybase's Web site. The company planned to ship web.sql for Sun Solaris in the first quarter and versions for other Unix platforms and Windows NT in the second quarter.
On the tools side, the new Optima++ product from Powersoft will build Internet and Intranet applications, including Java applets, Netscape plug-ins, Microsoft OLE sweeper controls, and document viewers compatible with Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser. While based on C++, it will emphasize the use of wizards, drag and drop, and components to simplify 3GL development. (Optima++ incorporates Watcom C/C++ technology but does not replace the Watcom compiler.)
Optima++ will be able to both create and use OLE controls. A key component supporting database access will be a PowerBuilder DataWindow control that can be used in both Optima++ and PowerBuilder 5.0, as well as other OLE container applications. Like its older sibling PowerBuilder, Optima++ will be able to access a range of data sources using either native drivers or ODBC. Optima++ will also support CGI, Netscape's NSAPI, and Microsoft's Internet Server API.
Powersoft's new Optima++ is designed for Windows NT and Windows 95, but it will also run on Windows 3.1 using Win32s. Powersoft expects to ship Optima++ by the end of the second quarter, and it will include a standalone version of Sybase SQL Anywhere and InfoMaker, Powersoft's end-user database front end.
PowerBuilder 5.0, which Powersoft plans to ship by the end of the second quarter, will enable PowerBuilder developers to create plug-ins for Web browsers as well as create distributed objects accessible from browser clients. Powersoft will produce DataWindow OCX and browser plug-ins, which will enable browsers to access databases. In addition, Powersoft recently acquired Visual Components Inc., maker of FormulaOne/NET, a spreadsheet component available as a Netscape plug-in. Visual Components will port other components to the plug-in format.
Sybase does not plan on building its own Web servers and browsers. Sybase will partner with other vendors, most likely Netscape. However, no announcements had been made by press time.
On the DBMS side, web.sql moves beyond the early days of CGI for Web-database integration, but like IBM's DB2 WWW Connection, web.sql remains an intermediary between a Web server and a DBMS server. This contrasts with vendors such as CA, Oracle, and Microsoft, which are forging ever tighter and more direct bonds between Web and DBMS servers. On the tools side, the more aggressive moves originating in Sybase's Powersoft subsidiary mirror the urgency Lotus imbues in its new Notes 4.0 plans, rather than IBM's relatively staid efforts with DB2 and the Web.
Companies that want to integrate Internet technology for either Internet-based electronic commerce or Intranet applications will find their database vendors knocking at their door. If your shop relies primarily on a single vendor, and you are happy with that, you probably would need a good reason to go elsewhere. However, depending on who your vendor is, you may get just the basics (Web-database integration and development tools), or much more. If your environment is heterogeneous, you have much more from which to choose. At that point, you should evaluate an Internet strategy along with other key strategic directions such as data warehousing or even object-relational support. The ulterior motives of each database vendor's Internet strategy mean that you must be more careful to mesh the vendor's drives with your own needs. Then again, this is still a highly volatile area, and patience may pay off for those who wait.
Computer Associates
IBM
Illustra Information Technologies
Informix Software
Lotus Development
Microsoft Corp
Oracle Corp
Powersoft Corp
Sybase