DBMS Client/Server Connection - September 1995 DBMS Client/Server Connection - September 1995The New Media Division of Sybase Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.) announced in July a set of program, partner, and product initiatives to enable both ITV and Internet access to these services from multiple television set-top and computer platforms. Included in the announcement was Sybase New Media Studio, a content production environment for Windows 95, Windows NT, and Unix environments. Designed for access via switched video, cable, and broadcast networks, New Media Studio applications are accessed from set-top box and PC delivery platforms using the Sybase Interplay interactive player product.
Sybase also announced Windows 95 and Macintosh support for Sybase Interplay. The product currently supports Microware's OS-9 and OS-9000, the PowerTV operating system, and Windows 3.x platforms. Sybase interplay gives users cross-channel access to ITV and Internet services.
In addition, Sybase announced the Sybase Interplay On Board OEM program, a Worldwide Content Developers Program that focuses on providing training and support for its Sybase Intermedia software products. The company also outlined the New Media Partners Developers College, which, starting in September, will combine products, training, and support from Sybase, Hewlett-Packard (HP), PowerTV Inc., and Scientific-Atlanta Broadband Communication. The College will offer an interactive TV Developers Kit, consisting of HP's MediaStream Server video server, Scientific-Atlanta's Digital Home Communications Terminal, PowerTV Inc.'s operating system, and Sybase's Intermedia software product family. These announcements position Sybase as a strong competitor against Oracle in the video server market. Sybase Inc. New Media Division, 415-943-8700.
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Dynamic Information Systems Corp. (DISC; Boulder, Colo.) announced its participation in the Oracle Warehouse Technology Initiative (WTI) Program, a recently announced program that integrates selected Oracle Business Alliance Partners into Oracle Corp.'s (Redwood Shores, Calif.) warehouse strategy. With this relationship, Oracle RDBMS users can use DISC's Omnidex product, an advanced indexing technology, to perform ad hoc queries with faster performance. Pilot Software (Cambridge, Mass.) has also joined the WTI program to integrate Oracle's database products with Pilot's LightShip data access and analysis products. Prism Solutions Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) will also participate in the program, enabling database designers to use Prism Warehouse Manager to build Oracle data warehouses. Oracle Corp., 415-506-7000; DISC, 303-444-4000; Pilot Software, 617-374-9400; Prism Solutions Inc., 408-752-1888.
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In July, Tandem Computers Inc. (Cupertino, Calif.) announced a multiyear agreement with Illustra Information Technologies Inc. (Oakland, Calif.) to provide the Illustra object-relational DBMS (ORDBMS) technology on all Tandem open platforms, including its Unix-based Integrity servers, Himalaya parallel processing servers, and forthcoming Microsoft Windows NT-based servers.
The Illustra ORDBMS combines the ability to manipulate structured data in the form of relational tables, with the benefits of object databases that manipulate complex data types such as video, image, or voice. (See "Object-Relational Hybrids," DBMS, July 1995, page 46.) The Tandem/Illustra agreement lets users deploy decision-support, World Wide Web, and multimedia applications on scalable symmetric multiprocessing and parallel processing platforms. Tandem Computers Inc., 408-285-6000; Illustra Information Technologies Inc., 510-869-6300.
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Symantec Corp. (Cupertino, Calif.) and Delrina Corp. (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) have signed a definitive agreement to join forces in a deal estimated at $415 million for Delrina stockholders. Delrina builds PC communications and electronic forms software products. The company's flagship product is Winfax, fax modem software for PCs. According to Symantec President and CEO Gordon E. Eubanks, "Incorporating Delrina's technology with Symantec's communications products, like Norton pcAnywhere and ACT!, and taking advantage of the synergy between our Enterprise Developer 4GL language and Delrina's forms business, will give Symantec customers a complete solution for managing, sending, and receiving information."
Under the terms of the transaction, Delrina shareholders will exchange each of their Delrina common shares for 0.61 of a share of a new class of exchangeable Delrina shares, which, in turn, they can exchange for Symantec common stock. Symantec Corp., 408-253-9600.
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Computer Associates International Inc. (Islandia, N.Y.) and Fujitsu Ltd. (Japan) announced at Database and Client/Server World in June that they have formed a strategic alliance to include joint development, marketing, and support of object technology. New products from the partnership will be delivered as extensions to the CA-OpenIngres product line and will combine the relational and object-oriented technologies in an extensible object-relational database. The first new product, CA-OpenIngres/ODBMS, combines the CA-OpenIngres database with Fujitsu's ODB-II object database technology. The CA-OpenROAD product suite will support the CA-OpenIngres/ODBMS, and CA-OpenROAD class definitions will be used to manipulate objects stored in the database. The CA-OpenIngres/ODBMS system development toolkit will ship in late 1995, and the fully integrated object-relational DBMS will ship in the first half of 1996. Computer Associates International Inc., 516-342-5224; Fujitsu Limited, 212-265-5360.
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Evergreen CASE Tools Inc. (Redmond, Wash.) announced in May that it has changed its name to Evergreen Software Tools Inc. According to President Phillip B. Herres, the corporate name change reflects the company's expansion into product areas beyond CASE. Evergreen recently unveiled its Database Engineer product, which addresses forward and reverse engineering of client/server and desktop databases. Evergreen Software Tools Inc., 206-881-5149.