DBMS Client/Server Connection - December 1995

IOUW Wrap-Up

• Database/Tools Hoopla at Oracle Conference
• New product announcements

Database/Tools Hoopla at Oracle Conference

The International Oracle Users Week (IOUW) was held September 17-22 in Philadelphia, with its usual fanfare and schmooze-fest atmosphere. Actually, the conference lived up to its hype -- despite a no-show from Oracle President and CEO Larry Ellison (he "never goes to Philadelphia" --thanks, Larry). A lot of tools vendors made significant announcements at the show, and Oracle (Redwood Shores, Calif.) publicly unveiled Oracle 7.3 (basically Oracle8 sans objects). Also, Oracle Executive VP and CFO Jeff Henley responded to the negative stock reaction that occurred the week before the conference, due to lower-than-expected Q1 results (stock priced at $44 per share on September 14 dropped to $37 per share on September 15). Henley attributed the revenue shortfall to slow server sales -- and slow corresponding app sales -- in Q1, as well as an extremely profitable ("perhaps too profitable") Q4 1994. Also, Oracle took a $51 million one-time write off for the acquisition of IRI in June. However, Henley stressed that Oracle's Q1 was not terrible: Revenue was $772 million (up 39 percent), and net income was $87 million (up 43 percent). Data warehousing and multimedia represented the strongest new growth areas for the quarter.

Jerry Held, senior VP for Oracle's Server Technologies Division, introduced Oracle 7.3, due to ship in the first quarter of 1996. Version 7.3 "should have been called Oracle8, due to the extensive new features and enhancements in the product," said Held. Specifically, new OLTP features include: improved CPU and code-path utilization (less memory per user), enhanced parallel server performance, improved DBA utilities, improved SMP scalability, compiled triggers, new security features, and Internet and mobile computing capabilities. New features optimized for data warehousing include: integrated bitmap index queries, star query optimization, "parallel-aware" optimization, adaptive parallel queries, parallel hash joins, and partition-level optimization.

In addition, Oracle 7.3 will include the Oracle7 Video Server Option, which will enable developers to build video-based applications on existing network infrastructures. This is a downscaled version of Oracle Media Server, which has receded out of the limelight in the past few months.

Oracle8, which will include object extensions and an object-based repository, and Sedona, Oracle's ballyhooed scalable object development environment, are "progressing," and should be in beta in 1996, said Held.

In the connectivity space, Oracle introduced Oracle Access Managers for IBM's CICS, IMS/TM, and AS/400 platforms, enabling applications on these platforms to access Oracle7 databases. Applications written in C, Cobol, PL/1, and RPG can issue SQL statements to any Oracle database. Programs accessing Oracle from CICS and IMS/TM view Oracle databases as recoverable resources, allowing update of Oracle and the mainframe systems within the same transaction. All of these Access Managers will be available by the end of 1995, and prices will start at $25,000, depending on the platform. Oracle Corp., 415-506-7000; http://www.oracle.com.

[Top of page] [DBMS home page]

New product announcements

Several vendors also introduced new products and upgrades at IOUW. Here are just a few of the highlights:

• Compuware Corp. (Farmington Hills, Mich.) announced optimization features for Oracle7. These new features let DBAs and system administrators monitor and manage Oracle's Symmetric Replication, Parallel Query, and other Unix-based Oracle 7.2 functions. Compuware Corp., 810-737-7300.
• Blyth Software Inc. (Foster City, Calif.) announced the Omnis Oracle Edition, which lets developers prototype, create, and maintain departmental applications for Oracle server platforms. The product is a complete client development environment, and includes a Data Access Module (DAM) that enables high-speed native access to both the Oracle platform and the Omnis database. Blyth Software Inc., 415-571-0222.
• Isis Distributed Systems Inc. (Marlboro, Mass.) unveiled Isis for Database (IDB), a client/server development environment that provides Active Replication technology. This technology replicates user-written server applications and standard databases to provide continuous availability of the application and its data. Isis Distributed Systems Inc., 800-258-0990.
• Platinum Technology Inc. (Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.) announced that InfoExpress (formerly Data Transport) will support Oracle by the end of 1995. InfoExpress helps organizations migrate mainframe data to client/server databases. Platinum Technology Inc., 708-620-5000.
• ISA Corp. (Bellevue, Wash.) announced version 4.1 of SQL*Operator, a systems management tool for enterprise-wide job scheduling and application workload management. Its new master/agent architecture enables system administrators to manage application processing across multiple heterogeneous servers. ISA Corp., 206-644-2121.
• Prodea Software Corp. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) announced ProdeaBeacon, a decision-support tool that provides online analytical processing (OLAP) capabilities for Oracle and other RDBMSs. The product architecture is composed of a relational database, the Beacon Application Server, and the Beacon Client. Prodea Software Corp., 612-942-1000.
• Computer Systems Advisers Inc. (Woodcliff Lake, N.J.) announced release 2.4 of Silverrun, which includes a bidirectional interface to Oracle7 that lets DBAs compare and reverse-engineer their Silverrun data models with Oracle physical models. Computer Systems Advisers Inc., 201-391-6500.
• R*Tech Systems Inc. (Princeton, N.J.) introduced R*SQLab, a SQL analyzer and tuning suite, and R*LogLab, a redo log analyzer and reader. These Windows-based monitoring and management tools let DBAs and developers maintain and tune their Oracle environments for better performance. R*Tech Systems Inc., 609-279-0709.
• Promark (Parsippany, N.J.) announced Quick Cap for Oracle, which allows for the automatic capture of SQL calls and results in the immediate, customized "software scripting" of Oracle applications. Promark, 201-540-1980.
• BMC Software Inc. (Houston) announced that it has acquired TurnStone Software, a developer of log analysis capabilities for Oracle7 databases. BMC will incorporate TurnStone's SQL*Trax technology, which helps improve database integrity and performance, into an integrated family of log analysis products. BMC Software Inc., 713-918-8800.
• ARIS Corp. (Seattle) announced version 4.0 of DFRAG, a database defragmentation utility. DFRAG 4.0 defragments Oracle 6 and Oracle7 databases, tables, and indexes, improving performance and optimizing space usage. ARIS Corp., 206-433-2081.
• BEZ Systems Inc. (Deerfield, Ill.) unveiled three new performance and capacity management tools for the Oracle environment (collectively called BEZPlus): Investigator/ORA, SerView DBA, and CorpView DBA. BEZ Systems Inc., 708-940-1010.

[Top of page]