SQL keys opening door to database warehouse; IBM's blueprint for heterogeneous data access relies on IBI, other third parties, to deliver - Information Builders Inc

Software Magazine, Dec, 1991 by Barbara Bochenski

No one vendor can do it all anymore. That is increasingly apparent with the number of consortia springing up. It is also apparent with Big Blue's announcement of the IBM International Alliance, when it debuted its Information Warehouse concept for heterogeneous database access in early September.

IBM refers to the Information Warehouse framework as a set of database management systems, interfaces, tools and applications for providing access to data wherever it exists in the enterprise. IBM will be dependent on other vendors to make this Warehouse a reality. A number of vendors are supporting IBM's Distributed Relational Data Access (DRDA) to get data from various neatly kept relational storerooms.

The IBM International Alliance consists of Information Builders, New York City; Bachman Information Systems, Inc., Burlington, Mass.; and IBM. Other vendors, like Informix Software, Menlo Park, Calif.; Sybase, Inc., Emeryville, Calif.; Oracle Corp., Redwood City, Calif.; and Computer Associates International, Garden City, N.Y., have announced support for DRDA and other aspects of the Warehouse.

While no one vendor can do everything, Information Builders (IBI) is providing the bulk of the deliverable heterogeneous aspects of Information Warehouse with its Enterprise Data Access (EDA)/SQL family of products. EDA/SQL is said to provide an open application programming interface (API) that any front-end tool can link to and thereby access over 45 different types of databases and file systems on over 35 different platforms.

Information Builders has been working on the problem of heterogeneity for some time. John Senor, director of IBI's EDA/SQL Division, points out that the firm's investment in data translation software dates to the release of the Focus 4GL in 1975.

"Focus began as an integrated 4GL/DBMS," explained Senor. "Then it became a 4GL that ran on multiple DBMSs. Later it became a client/server product where the 4GL could reside on one platform and the DBMSs reside on other, separate platforms."

Focus now can read over 45 different kinds of databases and files, both relational and nonrelational. It accesses Vsam files as well as IMS, IDMS and other database systems. Also, it can operate under 35 different operating systems.

"With the uptake of client/server in the marketplace," said Senor, "we realized we had something that was very good: the ability to give the user access to data. The only thing wrong," he added, "was that the only front-end tool the user could use to access that data was our proprietary solution."

Two year ago, IBI set out to align its product set with an architecture for distributed data access. The firm decided to incorporate SQL as the standard for data access, with its own technology as a foundation for reaching different data.

"The result of this architectural engineering," said Senor, "in Enterprise Data Access/SQL. We have opened our proprietary architecture--that is, our data access engine technology, our data drivers and our connectivity technology--to support any Ansi-standard SQL-type tool.

"EDA/SQL is really the product of IBI's strategic investment in client/server technology," he said.

GOOD TIMING WITH IBM

The timing coincided with IBM's interest in making SQL a standard access method for nonrelational data, so IBM invited IBI to join forces, according to Senor.

For the last two years, said Senor, Information Builders and IBM have worked together to define an Information Warehouse architecture--of which a major component is the EDA/SQL technology for data access.

"We complement and extend IBM's own SQL solutions, like DRDA," explained Senor, "yet we provide the user with access to nonrelational and non-IBM platform data that has not been available as an IBM solution."

Market observer Jeffrey Tash, president of Database Decisions, Newton, Mass. (a division of Hewitt Associates), credited IBI with having the only deliverable component of IBM's Information Warehouse strategy. "IBI took a capability that has been an integral part of Focus, and they unbundled it," he said.

Good timing also brought IBI and a major client together early in this process. This provided IBI with requirements specifications from a customer viewpoint, as well as valuable feedback during development.

The client was Cigna Corp., a leading provider of insurance and related financial services based in Philadelphia. Cigna is a predominantly Big Blue shop and a leading user of DB2.

Back in 1990, Cigna developers were in the throes of a project to provide data access for end users. They turned to Information Builders because they knew IBI had experience with heterogeneous platforms with Focus. The developers were just looking for advice; they did not expect a product solution from Information Builders, but walked right into one.

"At that time, Information Builders was obviously working with IBM on the EDA/SQL product," said Donald Walker, director, technology strategy at Cigna Systems Division's Windsor, Conn., data center. "But we didn't know that."