IBM Transforms Database Market With Introduction of DB2 "Viper" Data Server

Market Wire, June, 2006

IBM today unleashed the next-generation DB2 9 data server -- code named "Viper" -- delivering the most significant database technology enhancements in over two decades.

DB2 9 marks the culmination of a five-year IBM development project that transformed traditional, static database technology into an interactive, vibrant data server that enables clients to improve their ability to manage all types of information, such as documents, audio and video files, images, Web pages, and digitally signed XML transactions. IBM's new data server provides an industry-first seamless and simultaneous information flow of XML and relational data, regardless of format, platform or location.

More than 750 software developers working out of eight countries contributed to the creation of Viper, which was designed and tuned to be the preferred information engine for SOA environments.

DB2 9 includes a trio of significant advancements, including patented "pureXML" technology, breakthrough "Venom" storage compression and enhanced autonomic data management capabilities. This combination of industry-first features, along with new security and disaster recovery enhancements, is expected to speed information queries and provide clients with unconstrained information access. The new version of DB2 also enables access to data stored on conventional Oracle and MySQL databases -- a feature unavailable from those vendors.

IBM is breaking new ground by simultaneously unveiling versions of DB2 for enterprise customers, small and medium businesses (DB2 Express) and developers (DB2 Express-C).

"DB2 Viper is poised to strike and alter the competitive landscape in the database industry," said Ambuj Goyal, general manager IBM Information Management. "We're ushering in a new era of data server technology that furthers our investment and initiative aimed at helping clients to grow their businesses by leveraging information on demand."

Early customer and partner tests and evaluations of DB2 9 have prompted overwhelmingly positive responses. Zurich Insurance, N.A., a leading commercial property-casualty insurance provider serving large corporate, middle market and small business customers, has turned to DB2 9 to take advantage of the new pureXML capabilities.

"The insurance industry is faced with a growing need to store vast numbers of documents in an XML format. DB2 9's pureXML offers an unmatched degree of flexibility over the user defined functions and external manipulation of XML data found in older databases," said James Surber, senior DBA, Zurich Insurance N.A. "The ability to store different versions of the same XML document with different XML Schemas in the same table will save us hours of manual labor as we will no longer have to unload and reload the entire table whenever our XML Schemas change."

Industry-First Information Management Techniques

DB2 9 features a range of breakthroughs and technology enhancements -- unavailable from competitors -- that will alter and improve the way information is stored, managed and accessed, including:

--  pureXML technology -- allows clients to seamlessly manage both
    conventional relational data and pure XML data without requiring the XML
    data to be reformatted or placed into a large object within the database.
    This capability is unique to Viper and enables customers to increase the
    availability, speed and versatility of their information, while
    dramatically reducing administrative costs associated with existing data
    management techniques.  pureXML significantly reduces the complexity and
    time a typical developer spends creating applications able to access both
    relational and XML data.
--  Venom storage compression -- allows database administrators (DBAs) to
    utilize row compression for compressing data objects, yielding significant
    disk, I/O and memory savings, particularly for large tables with repetitive
    data patterns.  Code-named Venom, this capability enables DB2 to deliver
    mainframe-like data storage compression capability to the Linux, UNIX and
    Windows computing environments.  "Venom" augments DB2's value compression,
    index compression in multidimensional clusters, and back-up compression
    technology.  Venom's breakthrough compression provides a stark contrast to
    Oracle's older generation of table-based compression capabilities and SQL
    Server's lack of any significant compression capabilities.
--  Autonomic storage management -- designed to help clients save time and
    money by automating storage management tasks, which currently require
    numerous manual and incremental changes by administrators.
--  Security enhancements -- DB2 9 offers Label Based Access Control
    (LBAC), a unique data access capability that provides an extremely flexible
    means of defining security hierarchies and classification levels. LBAC then
    allows users to apply these definitions to the information that is being
    managed.    The new labeling capability provides new ways to control access
    to sensitive data stored within the database. The security administrator
    (SECADM) authority level, an industry-first feature collects several
    security-granting privileges under one user, providing greater control over
    who can gain access to information.
--  Disaster recovery improvements -- The ability to restart interrupted
    recovery operations, which can save time and effort in database recovery
    situations.  Enhanced support for performing redirected restore operations
    with scripts that are automatically generated from existing backup images.
    This functionality makes DB2 9 recovery more robust and versatile than any
    previous data server and provides you with a more complete recovery
    solution.
--  Advanced data partitioning -- a major innovation in improving data
    management and information availability, DB2 9 is the first database to
    simultaneously support the three common methods of partitioning: range
    partitioning, multi-dimensional clustering and hashing. This capability
    enables organizations to arrange and order their information in the way
    that best suits their individual business requirements and demands and thus
    optimizes application performance.
--  Automatic memory management -- Included in all editions of DB2 9. This
    unique memory management capability works for small workloads and adapts to
    complex multi-instance installations making administration easier enabling
    advanced DBAs to hand tune any of the individual memory parameters.