IBM Details New DB2
The battle between IBM and Oracle in the database software space continues, as Big Blue has revealed an enhanced version of its flagship database software, DB2. The announcement comes on the heels of Oracle’s introduction of its new 9i database, DB2’s toughest competition.
DB2 version 7.2 provides integration capabilities for WebSphere Application Server and MQSeries. It supports SOAP (simple object access protocol) and UDDI (universal description discovery and integration), and is compatible with leading data sources, including Oracle, Sybase and Microsoft SQL Server.
The combination of DB2 and WebSphere Application Server is expected to enable easier Web deployment and faster application development. The integration also makes DB2 a tool that can be used to manage new Web services requests in the form of industry standards, SOAP and UDDI.
By further integrating DB2 with messaging queuing software, MQSeries, developers will be able to treat messages queues as tables in a database, opening a new world of data sources for data warehousing and applications including e-commerce.
Meanwhile, Oracle is touting the improved scalability of its 9i database. According to Oracle, “Oracle9i Real Application Clusters give you the ability to run an Oracle9i database across many separate machines that have been clustered together to give a single view of the entire database. This ability, coupled with Oracle9i's ability to run on extremely scalable hardware platforms, makes Oracle9i the most scalable database in the world.”
DB2 Version 7.2 will be made generally available worldwide on June 8, 2001.