News
IBM 'Stinger' Database Coming in Mid-September
- By Scott Bekker
- 09/09/2004
IBM's next version of the DB2 Universal Database, code-named "Stinger," will be generally available on Sept. 17, the company said Thursday.
IBM has been using Stinger to poke Microsoft in the eye over delays with the "Yukon" version of SQL Server, now SQL Server 2005. During the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in October, IBM announced a limited technology preview for Stinger that highlighted integration with Windows and the .NET Framework. IBM then announced its full open beta for Stinger in May.
But IBM's bigger competitive aim with Stinger appears to highlight its self-management and self-tuning technologies against those of database giant Oracle. IBM and Oracle are engaged in a long-running battle to show customers that their traditionally complex, high-performance database management systems are becoming much more user friendly.
Major feature enhancements in Stinger (officially DB2 Universal Database version 8.2) include the:
IBM Learning Optimizer to allow the database to use past experience to accelerate searches by finding the fastest route to information.
DB2 Design Advisor for automatic design and optimization of the database, which IBM says can improve query job completion by nearly seven times compared to manual attempts.
Automated Maintenance functionality for automatic administration and maintenance.
The DB2 Enterprise edition will retail for $25,000.
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.