IBM hybrid database goes alpha

An IBM hybrid database for handling structured and unstructured data is in the hands of about 30 alpha testers, an IBM executive has revealed.

"The intention here is to really build a hybrid database that handles both native relational and native XML [data]," Janet Perna, general manager of IBM Software's information management group, told CRN in an interview.

The plan was to send the database to a more general beta in the second half of next year. The database had no code name and it hadn't been decided if it would carry IBM's DB2 moniker, Perna said.

Current-generation databases from all the major players offered some support for XML data but typically stored it as if it were relational, in a row-and-column type format. XML data more naturally fit into a hierarchical or tree structure, Perna said.

The goal was to have data "co-reside in native form, to be able to mix and match that information", Perna said. "Imagine being able to write an XML statement to query native XML [information] interspersed with relational data."

Management tools and security that apply to DB2 databases would also pertain to other native data.

Perna claimed the development was just as important as past transformations from file systems to hierarchical databases to relational databases.

"The requirement now is to really be able to store structured and unstructured information together and that's where XML comes together," she said.

In other news, IBM Software said it was partnering ISVs PureEdge and Silanis on a project to bring enterprise content management to the US Army.

The goal was to convert huge amounts of paper documents, as well as those in "stovepiped" applications, to electronic forms and store them as XML format in DB2 Content Manager.

The deal covered more than 100,000 forms used by over a million people, Perna said.

Silanis Technologies, a Canada-based ISV, was providing the digital signature capabilities and British Columbia-based PureEdge was furnishing routing technology that sent XML data to its proper destination.

IBM claimed the application was a showcase for its information integration worldview. The goal was to allow companies to continue using myriad data sources that fed relevant information to certain applications.

The Army, for example, used many Oracle databases, and those repositories would work with this content management system, Perna said.

Perna added that IBM must reassure current PeopleSoft customers that IBM would continue to support their existing infrastructures, comprising IBM DB2 databases and WebSphere middleware, following the Oracle-Peoplesoft buyout.

Though most PeopleSoft applications probably still ran on Oracle databases, the vendor had became closer to IBM in recent years.

That, plus PeopleSoft's acquisition of JD Edwards two years ago, meant many PeopleSoft customers ran IBM software. Many JD Edwards applications also still ran on IBM iSeries or old AS/400 machines.

Perna estimated that at least 20 percent of PeopleSoft customers ran on IBM platforms, but the JD Edwards merger may put that number higher.