Database Technology Trends

International Data Corporation (IDC), the premier provider of market intelligence, and advisory services for IT companies, has written an insightful white paper about the true cost of database ownership for companies: "Calculating the True Cost of RDBMS Ownership and How Sybase ASE Stacks Up: A Guide for SAP Business Suite Users."

IDC interviewed 12 large organizations with over 12,000 employees who have RDBMS systems, who are in a variety of industries. Six of the companies are running databases from multiple vendors.
Here are some of their conclusions. (Note: These findings are for a five year total cost per 100 users and a 240 gigabyte database).

Sybase ASE 15.7 total costs for the 5 years are $339,773. Using Sybase saved each of these 12 companies $128,580 over other RBDMS. These savings were reflected in IT staffing, hardware, software licenses, and database downtimes.

The following features contributed to this large cost savings:

• Automated functions for DBA’s
• Self-management capabilities for databases to tune themselves
• Data compression to reduce storage footprint
• Large object blocks (LOBs) stored in-row, rather than as separate objects.
• In-place execution of operations instead of using temp storage

After describing Sybase’s ability to lower the total costs of operation, IDC suggests that DBA’s need to:

• Review periodically the total costs of ownership for their RDBMS
• Use a 5-year time frame to understand the impact of growth on servers, storage, and fees for their RDBMS
• Collect information about other RDBMS products to be able to make good comparisons
• Be open to database conversion for software applications. It may not be as difficult or risky as you think.

IDC is careful to note that database products are constantly evolving. They suggest Sybase and their competitors need to keep addressing customer requirements to remain cost-competitive.

See (Sybase IDC Calculating the true cost of RDBMS) for the full article.

Our conclusion is: IDC paints an excellent picture for considering Sybase 15.7. They have a solid grasp on what’s important when considering TOC for databases. We’ll find out if Sybase can keep their cost-savings momentum. Right now, their strategy for keeping database technology costs low is winning them many new customers.

Everywhere we turn this year, we see database technology companies continuing to grow and expand with new offerings for improving computer systems to help you support your company’s important business decisions.

This month’s newsletter describes 3 database technologies that offer new promise for improving performance: Sybase® ASE 15.7, Sybase® IQ 15.4, and Microsoft SQL Server® 2012 RC0.

On September 13th this year, Sybase announced availability of Sybase® Adaptive Server Enterprise® (ASE) 15.7. This is exciting news for our database community. According to Carl Olofson, research vice president at IDC, "Sybase has made significant enhancements to optimize data storage and increase developer productivity in ASE 15.7." "These new features . . . add to ASE’s already impressive total cost of ownership."

ASE 15.7 (the most feature-rich release in their history), is offering many new capabilities. Some of the most important ones include:

• Analyzing Dynamic Parameters
• Compressing Data in Adaptive Server
• Creating Non-materialized, Non-null Columns
• Cursor changes
• ERP certification on Sybase ASE
• Expanded Variable-Length Rows
• Fully Recoverable DDL
• Large objects changes
• Like Pattern matching changes
• Nested select statement enhancements
• New Adaptive Server Kernel
• New security features
• Retaining monitoring data
• Select for update changes

For more detailed information, see Sybase’s full feature list at:

http://www.sybase.com/detail?id=1094783 .

Sybase has also launched the new version of the Sybase IQ high performance column-based analytics database. Sybase IQ® 15.4 is addressing the new generation of Big Data. DBA’s and database developers can use this version to store large amounts of unstructured data, and web log information. Sybase tells us we’ll be able to use a "have it your way" approach.

Some new capabilities to consider are: a native MapReduce API, Predictive Model Markup Language (PMML) support, and integration with Hadoop. You will be able to federate a query between IQ and Hadoop. The new APIs will allow developers to implement in-database algorithms with greater performance results.

PMML capabilities will work with predictive models in industry-standard analytics tools, and then be able to automate their execution in Sybase IQ. These features can also be combined with text and multimedia analytics, using a range of techniques for analyzing big data.

Some other advantages with this new version are:

• New Java API and new extensions to the C++ APIs, allows implementation of high performance proprietary or certified ISV algorithms in-database.
• In-database analytics simulation environment eases development and testing.
• Compression of text data works well with other big data scenarios.
• Faster bulk loading of large data sets works through ODBC and JDBC interfaces

For more details on Sybase IQ 15.4 see Sybase’s what’s new datasheet at:

http://www.sybase.com/detail?id=1095620.

Microsoft announced SQL Server 2012 Release Candidate (RC0) last month, with its Cloud offerings.

There are three main SQL Server 2012 editions – Enterprise, BI (Business Intelligence), and Standard. Microsoft is still offering Web Developer and Express versions of SQL Server 2012.

At Dobler Consulting we’re seeing some exciting new features with this version:

Cloud Advantages

• SQL Server Data Tools
• Data-tier Application Component (DAC) parity and increased object support with SQL Azure
• SQL Azure DataSync
• Support for OData

Mission Critical Abilities

• SQL Server AlwaysOn
• ColumnStore Index
• User Defined Roles
• Distributed Replay

Breakthrough Insight

• Power View Web-based Data Visualizations
• BI Semantic Model
• Data Quality Services
• Migrate PowerPivot models into SSAS

Our conclusion . . . Sybase and Microsoft are offering us innovative and exciting new ways to manage our database systems and improve performance.

Download SQL Server 2012 RC0 via this link:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28145 .

Job Description

Dobler Consulting, a leader in Sybase, Oracle and SQL Server database support services and Sybase (an SAP Company) system integration services for Fortune 500 companies as well as Small and Midsize Business (SMB) in the United States, seeks a SQL Developer with SSIS and SSRS experience for a healthcare data warehouse project. This is a full-time position.

Responsibilities:

• Designing and developing SSIS integration processes
• Designing and developing SSRS reports and report management
• Developing stored procedures

Desired Skills & Experience

• 5+ years of experience using SQL, T-SQL, and Stored Procedures
• 3+ years of experience using SSIS/SSRS
• Experience with SSAS a plus
• Experience in the healthcare industry a plus
• BS in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Company Description

Peter Dobler founded Dobler Consulting, Inc. in 2000 to provide database computer services to the SMB marketplace, as well as Fortune 500 clients. Peter is an accomplished IT database professional who "makes a difference" by improving database efficiencies and reducing costs. His 25-plus years in technology started in Basle, Switzerland in 1985.

Peter’s close connection with Sybase began while he was Director of Database Technology at the Nielsen Company, in Dunedin, Florida. At Nielsen, Peter implemented the second largest Sybase IQ data warehouse in world at the time.

The Dobler Consulting team, some of whom are former Sybase engineers, have over 100 years of combined Sybase experience. These highly experienced database experts, led by Peter Dobler, manage and deliver database projects to a diverse, nation-wide client base. They use their industry experience, and technical proficiency to offer exceptional customer service, while giving clients a winning combination of design, implementation, and support.

Some of their services include:

• Performance and Tuning
• Database Design
• Installation and Maintenance of Sybase Database Software
• Upgrades for New Releases of Sybase
• Cross Platform Migrations of Sybase
• Data Migrations from Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server to Sybase
• Sybase Expertise in Sybase ASE, Sybase Replication Server and Sybase IQ
• Remote Database Services
• Database Consulting
• Systems Integration
• Data Protection
• Disaster Recovery Planning and Execution

To apply or send references, please follow the link below:
http://www.doblerconsulting.com/contacts.html