IBM is to release its DB2 Information Integrator
software for integrating and analysing multiple forms of
information next week.
The software, which has been in beta since February, is intended
to enable customers to manage centrally data, text, images, photos,
video and audio files stored in different databases. XML content
and Web services also are supported.
IBM's Jeff Jones, director of strategy for DB2 information
management software, said developers could save about 65%of their
time by integrating data via DB2 Information Integrator and its
SQL-based interface.
The product also will support an XQuery interface for querying
XML-based data when that standard is completed.
DB2 Information Integrator is based on IBM's Xperanto federated
data management project as well as on another research endeavour,
Project Garlic, for federating heterogeneous databases.
The software requires the purchase of individual data adapters
to work in conjunction with DB2 Information Integrator.
Through a single query, a business can, for example, integrate
relational data in DB2 and Oracle databases, images in a Documentum
document management system, e-mail in Lotus Notes, spreadsheets in
Microsoft Excel, and web services generated by IBM WebSphere
Application Server. The data would then be presented in a
consolidated view.
The product also will support the concept of grid computing, in
which distributed computing resources are pooled together for a
single purpose.
"If we move to information as a utility for giant data grids,
this is key technology for hiding or making unimportant the
location and type of data. This software enables the data to be
accessed transparently wherever it might be," Jones said.
DB2 Information Integrator will be available for $20,000 per
processor and $15,000 per data source connector.
An analyst said the product would remedy data fragmentation.
"It takes the islands of information and builds bridges between
them," said analyst Robin Bloor, chief executive officer of Bloor
Research.
IBM must now gauge demand for the product, he added.