Oracle's upcoming database enables enterprises to build
reliable grids based on commercial, rather than customised
technology, an Oracle official has claimed.
Oracle Database 10g will debut at the OracleWorld conference
next month, said Robert Shimp, vice-president of database marketing
at Oracle.
Grids are intended to pool resources of multiple computers
together for executing a single application.
The database will overcome the inability of exisitng grids to
prioritise jobs, which is a critical need in an enterprise
business, Shimp said.
Grids have been predominant in the scientific community, where
"best-effort capacity", in which the grid handles the job when it
can, has sufficed. "Obviously, enterprises can't use that. They
need predictable capacity," Shimp said.
Version 10g also will provide for a centrally managed system
used by thousands of people, unlike scientific grids, which have
been customised for use by a small number of people.
According to Shimp, both enterprises and ASPs offering
outsourced application processing will benefit from Version 10g. He
added that the database will add to existing grid capabilities in
the exisiting Oracle9i database, such as the Real Application
Clusters (RAC) capability.
While Oracle has supported the Open Grid Services Architecture,
a web services-based grid computing platform from the Globus
Project research effort, Oracle's database will not implement OGSA
for some time.
OGSA offers capabilities such as identity management and
provisioning, but the technology is not yet ready for support in
Oracle's database, Shimp said.
IBM, however, has pledged to add OGSA technologies to its
operating systems and WebSphere application server beginning later
this year.
Paul Krill writes for IDG News Service