IBM has launched an open test drive of its
next-generation DB2 data server, Viper, which is designed to help
customers manage and access data via an information-centric
approach to service oriented architecture (SOA).
DB2 Viper, says IBM, will be the industry's first data server
designed with both pure XML data management and traditional
relational data capability. It is available for a free test drive
by clients, partners and software developers.
Among the new SOA-tuned security features will be DB2 Label
Based Access Control (LBAC), said to be a unique data access
capability that allows users to define structures within the
database in ways that IBM believes they have never been able to
before.
In addition to row-level access control, the new column-level
labelling capability provides ways to control access to sensitive
data stored within the database.
Scheduled for release in mid-2006, IBM predicts that DB2 Viper
will fundamentally change the way IT departments manage information
as a strategic asset within the business.