IBM lets users test drive SOA-tuned DB2

IBM is offering users the chance to test drive Viper, the next version of its DB2 database server.  The software can be downloaded from the IBM website.

The database has been tuned to support service oriented architectures, IBM said.

Among the SOA-tuned security features introduced in Viper will be DB2 Label Based Access Control, a new approach to defining structures within the database. In addition to row-level access control, the column-level labelling capability provides an alternative way to control access to sensitive data stored within the database.

Viper also offers a data row compression feature that could save users disc space - useful in large datawarehousing environments - and supports XQuery, an emerging industry standard language designed for processing XML data.

XML eliminates the need to install and maintain separate database environments for relational data and XML data, and maintain digital signatures for them, IBM said.

DB2 Viper is scheduled for release in mid-2006.