News

Database software

January 26, 2007 26 Jan'07
Autonomy meaning module provides insight into enterprise data

Autonomy Corporation has unveiled its Meaning Analytics Warehouse, a new module for its IDOL data intelligence platform that can perform bulk data analysis and mining by understanding the concepts, context and patterns contained in the information.
December 12, 2006 12 Dec'06
Oracle users warned of new threat to firms' data

A security expert has given details of a new class of attack on Oracle databases that could expose enterprise data to attackers.
December 07, 2006 07 Dec'06
A system so good that Morrisons bought it twice

Supermarket group Morrisons has bought a database to store product information on its own-brand food range for a second time.
December 06, 2006 06 Dec'06
DSM cleans up SAP data to save time and money

DSM Nutritional Products has implemented the DataFlux tool to verify and validate data in its SAP R/3 systems.

December 01, 2006 01 Dec'06
More firms centralising IT delivery

More than 80% of businesses are centralising IT delivery into datacentres in a bid to increase efficiency and cut costs, a survey of 100 senior IT executives has revealed.
November 30, 2006 30 Nov'06
Analyst uses data tool to enable growth

Retail analyst Dunnhumby is using a tool from SAS to automate some of its data cleansing and analysis. It says the move will enable speedier corporate growth by minimising training requirements.
November 29, 2006 29 Nov'06
Firms centralise IT delivery into datacentres

Nearly eight out of 10 businesses are centralising IT delivery into datacentres in a bid to increase efficiency and cut costs, new research has shown.
November 29, 2006 29 Nov'06
Microsoft beats Oracle on security

In a new whitepaper, security guru David Litchfield of Next Generation Security explains why Microsoft has a tighter grasp on its database defenses than Oracle.
November 14, 2006 14 Nov'06
PeopleSoft and JDE users voice doubts

Users have expressed confidence in Oracle’s ability to sustain Siebel’s product line, according to the UK Oracle User Group’s 2006 survey of its members ahead of the group’s annual meeting in Birmingham this week.
November 09, 2006 09 Nov'06
Sybase acquisition expands mobile data services

Sybase has completed the acquisition of Mobile 365 for $417m (£225m) to extend its corporate mobile services.

November 07, 2006 07 Nov'06
Humberside Police deploys ‘fuzzy matching’ to fight crime

Humberside Police force has deployed Informatica’s Data Quality software to monitor, clean up and enrich the information it uses to fight crime.
November 07, 2006 07 Nov'06
Oracle speaks for Young Enterprise

Young Enterprise, a voluntary group established to encourage young people to take an interest in business, has upgraded its membership systems to an Oracle database to manage its operations until at least 2010.
November 06, 2006 06 Nov'06
Sage to standardise on MySQL database

Accountancy software supplier Sage is standardising on the open source MySQL database, with future software releases using an embedded MySQL database.
November 03, 2006 03 Nov'06
'Honeymoon is over' say Oracle users

Preliminary results from the UK Oracle User Group 2006 survey have revealed confidence in Oracle’s ability to support the acquired Siebel business, but there is a drop in overall satisfaction among PeopleSoft and JD Edwards users.
October 31, 2006 31 Oct'06
Study reveals inaccuracies in NHS data

NHS data on patients’ hospital treatments is not accurate enough to be used in monitoring individual doctors’ performance, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has warned.
October 31, 2006 31 Oct'06
Centralised identity management boosts bank efficiency

Allied Irish Bank (AIB) has implemented Novell’s identity management to provide consistent identity data across connected systems and support setting up new users and access to applications.
October 26, 2006 26 Oct'06
Sage embeds open-source database into software

The Sage Group has signed a global agreement with MySQL AB which enables Sage to embed the open source MySQL database into its product portfolio.
October 23, 2006 23 Oct'06
BEA Systems launched Aqualogic BPM Suite 5.7 -- and other news in brief

Brief takes on the week's news
October 19, 2006 19 Oct'06
NHS Direct creates virtual contact centre

NHS Direct has consolidated all its five million patient records into one single database and upgraded its call centres across the UK to create a “virtual contact centre”.
October 18, 2006 18 Oct'06
Oracle improves cash management system

Oracle has improved the features in its cash management system, which is part of PeopleSoft Enterprise Financial Management 9.
October 18, 2006 18 Oct'06
Oracle to offer management packs for Enterprise Manager 10g

Oracle plans to deliver advanced application management, monitoring, and service level capabilities over the coming months, as part of its Enterprise Manager 10g product.
October 16, 2006 16 Oct'06
Oracle fixes 101 flaws

Attackers could exploit 45 of the 101 flaws remotely without a username or password. Meanwhile, the new CPU offers more detail on the number of flaws patched and their severity.
October 09, 2006 09 Oct'06
Asset tracker delivers cooler TNT datacentre

TNT is using datacentre asset tracking software to determine the impact of new hardware installations.
October 09, 2006 09 Oct'06
Tera chip prototype challenges developers

Intel has built a prototype chip with 80 cores that can exchange data at 1Tbyte per second.
September 26, 2006 26 Sep'06
Auto intelligence company rolls out grid computing

RL Polk, an automotive industry market research and intelligence firm, has rolled out grid computing based on Oracle 10g software to power its data warehouse and provide real-time information.
September 26, 2006 26 Sep'06
Hot skills: XSL - Take a more sophisticated approach to style sheets

Hot skills XSL can transform XML data into CSS/HTML
September 25, 2006 25 Sep'06
Users add configuration management databases

More and more users are implementing configuration management databases (CMDB), with CMDB adoption set to double over the next year, according to a report.
September 20, 2006 20 Sep'06
Oracle ships database add-ons

Oracle has started shipping Oracle Content Database and Oracle Records Database, content management add-ons for the company's flagship Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition.
September 20, 2006 20 Sep'06
Oracle uses results to attack SAP

Oracle has posted results which show net profits up 29% for the first quarter and used the figures to attack rival SAP.
September 14, 2006 14 Sep'06
Three ways to create clustered storage, page 3

Clustered storage systems run on storage servers, NAS gateways and hosts. Here's how to determine which clustered file-system architecture is best for your needs and storage environment.
September 12, 2006 12 Sep'06
US Army to adopt new battlefield data system

The US Army is to adopt a new data search and transfer system to aid soldiers’ performance in the battlefield.
September 12, 2006 12 Sep'06
Health datacentre back online

CSC and NHS Connecting for Health have taken more than a month to restore patient data systems to the local service provider's primary datacentre in Maidstone.
September 11, 2006 11 Sep'06
BFI opens film library to web searches

The British Film Institute has rolled out a database to handle its enormous library covering world cinema, film and television, and present it on a searchable website.
September 04, 2006 04 Sep'06
EDF system scales data mountain

EDF Energy has managed to keep its mainframe capacity the same for the past three years despite the number of records on its database increasing by two million a year.
August 29, 2006 29 Aug'06
Oracle extends PeopleSoft Enterprise suite

Oracle has unveiled PeopleSoft Enterprise Performance Management 9.
August 28, 2006 28 Aug'06
Machine learning used to block SQL injection hacks

UK company Secerno has devised an innovative way to detect when a database is being attacked using the SQL (Structured Query Language) injection hacking technique.
August 25, 2006 25 Aug'06
Legacy replacements drive supply chain software market

Worldwide supply chain management software revenues will reach $2.5bn (£1.3bn) in manufacturing industry alone by 2010, according to a new study by industry analyst Datamonitor.
August 24, 2006 24 Aug'06
How do I establish recovery priority for my applications?

If it's at the IT level, it comes from a data perspective. When you start moving up a little bit into the business side, people start looking at the applications because they don't really know where the data is. If we talk today about virtualization...
August 24, 2006 24 Aug'06
BEA snaps up another company

Infrastructure software firm BEA Systems has acquired metadata repository specialist Flashline.
August 24, 2006 24 Aug'06
BSI sets standard for geographical data

National standards body BSI has launched a new standard defining how street, land, property and address data is supplied for IT systems.
August 21, 2006 21 Aug'06
Web 2.0 boosted by open source, says MySQL

MySQL is trumpeting its open source database as the power behind a range of pioneering “Web 2.0” internet sites.
August 15, 2006 15 Aug'06
Oracle updates Peoplesoft CRM software

Oracle has announced the launch of PeopleSoft Enterprise Customer Relationship Management 9.
August 11, 2006 11 Aug'06
Government adopts IT standard for childcare data

The government’s GovTalk programme has adopted a new IT standard for managing childcare provider data.
August 08, 2006 08 Aug'06
Data is key ingredient in chemists' merger

Alliance Boots takes low-risk, low-cost route on post-merger IT
August 07, 2006 07 Aug'06
Hot skills: Financial sector puts a premium on Sybase skills

Relational database system widely used in the City
August 01, 2006 01 Aug'06
Litchfield: Database security is 'IT's biggest problem'

At Black Hat USA 2006, database security guru David Litchfield unveils 20-plus IBM Informix flaws that attackers could exploit to create malicious files, gain DBA-level privileges and access sensitive data.
July 31, 2006 31 Jul'06
Oracle 10g XE offers free training ground for self-improvers

Hot skills: You can learn Oracle without an employer's budget
July 25, 2006 25 Jul'06
Publish Gateway review data, says government CIO

The government's new CIO, John Suffolk, wants some information from Gateway reviews of major, high-risk IT-related projects in the public sector to be published.
July 18, 2006 18 Jul'06
MySQL sets support deadline for open source database

MySQL has introduced a support lifecycle policy, setting out how long it will provide support and updates for current and older versions of the open source database.
July 16, 2006 16 Jul'06
Palm stops shipping its smartphone, Treo 650 -- and other news in brief

Short takes on the week's news
July 12, 2006 12 Jul'06
Google joins ODF lobby to turn up heat on Microsoft

Google has joined the lobbying group supporting the use of the OpenDocument file format (ODF), designed to challenge the proprietary data formats from Microsoft.
June 27, 2006 27 Jun'06
Oracle shows PeopleSoft commitment with Enterprise 9

Oracle has released PeopleSoft Enterprise 9 in a move designed to reassure users of PeopleSoft products that the company is committed to supporting them.
June 21, 2006 21 Jun'06
Sybase expands into infrastructure integration

Sybase, a provider of enterprise infrastructure software, has acquired Solonde, a provider of next-generation solutions for data integration and interface management needs.
June 20, 2006 20 Jun'06
Oracle offers content management products

Oracle has announced a move into content management with the launch of two products aimed at helping businesses manage large volumes of unstructured data.
June 14, 2006 14 Jun'06
IBM adds server bite with Viper

IBM has launched the next generation of its DB2 9 data server, called Viper, which it says delivers the most significant database technology enhancements in over two decades.
June 06, 2006 06 Jun'06
Lab drills into RFID tag data

Teradata has set up a lab to allow retailers and consumer goods companies to analyse data captured by radio frequency identification applications across their supply chains.
May 25, 2006 25 May'06
Teradata establishes RFID data analysis lab

Teradata has established an analytics lab to allow retailers and consumer goods companies to analyse data captured by radio frequency identification (RFID) applications across their supply chains.
May 25, 2006 25 May'06
Alfred MacAlpine rolls out new £3m back office

Alfred McAlpine is rolling out a £3m Oracle back office system to streamline the company’s business processes following the organisation’s expansion.
May 18, 2006 18 May'06
Symantec warns of bot that is targeting Veritas users

Symantec has warned users that a remote bot or “zombie” computer is being used to sniff out users who have not adequately patched their Veritas data back-up systems.
May 17, 2006 17 May'06
BMC upgrades configuration management platform

BMC has updated its configuration management database technology to help customers more easily collect data from back-end systems, and enable them to run their systems more efficiently.
May 16, 2006 16 May'06
Infor acquisition of SSA challenges Oracle and SAP

Infor is to acquire SSA Global in a $1.4bn (£0.74bn) deal that will create the world’s third largest enterprise software firm.
May 15, 2006 15 May'06
SAP extends support to Siebel users

Business applications firm SAP has launched a maintenance and support service for Siebel users in a bid to woo them away from its rival Oracle.
May 09, 2006 09 May'06
United Nations votes for open source database

UN FAO selects open source MySQL as database standard
May 02, 2006 02 May'06
Exploited flaw traced as far back as Oracle 8

An Oracle database bug that was exploited earlier this month has existed since version 8 of the company’s enterprise database.
April 27, 2006 27 Apr'06
HP to offer support to MySQL users

Hewlett-Packard and open source database firm MySQL have announced a tie-up that will see HP offering consultancy and support services for MySQL software.
April 12, 2006 12 Apr'06
Oracle buys Portal Software to launch new media billing business

Oracle is buying Portal Software for $220m (£129m) to offer its media company customers an easier way to bill their subscribers.
April 04, 2006 04 Apr'06
Aqualogic update aims to simplify the integration of data across apps

BEA Systems has released a new version of its Aqualogic Data Services Platform (ALDSP) designed to automate the addition of services to existing applications.
March 31, 2006 31 Mar'06
Police plan footwear detection database

The police are planning to adopt a computer system that will identify the footwear used by criminals. The police expect to add the system to their fingerprint and DNA detection databases.
March 28, 2006 28 Mar'06
Police join forces with palm print database

The Police IT Organisation (Pito) has completed the roll-out of a searchable palm print database to all police forces in England and Wales.
March 24, 2006 24 Mar'06
Police complete palm print database roll out

Every police force in England and Wales can now search a national database of hand prints, following the roll-out of new software by the Police Information Technology Organisation.
March 21, 2006 21 Mar'06
Strategic data use critical to bank growth

The strategic use of data is central to the growth plans of UK retail banks, according to a global survey of 100 retail banks by professional services group Accenture.
March 01, 2006 01 Mar'06
Free Oracle database now on general release

Oracle has now made its low-end, free-of-charge Oracle Database 10g Express Edition generally available to the public.
February 28, 2006 28 Feb'06
Tesco drops spreadsheets for Retail Planning

Tesco is improving management information by extending the rollout of Oracle Retail Planning to replace spreadsheets previously used in planning to run lines of business.
February 27, 2006 27 Feb'06
Salesforce.com profits up despite service problems

Customer relationship management software firm Salesforce.com has posted record fourth quarter results, despite problems with new datacentre infrastructure that caused service outages.
February 23, 2006 23 Feb'06
Oracle announces Microsoft plug-ins

Oracle has announced seven new plug-ins for its Grid Control to add support for a series of Microsoft products.
February 20, 2006 20 Feb'06
Relicore deal brings Clarity to Symantec

Symantec has acquired Relicore as part of its continued attempt to offer IT directors tools and technology for datacentre management.
February 15, 2006 15 Feb'06
Government sells patient data

The government has launched a commercial patient data database to deliver operational intelligence to health providers.
February 14, 2006 14 Feb'06
Google signs professional services deal for better enterprise search

Google is partnering with professional services provider BearingPoint to make it easier for firms to implement efficient internal data search systems.
February 14, 2006 14 Feb'06
Open source database provider wins another £11m in funding

MySQL AB, the developer of the leading open source database, has raised a further $18.5m (£11m) in funding.
February 14, 2006 14 Feb'06
Open source database 'years away from being a serious contender'

Gartner business intelligence summit: News and analysis from the event, which covered business strategy, technology deployment and best practice for firms using BI.
February 09, 2006 09 Feb'06
Business Objects to spend $69m on Firstlogic

Business Objects, the business-intelligence software developer, has announced plans to acquire data-quality specialist Firstlogic in an all-cash deal worth $69m.
February 01, 2006 01 Feb'06
Siebel shareholders approve Oracle takeover

Siebel Systems shareholders have approved Oracle's $5.85bn (£3.44bn) takeover of the company.
January 31, 2006 31 Jan'06
Gateshead Council implements single customer database to simplify services

CRM application enables same standard of service across all channels
January 18, 2006 18 Jan'06
SAP scores with retail IT solution

Two of the biggest global retail brands have selected SAP solutions to improve their data processing capabilities.
January 16, 2006 16 Jan'06
Financial reporting software lets oil firm drill down into management data

JKX Oil & Gas, an energy exploration group headquartered in London, has begun using financial and management reporting software from Cartesis to give the group's boardroom decision-makers more sophisticated and timely reports covering operations in ...
January 03, 2006 03 Jan'06
Siebel shareholders to vote on Oracle takeover

Siebel Systems shareholders will vote on 31 January on the company’s proposed acquisition by Oracle.
December 14, 2005 14 Dec'05
Independent police complaints body links systems to all UK forces via XML data feed

Analysing data on complaints lets IPCC track cases and spot trends
December 09, 2005 09 Dec'05
SAP and Intel develop business data search platform

SAP has joined forces with Intel to co-develop a technology to speed search and manipulation of business data.
November 24, 2005 24 Nov'05
Oracle user group snaps up PeopleSoft users

More PeopleSoft user groups have chosen to join with the main US-based Oracle user group as Oracle’s acquisition of the company approaches its first anniversary.
November 17, 2005 17 Nov'05
RightNow offers Siebel users CRM free for six months

RightNow Technologies is offering Siebel users six months free use of its on-demand customer relationship management (CRM) platform, in an attempt to poach them away from Oracle, which is in the process of acquiring Siebel.
November 17, 2005 17 Nov'05
Oracle double acquisition bolsters its identity management offering

Oracle has bolstered its identity management suite with the acquisition of Thor Technologies and OctetString for undisclosed sums.
November 08, 2005 08 Nov'05
CA sells off open-source Ingres database

Computer Associates is spinning off its open-source Ingres database technology to a private equity firm, which wants to widely promote the platform.
November 07, 2005 07 Nov'05
Police force rolls out firearms database

Thames Valley Police has completed the roll-out of a firearms registry database and workflow system. The introduction of the web-based system comes as the Lancashire and Metropolitan Police Forces are due to start pilot schemes with the national ...
November 04, 2005 04 Nov'05
Another CFO quits Oracle

Oracle has lost its second chief financial officer in four months with the resignation of current incumbent Greg Maffei.
November 03, 2005 03 Nov'05
Thames Valley Police firearms database hits target

Thames Valley Police has completed the roll-out of a firearms registry database and workflow system.
October 31, 2005 31 Oct'05
Grids move mainstream with enterprise system deployments

Companies have started deploying grid technology to run business systems, according to analyst firm Quocirca. Its Grid Index survey, commissioned by Oracle, found growing demand for the technology.
October 26, 2005 26 Oct'05
Tetley updates EDI to meet Asda standard

Tea bag manufacturer Tetley has updated its Electronic Data Interchange facility to meet the AS2 communications standard being demanded by Asda and its US parent company Wal-Mart.
October 25, 2005 25 Oct'05
US DoJ request delays Oracle antitrust review by a further 30 days

The US Department of Justice has requested further information in its review of Oracle’s bid to buy customer relationship management market leader Siebel Systems.
October 18, 2005 18 Oct'05
SAP extends poaching initiative to Siebel customers

SAP has extended its "Safe Passage" programme to Siebel Systems customers, following Oracle’s planned acquisition of the company.
October 17, 2005 17 Oct'05
Oracle updates PeopleSoft as part of ongoing Project Fusion -- and more tech news briefs

Short takes from this week's technology news