Sybase Intro's New Version of SQL Server
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Sybase has introduced a new version of SQL Server, its
relational, online-oriented database, as well a new server
application programming interface, and support for Macintosh
client workstations. SQL Server runs on a variety of Unix
systems, including DEC, H-P, IBM RT, MIPS, and NeXT machines,
and forms the core of the Microsoft/Ashton-Tate SQL Server for
LAN Manager.
 
Last week's announcement of version 4.0 signals an "opening" up
of SQL Server in an effort to make its server API a standard
for communication between large database applications. SQL
Server 4.0 permits direct communication between servers, which
means that different databases complying with the standard can
be linked in a way that's transparent to the user. As an
example, Sybase said a complex financial trading system could
link a real-time stock quote feed, a transactional brokerage
system, e-mail, and communications to a trading clearinghouse.
Version 4.0 also adds support for new data types, including
images and text, Sybase said.
 
Server-to-server communications in SQL Server are accomplished
through remote procedure calls (RPCs) that are passed from one
application to another across the network. With RPCs,
applications don't need to know the structure of the databases
they call because each maintains its own rules inherently and
interfaces to the outside world through the API. By contrast,
many traditional systems keep the centralized data in a raw
form and require all programs accessing it to know and enforce
rules for data security and integrity.
 
Version 4.0 is now available for all Sun workstations and is in
beta test for VAX/VMS. Other platforms will be "generally
available" in the first quarter of 1990, Sybase says. The
license cost ranges from $3000 to $192,000, depending on the
CPU.
 
 
Spec Designed for Networking Across Diverse Systems
Sybase's new Open Server API is a specification for networked
communications between diverse database applications. As an
"open" standard, it will let developers create a server-based
"front end" for non-Sybase databases and applications. This
would allow minicomputer and mainframe databases (DB2, RMS,
Oracle, Ingres), other large system applications (accounting,
process control), and real-time data feeds to be safely and
transparently accessed by any client or other server
application that supports the standard. Sybase has previously
released a client-side API, called DB-Library, that permits
controlled access to SQL Server.
 
Sybase also kicked off a program called C/SI, or Client/Server
Interfaces, that seeks to license its client and server APIs
throughout the computer industry. Companies already on board
include Microsoft, Lotus (which just purchased a 15% interest
in Sybase and announced Wednesday a commitment to support the
client API in its upcoming 1-2-3/G spreadsheet for OS/2 PM),
Novell, NeXT, Tandem, Ashton-Tate, Pyramid, Stratus, and MIPS,
according to Sybase. Sybase has also submitted its
specifications for the client and server APIs to the Open
Software Foundation for consideration as database communication
standards.
 
Open Server object code is now available for Sun and DEC
machines and will be released for other Unix platforms and for
OS/2 in 1990, Sybase says. Licenses range from $795 to $48,000,
depending on the CPU, and source code can also be licensed by
special arrangement.
 
 
Sybase Supports Mac with HyperCard, MPW Tools
To expand user's choices for client workstations, Sybase said it
now supports the Macintosh. The company introduced two new Mac
products: Hyper DB-Library, a set of XCFN extensions that permit
users to call SQL Server through HyperCard; and Mac DB-Library
for the Macintosh Programmers Workshop (MPW), a library of C
objects that can be linked into programs or off-the-shelf
applications such as Excel, WingZ, and 4th Dimension. The Mac
products support TCP/IP and DECnet protocols and cost $195. They
will be available this month, the company said.
 
Contact: Sybase, 6475 Christie Ave, Emeryville, CA 94608; (415)
596-3500; fax (415) 658-9525.
 
                              --- Andy Reinhardt
 
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