eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Database developers don’t get updates for their tool sets all that often, so when Dell Software on June 23 upgraded its popular Toad tool packages, it represented important news in that corner of the IT world.
Primarily, Dell is moving Toad from a single-user tool to one that development teams can use in collaboration, no matter what type of project is being attempted.
Toad uses an agnostic approach to data and database management, which enables users to manage all of their data, no matter on what platform it resides. This is a big advantage in the highly siloed world of the database.
The updates to the Toad lineup also are designed to enable automation of agile development practices, improve data preparation for analytics and reporting, and help developers gain flexibility in selecting database platforms, Dell said.
With more than 2 million users worldwide, Toad is the No. 1-selling independent database management package, and is certainly an important component in Dell Software’s overall end-to-end information management strategy. Toad enables database admins to manage Oracle, SAP, IBM and Hadoop databases and prepare data from across these and other platforms for analytics.
Enhanced agile development
Emphasizing Toad’s evolution from a single-user tool to a solution used across IT teams, Toad for Oracle improves support for development best practices for agile and continuous integration methodologies. The new release of Toad for Oracle helps development and DBA teams work more collaboratively through integration with Toad Intelligence Central, which allows users to more easily share Toad files and attributes such as scripts, connections, automation actions and code analysis rule sets.
Management teams now have access to new Web-based reporting for code analysis, enabling them to view historical and readiness code reports without additional licenses. Other enhancements to Toad for Oracle include a redesign of the main SQL development area, and a revamped Team Coding area to improve support and management with third-party version control systems.
Improved data preparation
Toad Data Point addresses the growing need for simplified data preparation with new features to ease the processes to transform, cleanse, group, aggregate and share data. It features an upgraded transformation and cleanse engine, which now includes data profiling capabilities; new transformation rules, and a more robust engine for processing larger data sets, allowing users to manipulate and change data more easily.
The new release also enhances and simplifies the process of aggregating data, pivoting data, and visually understanding data joins.
Toad Intelligence Central
This now is integrated with Dell Software’s Boomi integration and Statistica advanced analytics solutions, allowing users to integrate, share, prepare and analyze multiple disparate data sets from sources both on- and off-premises. Toad Intelligence Central integrates with Dell’s other data management solutions, as well as tools from third-party visualization vendors such as Qlik, Tableau and Microsoft.
Expanded platform support
The Toad lineup now offers support for SAP’s HANA in-memory database, as well as improved capabilities for IBM DB2 and Hadoop. The expanded platform support helps reduce the learning curve often experienced when transitioning to a new database management system by enabling users to manage all their databases, including SAP Sybase and SAP HANA, using the familiar Toad family interface and tool set.
A bit of history: Dell Software was Quest Software until its $2.4 billion acquisition in 2012.
The new releases within the Dell Toad portfolio are available now with pricing starting at $595 per user. Go here for more information.