By integrating middleware technology with its enterprise database, Sybase Inc. aims to flatten the speed bumps that slow the delivery of data to users.
The next release of the Dublin, Calif., companys ASE (Adaptive Server Enterprise) database, due next month, will include a new technology called RTDS (Real Time Data Services) that ensures the data a user or application sees is the most current. It does this by allowing developers to embed triggers in their applications that automatically set off a series of events to update applications when data changes.
The RTDS feature, which will be turned on by default in Sybase ASE 12.5.2, pulls information from a database or an application and puts it on a JMS (Java Message Service) message bus. Sybase is bundling TIBCO Software Inc.s Enterprise for JMS Server for that purpose.
Customers who do not wish to upgrade to ASE 12.5.2 have the option to purchase an add-on RTDS box, Sybase officials said.
Normally, new code in a messaging architecture must be built to connect databases and applications to the bus, which slows the database, Sybase officials said. RTDS can publish a series of messages from a client, insert them into a database table, fire a trigger based on a condition, then deliver data where it is required, whether to an enterprise application or a salespersons PDA. RTDS uses JMS and TIBCO to enable it to tap not just ASE but also databases from Oracle Corp., IBM and Microsoft Corp.
By dispersing relevant data only when a trigger is tripped, RTDS allows users to be proactive rather than reactive, officials said.
Sybase CEO John Chen said technologies such as RTDS will help his company satisfy the needs of VARs that are trying to create applications that address the faster pace of business due to the growing mobility of the work force.
“You can see that where I have the back-end [database] and a lot of people have the front-end [applications], the pipe through the firewall is missing,” Chen said. “The image you have both of continuous availability as well as official connectivity, offline and online mode, is an important thing because thats where productivity is. That is the kind of computing paradigm model we want to be No. 1 in.”
Dave Kessler, chief software architect for TJC Technology Services Inc., who has seen an RTDS demonstration, said he is impressed with the technologys ability to capture database events as they occur. “As we do more and more operational type of activities, there is a need for more event-driven-type applications,” said Kessler.
The Lexington, Ky., company runs IT for The Jockey Clubs family of companies, which services the horse racing industry in North America.
“Now when a race hits our database [in real time], we can just do a database trigger and automatically put a message on an enterprise message bus and say, The third race at Churchill Downs is final,” said Kessler, who has looked at other bus technologies, including IBMs MQSeries, but said the appealing thing about Sybase is the integration with the database.
“Just the fact that we could write a database trigger to get something on message queue based on an insert in a database is huge,” Kessler said. “If you dont have that, you have to get [the data] before the message queue goes into the database or pull it out of a queue afterwards, both of which are not hard to do but not as [easy] as letting the database take care of it. Thats unique.”