Nimble Technologys heterogeneous data gateway, Nimble Integration Suite 2.0, adds an ODBC driver to allow Windows applications to query its data gateway as if it were a normal database.
The server continues to provide XML-formatted, heterogeneous query results accessible through its Microsoft COM, ASP, Java and JSP APIs.
NIS 2.0, which started shipping in August, uses a straightforward, drag-and-drop assembler to join and transform data from various sources.
For IT managers who must integrate a variety of relational databases, NIS 2.0—priced at $30,000 per CPU on Windows and $45,000 per CPU on Solaris—is overpriced, something thats regrettably typical in the data transformation market.
Competitors Data Junctions Data Junction Integration Suite and Microsofts BizTalk Server 2002 both start at around $5,000; and the XML, data gateway and transformation features provided by the major database vendors may also do just fine.
The base NIS 2.0 package supports only ODBC database drivers, but extra-cost connectors for LDAP directories, IBMs IMS, VSAM and Microsoft Exchange 2000 are available from the company. The LDAP connector option is new in Version 2.0.