IBM on Wednesday announced two new features for its high-end DB2 7.2 database, one for data mining and the other for server and application connectivity.
The first addition, called Opportunity Discovery, is a free and downloadable plug-in to DB2s online analytical processing functionality, said Paul Rivot, director of database servers and business intelligence for the Armonk, N.Y., company.
While the tool is useful on its own, IBM hopes customers will see its value and then buy a higher-end version, he said.
Officials at Oracle Corp., in Redwood Shores, Calif., said IBMs claims of being the first to integrate data mining with OLAP are untrue, and that such functionality already was available in their Oracle 9i database. But IBM is the first to have the data mining transpire in real-time, Rivot said. The download will be available on Dec. 7.
IBM also announced that DB2 is now shipping with InfiniBand support. The support was first demonstrated six months ago. InfiniBand is a next-generation hardware connection type favored by power users for its speed.
Other database-related news from IBM will come early next year and will revolve around business intelligence software, Rivot said. The company also is working on high-availability options, he said.