Embarcadero releases InterBase 2020, its database management system with Tablespaces and patented Change Views technology

Embarcadero, a division of Idera, announced InterBase 2020, the latest release of its database management system including support for tablespaces. InterBase is a light, ultra-fast, embeddable SQL database with commercial grade data security, disaster recovery and change synchronization. 

The solution leverages multi-core CPUs and multi-CPU systems, along with a unique versioning approach and advanced disk I/O caching to retrieve and update data quickly. With a small footprint and fast install, it is ideal for use in mission-critical contexts such as patient management, railways, medical labs, multi-national POS, CRM, and emergency response systems.

In previous versions of InterBase, all files for a SQL database had to be mapped to the same physical storage, either a fast but small SSD or a large but slow HDD or SAN. With InterBase 2020, support for tablespaces maps individual tables and indexes to specific files and storage for improved performance and more balanced, optimized use of hardware technologies. These include SSDs for key tables and indexes and HDDs for larger but less commonly used tables.

Tablespaces allow for better performance and more balanced and optimized use of the hardware. Technically this feature allow a database object definition to specify a storage location in a particular logical file collection. This is especially beneficial for disk technologies, allowing you to better mix the use of fast SSDs and large HDDs. This is a key difference, since prior to InterBase 2020, all of the files for a database had to be mapped to the same storage. 

A database administrator can leverage tablespace characteristics to optimize runtime database performance. Selective tablespaces including active data can be backed up and restored as needed to minimize backup/restore time.

InterBase 2020 expands the OS platform support. Embedded InterBase (IBLite and IBToGo) is now available for Android 64-bit and macOS 64-bit. This allows RAD Studio developers to build InterBase enabled 64-bit Delphi applications and target both the Google Play Store and macOS App Store. 

The full list of supported InterBase 2020 IBLite and IBToGo platforms include Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. Supported platforms for InterBase 2020 Server Edition include Windows with macOS and Linux support currently in beta and coming later.

InterBase 2020 comes in two versions: InterBase Server and Embedded InterBase (IBLite and IBToGo editions), the latter of which is now available for Android 64-bit and macOS 64-bit. IBLite and IBToGo can be used without InterBase Server as a stand-alone embedded database across multiple platforms, reducing costs and improving application speed and user experience with mobile data encryption support. Change Views provides the infrastructure for ensuring offline data is kept current with minimal effort.

InterBase Server powers Embarcadero’s RAD Server REST-service engine and the Embedded version is an integral part of RAD Studio which offers single-source applications for mobile and desktop operating systems.

New GridGain for z/OS release expands in-memory computing offering to mainframe; accelerates digital transformation for enterprise clients

GridGain Systems announced GridGain for z/OS, an optimized version of the GridGain in-memory computing platform for use on the IBM z/OS operating system. GridGain for z/OS enables businesses to create solutions for efficient digital transformation of core systems as well as running analytics across their entire data estate to power real-time business processes.

GridGain for z/OS is a mainframe-optimized version of GridGain for use on the IBM z/OS operating system. GridGain for z/OS runs on IBM zIIPs (z Integrated Information Processor), the IBM processor optimized for running services such as Java on the IBM Z mainframe platform. 

GridGain is currently running trials of GridGain for z/OS with major banks and insurance companies that use IBM mainframes as the central computing platform for their core business processes. 

The IBM Z platform is used by 44 of the top 50 global banks, 4 of the top 5 airlines, and two-thirds of the Fortune 100. Across the world, IBM Z powers the most critical business systems for top enterprises, with 4.1 million core business transactions per second run on IBM Z.

IBM and GridGain will jointly present the talk “Driving efficient mainframe digital transformation leveraging GridGain/Ignite on z/OS” at the In-Memory Computing Summit North America conference on November 13-14 at the Hyatt San Francisco Airport in Silicon Valley. Mythili Venkatakrishnan, Distinguished Engineer at IBM, and Denis Magda, VP of Product Management, and Glenn Wiebe, Solution Architect, at GridGain Systems will explore how GridGain/Ignite on z/OS provides differentiated value for enterprise clients in such use cases as a coherent Financial Operational Data Store and optimized, federated real-time analytics.

The GridGain In-Memory Computing Platform provides in-memory speed and massive scalability for data-intensive applications. It requires no rip-and-replace of existing databases and can be deployed on-premises, on a public or private cloud, or on a hybrid environment. Built on a memory-centric architecture that can leverage ongoing advancements in memory and storage technologies, the solution allows companies to future-proof their applications. 

GridGain is based on the open source Apache Ignite project and offers up to a 1,000x improvement in performance versus applications built on disk-based databases. GridGain can also function as a full-featured, standalone in-memory database. GridGain supports data processing APIs including ANSI-99 SQL, key-value, compute, machine learning and more and supports ACID transactions, all at in-memory speeds.

“In-memory computing has long been an important technology for a variety of industries, including financial services, transportation and logistics, ecommerce, healthcare, and telecommunications,” said Matt Aslett, research vice president at 451 Research. “However, running in-memory computing platforms on mainframe systems is a new development. Given the penetration and ongoing importance of mainframe computing in a range of Fortune 100 companies, GridGain for z/OS opens up a new addressable market opportunity for in-memory computing.”

“GridGain on z/OS represents another leap forward for enterprise digital transformations based on in-memory computing technology,” said said Abe Kleinfeld, president & CEO of GridGain Systems. “We anticipate that GridGain for z/OS will find interest across a broad range of industries that rely on the Z platform for core applications. Deploying our in-memory platform on IBM z/OS to power real-time business is a natural evolution of in-memory adoption that began with distributed commodity servers and has now expanded to the core of large enterprises – the IBM mainframe.”