Re: Metacube no longer open?

> >In article <4i5jm9$m7i@scel.sequent.com>, >Iain Anderson <iain@sequent.com> wrote: > >>This may have been thrashed out in earlier threads but is it true that >>Metacube will be made Informix only in forthcoming releases? I know there >>will be a number of large Oracle/Sybase sites (ie plenty of licences) that >>will be most peeved at this. > >Did Informix buy this product? >I was told a couple of weeks ago that Informix were pushing it, but that it >was a third-party tool. Was I misled? I'm sorry if you were misled, but yes, Informix did purchase STG late last year. MetaCube is Informix's best-of-class solution for Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) for data warehouses. While the current release of MetaCube was built to run against different RDBMSs, future releases will only be able to access Informix databases. The driving architectural focus MetaCube is integration with the Informix Universal Server. MetaCube will become a blade in the Informix Universal Server framework to provide native multidimensional datatypes and functionality to the ORDBMS. The result will be that a Cube will be a native datatype in the INFORMIX-Universal Server. Instead of sending SQL requests and row datastreams over the network, as in previous releases, cube definitions and cube objects will be the datatypes sent over the network. This will result in higher performance and lower network traffic. Cube datatypes will be available to any Informix client application. The MetaCube Blade will provide significant benefits over the existing architecture, and will further differentiate the INFORMIX-Universal Server in the data warehousing marketplace: - MetaCube will be part of the integrated, overall Informix architecture. One consistent architecture provides a better strategy for Informix customers and third party blade developers that choose to leverage the Informix engine and extensible framework. - Superior server-side OLAP processing. With built in server functionality, we will get superior performance, scalability, and the ability to operate on even larger datasets with more complex operations. - Better support for off-line (QueryBack) or mobile computing. By integrating server processing into the core database engine, it will be easier to support QueryBack requests and schedule them in conjunction with other Informix database requests for optimal CPU utilization. - Thinner client. By removing components from the client side, we will operate more efficiently on smaller-powered workstations. We can not provide this level of functionality and integration, and still remain open to other RDBMSs. -- Gary McCracken Informix Software, Inc. Metacube Product Specialist Five Concourse Parkway, Suite 1500 Atlanta, GA 30328 Office (770) 395-2319 Fax (770) 395-2305