DBTA E-EDITION
September 2013

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Trends and Applications

If you look at what is really going on in the big data space it's all about inexpensive open source solutions that are facilitating the modernization of data centers and data warehouses, and at the center of this universe is Hadoop. In the evolution of the big data market, open source is playing a seminal role as the "disruptive technology" challenging the status quo. Additionally, organizations large and small are leveraging these solutions often based on inexpensive hardware and memory platforms in the cloud or on premise.

Featuring a multi-tenant architecture that streamlines the process of consolidating databases onto the cloud and enables organizations to manage many databases as one, Oracle Database 12c is a next-generation database. To avoid confusion, however, here are 10 things that Oracle Database 12c is not.

Oracle holds an enviable position in the IT marketplace with a wide array of database systems, development tools, languages, platforms, enterprise applications, and servers. Riding the coattails of this industry giant is a healthy and far-flung ecosystem of software developers, integrators, consultants, and OEMs. These are the partners that will help make or break Oracle's struggle with new forces disrupting the very foundations of IT. And lately, Oracle—long known for its own brand of xenophobia and disdain for direct competitors—has been making a lot of waves by forging new alliances with old foes. This is opening up potentially lucrative new frontiers for business partners at all levels.


Columns - Applications Insight

We've seen a lot of progress in the nearly 50 years between 1965 and 2013: the modern smartphone and the World Wide Web, in particular,have been transformative. However, it's probably true that our current world would not astonish a time traveler from 1965 as much as 1965 would have surprised a visitor from 1915. Where are the jetpacks, flying cars, colonies on Mars? However, it does look like we are finallygoing to see one of the long-awaited benefits of the future: the self-driving car.


Columns - Database Elaborations

Database management systems support numerous unique date and time functions - and while the date-related functions are many, they do not go far enough. One date-driven circumstance often encountered has to do with objects having a type of date range that needs to be associated with it. While there are some exceptions, this date range need generally ends up implemented via two distinct date columns—one signaling the "start" and the other designating the "end." Maybe, should the creative juices of DBMS builders' flow, such things as numeric-range-datatypes could be created in addition to a date-range data-type. Who knows where things could end up?


Columns - DBA Corner

DBAs need to make many different types of changes to a database over its lifetime. Some will be simple and easy to implement, others much more difficult and complex. It is the DBA's job to understand the best way to implement any type of database change, but often, simple changes become more difficult in the real world. Database change management tools help to make this job easier and is one of the first tools acquired by many organizations when they implement a database of any size.


Columns - SQL Server Drill Down

Many of the new features coming in SQL Server 2014, now available in Community Technology Preview, are encapsulated within broader and rather intuitive categories. The major categories for new features in SQL Server 2014 are Mission-Critical Performance Enhancements, Business Intelligence Insights, and Hybrid Cloud Enhancements. In addition, one of the interesting knock-on effects of retooling SQL Server to run in the cloud is that the code has tightened up a lot.


MV Community

Temenos. a provider of solutions to the financial services industry, recently announced that South Bangla Agriculture & Commerce Bank (SBAC) has commenced operations using Temenos T24 as its core banking software.

Entrinsik is finalizing plans for the third annual Informer User Conference (ICON). The conference, which will be held September 30 - October 2, 2013, at Myrtle Beach, SC, is expected to bring attendees from across the country to share ideas, participate in presentations and exchange best practices related to using Informer.

Headquartered in Libertyville, Illinois, Snap-on Credit provides fi­nancing to technicians, students of automotive technical institutions, and shop owners, enabling their purchase of Snap-on hand tools, power tools, tool storage, and diagnostic products through its Extended Credit program. Using a system built on Rocket Software's UniVerse platform, Snap-on has been able to maintain mission-critical capabilities while also reducing cost.

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