Plugging in to What International Exhibitors Have to Say About Multivalue’S Present, Future and Potential for Growth the BUSINESS COMPUTER MAGAZINE INTERNATIONAL

INSIDE! What’s New With Wireless Technologies; Using QuickBooks With MultiValue Databases $7.00 U.S. INTERNATIONAL

® SPECTRUMSPECTRUMTHE BUSINESS COMPUTER MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 • AN IDBMA, INC. PUBLICATION AA GlobalGlobal ConnectionConnection Plugging in to What International Exhibitors Have to Say About MultiValue’s Present, Future and Potential for Growth THE BUSINESS COMPUTER MAGAZINE INTERNATIONAL

® SPECTRUMSEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004

QuickBooks: Why Should We Care? Cover Story 16 Are your customers asking to use QuickBooks in conjunction with their MultiValue applications? If they aren't, they may soon because it's becoming more and more of a demand, especially in small shops. Here are some options Taking the Pulse for getting MultiValue data into QuickBooks. BY NATHAN RECTOR of the MultiValue Market: A Report Card History of MultiValue: Where Are They Now? 1989’s 25 Most Influential People in PICK, Part 2 on How the MultiValue 40 Spectrum caught up with most of the 25 Most Influential People in PICK from Market Is Doing and 1989, who shared some unforgettable personal memories and their unreserved What’s Needed to opinions about the future of the MultiValue market. BY LEANNE GREEN Keep It Growing Webonomics 101: Wireless with Mass Dispersion— Exhibitors in the upcoming What’s Next for Wi-Fi 26 It may sound a bit like science fiction, but take a look at what's coming soon in International Spectrum 12 wireless technologies—from using unlicensed radio spectra to wireless devices exhibitions and conferences that cover miles. BY MELVIN SORIANO being held in the U.K. and Australia weigh in on the Is Your MultiValue Database Resilient? status of the MultiValue How does a MultiValue database fit into the world of disaster recovery? Data in market and what will shape 23 a database constitutes a substantial financial investment; find out how risks are the future of this industry. managed with MultiValue databases and some of the solutions that are available. BY MARK FULLER

UniVerse and UniData Hashed Files, Part 4: UniVerse’s 64-bit Files 18 Remembering the disk drives of yesteryear, there were a number of clever workarounds created through software to compensate for the shortfalls of the hardware and O/S restraints.When many UNIX systems were implemented with 64-bit architectures which allowed files larger than 2Gb, UniVerse introduced 6 From the Inside the 64-bit file so that larger files could be accommodated. BY JEFF FITZGERALD AND PEGGY LONG 32 Newsmakers Revelation Tech Tips: OpenInsight's Active Tables Inspired by a recent Linux conference where the author evangelized the INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM is 36 benefits of active tables, this article's ideas are relevant to all flavors of MultiValue databases. BY BOB CARTEN a registered trademark and

MultiValue is a trademark of SB+ 101, Part 5 The tutorial on SB+ continues, this installment covering the fundamentals of DEPARTMENTS IDBMA Inc. All other registered 32 Screen Design, Menus, Reports and Processes. BY DANNY PASSIG

trademarks and trademarks are Spectrum Spotlight: DesignBais Web Tool Modernizes the property of the respective MultiValue Applications 28 DesignBais has been attracting a lot of attention lately from the MultiValue trademark holders. community.Why? Because DesignBais touts something that MultiValue developers want: a way to Web-enable applications without extensive development time and huge costs while retaining MultiValue's powerful functionality.

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 ◆ 3 INTERNATIONAL [ FROM THE INSIDE] SPECTRUM® SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004

The of the GUS GIOBBI Chairman

MONICA GIOBBI Eye President NICHELLE JOHNSON Editorial Manager

TECHNICAL ADVISORY BOARD Henry Eggers, Independent Consultant Beholder Tim Holland, Holland Consulting he second installment of Leanne Green’s article, “The 25 Bruce Johnson, Tag Consulting TMost Influential People in PICK — Where Are They Now,” Ronald H. Jones, Ron Jones Consulting is possibly one of the most revealing articles ever published in Nathan Rector, Natec Systems the history of this magazine (see page 40). It points out how Bryan Shumsky, VIA Systems incredibly different each of us perceives the past, present and Melvin M. Soriano, Eagle Rock Information Systems future of the MultiValue market. MISSION STATEMENT International Spectrum It's all I can do to refrain from putting my own two cents worth magazine’s editorial mission is to be the premier independent source of useful information for users, developers, and resellers of MultiValue data- in, but I think not doing that is what objective reporting calls base management systems, open systems business database solutions, for at this point in time. and related hardware, software, and peripherals. Published bimonthly, International Spectrum provides comprehensive coverage of the products, companies, and trends that shape the MultiValue marketplace as well as Depending upon your own experience, you'll no doubt find the computer industry at large — helping its readers get the most out of yourself nodding your head in agreement with the sentiments their business computer systems. expressed in the article that you agree with, and violently objecting to those that you think are wrong. Almost like Republicans and Democrats. In addition to soliciting colorful experience anecdotes, Leanne MV.ENTERPRISE Mentor Pro asked the 25 most influential these probing questions: MO/E MULTIVerse Native PICK 1) In your view, has MultiValue/PICK made it into the mainstream? PCVerse PICK OA 2) Of the seven surviving MultiValue database providers, who will tm make it and who won't? Power95 3) Is there still opportunity in the MultiValue/PICK market? R91 REALITY 4) Is the MultiValue/PICK market dead or alive? AP/PRO After you read what the 25 had to say in RPL response to these questions, we at MV•BASE Spectrum magazine would be really IDBMA’s International Spectrum is published six (6) times per year at the interested to hear what you have to subscription price of $40.00 U.S. in the U.S.A.; $45.00 U.S. in Cana- da and Mexico; $50.00 U.S. for other countries. Single copy rates are say. While you’re all fired up, please $7.00 U.S. in the U.S.A. and Canada, and $9.00 U.S. in all other take a moment and send me an email countries. International Spectrum is published by IDBMA, Inc., 311 4th Avenue Suite #513; San Diego, CA 92101; Tel: 619/515-9930; Fax: ([email protected]) and give us 619/515-9933 E-Mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.intl-spectrum.com. Copyright 2004 International Database a piece of your mind on the subject. Management Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part, without written permission, is prohibited.

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NEWS RELEASES/UNSOLICITED ARTICLES International Spectrum is eager to print your submissions of up-to-the-minute news and feature stories complementary to the MultiValue marketplace. Black and white or color photographs are welcome. Although there is no guarantee a submitted article will be published, every article will be con- — GUS GIOBBI, CHAIRMAN, IDBMA, INC. — sidered. International Spectrum retains all reprint rights. [email protected] International Spectrum is a registered trademark and MultiValue is a trade- 4 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 mark of IDBMA Inc. All other registered trademarks and trademarks are the property of the respective trademark holders.

Taking the Pulse of the MultiValue

Spectrum ExhibitorsMarket Give a Report Card on How the MultiValue Market Is Doing and What’s Needed to Keep It Growing

ast year, the International Spectrum conference Spectrum Exhibitors Broaden Their Horizons and exhibition returned to Australia and the U.K. Spectrum exhibitors convening in London,England,Sept.22-23,2004 and Sydney and Melbourne,Australia, Oct. 12-13 and Oct. 18, 2004, respective- after a 15-year absence and found an audience of ly, expect to find an international audience eager for the latest products, MultiValue users, developers and companies who were new information and answers about the stability and future direction of starving for the opportunity to get together with others the MultiValue marketplace. If last year's vendor fair and conference were L anything to judge by, the exhibitors will get what they're expecting and using similar technologies and experiencing similar attendees will find the answers they're seeking.Both the U.K.and Australia challenges.Throughout the exhibition and conference, boast a huge population of MultiValue users and many U.S.-based Multi- attendees expressed how enthused they were to Value companies are making the trek to court their business. network with other users and MultiValue companies, Following are the companies that will be on-hand to demonstrate gain more knowledge, and get a jumpstart on all the their wares and discuss the latest technologies that will take Mul- tiValue to the next level. newest MultiValue products and capabilities.

In these countries, Spectrum revisited a thriving, large London, England Sydney, Australia Sept. 22-23, 2004 Oct. 12-13, 2004 installed base of MultiValue users who are dedicated to continuing to use the same technology and keeping it AMENZ Ltd. ACS Australia DesignBais *Apscore International current.A group of exhibitors who will be participating DMcons *Citadel Computer in the U.K. and/or Australia shows shared their insights EasyCo. *DesignBais on how they perceive the health of the MultiValue Eagle Rock Information Systems *DMCons EDP PLC Eagle Rock Information Systems market and what will shape the future of this industry.In IBM *Fusionware their comments, one may find nuggets of wisdom or a jBASE International IBM unique idea that, if implemented, would increase aware- Management Information Tools *jBASE International ness of a great technology and propel the industry ONgroup *Key Ally Northgate Information Solutions *Management Information Tools further into the consciousness of the mainstream. OHM Systems *Meier Business Systems Prospectus IT Recruitment Natec Systems Among the questions asked: Is the MultiValue market Raining Data *OHM Systems growing, shrinking or staying the same; are you optimistic Revelation Software ONgroup or pessimistic about the future of MultiValue; and do you SJ+ Systems Associates PRISM VMark UK Limited *Raining Data plan to migrate your business from MultiValue? Have you Web Control *Revelation Software ever asked yourself,“What would I do if I was elected Winnix Software *SJ+ Systems Associates president of a MultiValue database provider?” Read on to *Stamina Software find out what developers of MultiValue products and Sterland Software UniWare services had to say. Continues on page 10 *VIA Systems (Companies with "*" will also be attending the "networking and technology day" in 6 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 Melbourne, Australia, Oct. 18, 2004.) Every CRAFTSMAN knows you need the RIGHT TOOLS to do THE JOB.

That's why we've dedicated our 2004/2005 conferences to showcasing the newest and best software tools available for you to take your MultiValue application to where you want it to go! Come see what’s new!

For more information visit www.intl-spectrum.com

London, England Melbourne, Australia September 22 - 23, 2004 October 18, 2004 Novotel London West Hotel La Meridien at Rialto Sydney, Australia San Diego, CA, USA October 12 - 13, 2004 February 22 - 25, 2005 Star City Hotel & Casino Hyatt Regency Islandia Hotel & Marina Taking the Pulse of the

We are certainly seeing growth — our MultiValue A current R5 users are not going away, and Viságe is giving us exposure to a wider audience of MultiValue VARs, so we have some visibility of what they are doing “down Market the pipeline.” Continued from page 6 What percentage of your annual MELVIN M. SORIANO ROSS FERRIS,of Stamina Q sales are built around the MultiValue is president of Eagle Rock market? Software, has been involved Information Systems (ERIS),an We derive over 80% of our sales from with MultiValue for over 20 the MV market in one way,shape,form Internet Application Service A or another, and it would be fair to say that it Provider and WebWizard/MultiValue Develop- years. Stamina Software devel- is the cornerstone of our business, and remains our principal focus. er. ERIS has deployed enterprise-wide solu- ops the Visage thin client application devel- tions on most MultiValue platforms and opment environment,and also R5,its flagship operating systems. What percentage of your annual sales ERP product. Q are derived from existing MultiValue customers? Are you optimistic or pessimistic about Our existing client base provides at the future of the MultiValue market? Are you optimistic or pessimistic about Q Q the future of the MultiValue market? A least 70% of our sales, through mainte- Both good and bad are occurring. I nance, upgrades and new developments, as I’m cautiously optimistic. It’s certainly find that installations that are connect- well as ancillary hardware and service sales. A encouraging to see IBM bringing out ed to a strong VAR will remain with Multi- A We are also seeing an increase of sales to new releases of their U2 product with fea- Value, so long as the VAR creates value and existing MultiValue users (not necessarily tures that are relevant to today’s market, and integrates to modern systems.Companies that historical customers of ours) of our Viságe the sheer “bulk" of IBM helps people in the have VARs that do not help them integrate development tools and Viságe.BIT data U2 space in terms of credibility. I am con- well to other systems will move to other warehouse products. application solutions and, consequently, cerned about the viability of some of the other other database options. database vendors,because without them there obviously isn’t a market, but I don’t think Mul- Who is your primary MultiValue tiValue is going away any time soon, and with database provider? the emergence of GUI and Web-enabling tools Q Do you think the market is shrinking, like Viságe, multi-valued applications can edge Historically (for the last 10 to 15 years) expanding or staying the same? Q closer to the mainstream. A we have dealt more or less exclusively There is growth and contraction at the with Raining Data,but I can see that U2 will be A same time, depending on the vertical. playing a more important part in our future. I find that in general there appears to be a Do you think the market is shrinking, contraction in places where the VAR has not Q expanding or staying the same? innovated. Do you have a strategic plan in The figures I see from the DB vendors place to migrate your business indicate that the market is growing. Q A from MultiValue or are you staying with Certainly for our R5 product every sale is to MultiValue or both? Are your own company’s an organization that DOESN’T currently Q MultiValue sales shrinking, staying have a multi-valued solution in place, and We are firmly rooted in the MultiValue the same, or expanding? our existing users keep increasing their user A community and have no immediate Our MultiValue income has been counts.This is where the VARs can/do make plans to migrate, BUT ... our Viságe product A steadily expanding since the dotcom a difference — as a community WE must leverages XML (everything from screen def- implosion. ensure that our solutions remain competi- initions to data dictionaries are presented tive, otherwise it will not matter WHAT the via XML) and allows us to work through a DB vendors do, because no one will want data abstraction layer (no more REC<1> ref- our old-fashioned solutions! erences). We are watching native XML sup- Are you better off with MultiValue port in products like DB2, Oracle and SQL today than you were four years ago? Q Server with interest, and if these products Yes, the MultiValue market has been Are your own company’s reach maturity within two to three years, A a steady rock during the dotcom Q MultiValue sales shrinking, staying then we may have an interesting pathway to implosion. the same, or expanding? mainstream RDBMS environments. Continues on page 10 8 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004

Taking the Pulse of the CATHERINE is co- owner and vice president of OHM Systems Inc., developer MultiValue of a progressive, global, full Web-centric ERP/MRP application including Market developer tools, CRM, and VRM. Her primary focus at OHM is sales and operations.With 15 Continued from page 8 years in the MultiValue world, Catherine was

If you were elected president of a and try and determine the key factors and educated in business and finance. Q MultiValue database provider, what features I need to have/enhance in order to changes would you make? maintain my existing VARS, and also attract new ones. My Thursday would be spent Are you optimistic or First, I’d bundle a product like Viságe with venture capitalists so that I could pessimistic about the future of so that I can offer clients a pathway Q A launch into my marketing campaign. the MultiValue market? to GUI and beyond, providing capabilities for business analytics and presentation Friday would be spent with the advertising I am more realistic. In all the recent quality reporting as part of the package — gurus, fleshing out details of the richest (?) A years, no large organizations, including without any increase in price! Next I’d look programming competition ever organized. IBM, have embraced the power and under- at licensing costs and support for Web- Using the FREE single-user MV database standing of the MultiValue database. No real based deployments, so that my VARS aren’t that I now have at my disposal, and using market presence is being noted.I look around disadvantaged price wise.Then I’d “steal”a the integrated MODERN development envi- at a world of far less efficient database envi- good idea from Revelation, and provide ronment, I’d put a challenge out to univer- ronments that are winning the business in FREE single-user runtime licenses so that sity students (who can work in teams — large corporate America because of the large my VARS can deploy free trial systems, and but who will also be flooding the market company marketing promotions and support “seed the market” with free, or ultra-low- “soon”) to develop a working business sys- they receive. It is the same perception as the cost systems if they wanted to. tem — five runner-up prizes of $100K,with 1980’s hardware market where if your appli- On the second day, I’d identify the VARS a first prize of $1 million. I figure I’ll get my cation did not run on Big Blue you were not that are actively selling solutions and look money’s worth from the free publicity. invited in for the system evaluation process. at discovering why/how their formula Other database companies “give away” their works so that I could use it as a pattern to Saturday I’d wake up in sweat,wondering if licenses to colleges and institutions to ensure assist other VARS that may not be so suc- my gamble would work — then I’d remem- it is exposed and used by as many profession- cessful.I’d also invite them to be on a con- ber it was just a dream! als and new IT and programmers as possible. sultative committee so that I can be When is the last time you saw a magazine ad somewhat assured that they continue to for U2 or the names UniVerse or UniData? be “happy”with the service,and are aware Are you better off with MultiValue When have you opened a Fortune 500 maga- of future product directions and feature today than you were four years ago? zine or Wall Street Journal and read about any sets, and also look at gaining their Q approval to use any high-profile clients as Yes! Today I have a choice of tools of the powerful MultiValue environments? reference sites and become part of my A and technologies that let me interact marketing collateral (to answer the “who with “other”systems far more easily than I uses MV” questions with a pre-packaged, could four years ago. I think the wheel is Do you think the market is shrinking, high-quality presentation that can be used turning, and people are again appreciating Q expanding or staying the same? by any of my VARS). the benefits of a single, centralized system Given the three choices, it is definitely By Wednesday I’d be looking for a market- rather than the proliferation of client/serv- A shrinking with any new application ing company to poll existing VARS with a er data islands.The IBM name can now be developers coming in to create a niche or view to a SWOT analysis, and also looking firmly aligned with the MV market, which market product release. It is staying the same at ways we may be able to introduce them allows us to gain a measure of credibility with end users that are under 50 concurrent to complementary VARS. I’d be working through association.We have also seen our users as it is a great maintenance free envi- towards trying to avoid the duplication notion of “multi-values” adopted by other ronment.Additionally some of the status quo that currently occurs in the market, on a databases as nested or embedded tables, is due to the diehards of this environment larger scale and yet similar to the way that and we can draw on similarities to the ubiq- such as us at OHM who continually work on VB grew because of the ability to re-use uitous XML, no matter how tenuous. A development environment tools and methods components. “good”application with connectivity to the to best promote and utilize the strengths of On Thursday the marketing company outside world, with a heritage of success the multivalue. And then it stays the same would be polling non-MV developers to and proven business worth is always a because there is always a winding down peri- quantify any opportunities from the SWOT, scarce commodity. od as the shrinkage starts. Continues on page 12 10 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004

Taking the Pulse of the BRIAN EGAN is Sales & Marketing Manager - Asia Pacific for Meier Business Sys- MultiValue tems. He is a 25-year veteran of the MultiValue marketplace, having spent Market the past 7 years at MBS (Meier Business Sys- tems), the leading distributor of IBM’s U2 Continued from page 10 product family in the Asia Pacific region. Are your own company’s MultiValue Now the best of these worlds would be a Prior to this Brian spent 18 years at two of sales shrinking, staying the same, powerful hybrid of the true MultiValue Q Australia’s early pioneering MultiValue or expanding? engine and portability to any database environment. organizations in a variety of roles that Since our company’s current product A is a MultiValue platform, we continue enabled him to actively participate in the to market and have success in the mid- to If you were elected president of a growth of MultiValue in the region. small-tier sectors.Where we struggle and are MultiValue database provider, what not successful, though receiving accolades Q on the OHM application, is that large com- changes would you make? Are you optimistic or pessimistic panies with 100 to 200 and upward users Since the request to provide these Q about the future of the MultiValue have existing commitments to non-MultiVal- answers was to keep it short, I will try A market? ue environments and staffs trained to sup- to hit the highlights. More advertising. More port that.Therefore, the IT departments do education. Give away the product to col- With the credibility afforded the Mul- not have understanding, knowledge or leges, high schools and other IT institutions. tiValue market as a result of IBM’s experience of the MultiValue world and A Provide training sessions to promote the ongoing commitment, I see a bright future don’t want to take it on. dynamics. Get in trade journals with articles for all. A wide range of MultiValue-based and information where the powerful deci- application solutions traditionally have sta- sion-makers take notice of the MultiValue bility, flexibility, scalability and ease of main- What percentage of your annual power. Provide a campaign “CHALLENGE” tenance at the back end database and have sales are built around the Q to the other databases — make it as big a been introduced to the “New World” MultiValue market? through an ever-increasing number of tech- deal as a major prizefight.Do anything to get nology enablers. All sales related to the OHM ERP/MRP people talking in a positive way about a A and CRM applications and that of our great product and keep the movement WADE development tools at this time. going. Provide developers with an easy way to use powerful working development tools Do you think the market is shrinking, like OHM’s Web-centric Development Appli- Q expanding or staying the same? Who is your primary MultiValue cation Environment (WADE) so that more Whilst we have seen some growth in Q database provider? types of applications are coming into the A the number of sites or installed users, sector to compete in RFP’s being offered. actual figures would indicate a net decline in the MultiValue share of the global soft- IBM. A ware pie. Traditionally MultiValue develop- Are you better off with MultiValue ers have been successful in deploying their Q today than you were four years ago? solutions inside major corporations (both Do you have a strategic plan in public and private sectors) as niche, function- Q place to migrate your business from Somewhat better today, only due to ally rich departmental solutions, however, MultiValue or are you staying with A some of the technology advance- there is no significant increase in the num- MultiValue or both? ments in the database abilities by companies ber of these software houses. like IBM who gave us, as developers, some We will absolutely continue to sup- conduits to piggyback off some database port MultiValue and develop in this A features in the Web technology, therefore environment as long as the market remains. Are your own company’s MultiValue Hopefully, at some point, we will see a allowing OHM to concentrate more on the Q sales shrinking, staying the same, or change in a regrowth of that market.But not application development side. Overall, expanding? counting on it, we are already in stages of from the MultiValue market four years ago As a leading distributor of a variety of relationships and development to provide until today, not much has changed except MultiValue products, it would be fair all our application and development prod- that less overall “MultiValue” flavors of the A to say that the numbers are relatively stable ucts in a true open system environment. product are available. and do demonstrate some growth.Some seg-

12 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 ments are doing better than others and I feel Who is your primary MultiValue The IT industry also needs to be reminded the greatest challenge is to expand the Mul- that this “dinosaur”really is good technology. Q database provider? tiValue developer base.This will most likely One means to enhance the exposure would eventuate through careful and strategic part- be to promote MultiValue throughout edu- nering of MultiValue databases and tool sets A IBM. cational facilities. to ensure that MultiValue represents a tech- On the marketing side — many people just nologically sound, creative and efficient do not realize how widespread MultiValue is environment to attract new developers. Do you have a strategic plan in being used. In Australia it possibly touches Q place to migrate your business from over 80 percent of the population via utili- MultiValue or are you staying with ties, financial institutions, service providers, What percentage of your annual sales are MultiValue or both? federal and state bodies, retailers, manufac- built around the MultiValue market? Q With such a high percentage of our turers, etc., etc. MultiValue is our core competency A business related to MultiValue, we A and almost all of our business there- have and continue to hold to the philosophy fore revolves around this marketplace. of “Sticking to our knitting.” Are you better off with MultiValue Q today than you were four years ago? Absolutely! IBM’s involvement with What percentage of your annual sales If you were elected president of a Mul- A MultiValue products aids the sales Q are derived from existing MultiValue Q tiValue database provider, what process by removing frustrating objections customers? changes would you make? such as “What database did you say?” There MBS promotes MultiValue databases I would look to enhance the market- are also some amazing development prod- A and tools, and a large proportion of A ing and support of the MultiValue ucts and tools that have been created for the our business is derived via our successful environment with particular emphasis on MultiValue marketplace and these only reseller network. A large percentage there- the broader developer community. I would serve to enhance the offerings we are able fore comes from these existing customers as make it easier for developers to gain access to provide to our customers and partners. they install new sites, additional technology to products and tools and ensure that they and functionality. receive an appropriate level of support. Continues on page 14

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INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 ◆ 13 This solution would need to be simple and Taking the Pulse of the extremely affordable (free). It would have rudimentary user interface logic but would be more like a schema product on the host/database end (with agile mapping to MultiValue other environs) and easy,obvious clip-ons for user interfaces. Not feature rich, but simply supportive to other feature-rich UI/ADE’s. Then everyone would be able to deal with Market their integration issues ... everyone would be able to jump on the next new bandwag- Continued from page 13 on. And nobody would think they had to What percentage of your annual replace their MultiValue system to do it. SUSAN JOSLYN is Q sales are built around the MultiValue Call me a dreamer.But I’m not the only one. president of SJ+ Systems Associ- market? ates, which specializes in tools A 100% Are you better off with MultiValue that provide software configura- Q today than you were four years ago? tion and software development lifecycle man- What percentage of your annual sales agement for IBM U2 and MultiValue software. Absolutely. Q are derived from existing MultiValue A customers?

Are you optimistic or pessimistic 100% Q about the future of the MultiValue A TIM SPELLS is presi- market? dent of ONgroup, developer I’ve always thought the “doom of Mul- Who is your primary MultiValue data- tiValue” was a Chicken Little proposi- of ONware, which enables A Q base provider? tion.The sky is not falling. Our marketplace MultiValue applications to shifts from time to time.And some resellers Lately IBM U2, but not exclusively and run on Oracle without reengineering. do keep it a bit “under wraps.” But we all A certainly seeing surges in the others. have stories of companies that thought they could do better ... and came back (or worse yet, didn’t come back). Big companies that Do you have a strategic plan in place Are you optimistic or pessimistic bought out little MultiValue-run companies Q to migrate your business from Q about the future of the MultiValue and thought they could bring everything MultiValue or are you staying with market? over to “big O”or something else — only to MultiValue or both? Optimistic. In general, MultiValue end up moving the whole BIG parent com- applications are proving to be superi- pany to the MultiValue-based solution.We’re A Staying with MultiValue. or in business functionality to applications in a great spot. My question is: Why do we A developed with “mainstream” languages or have to spend so much time wondering if tools. We have witnessed many organiza- we’re dying? It’s so Woody Allen. tions attempting to replicate the MultiValue If you were elected president of a Mul- business functionality and failing. We have Q tiValue database provider, what seen similar results of organizations attempt- changes would you make? Do you think the market is shrinking, ing replacement with a packaged solution. Q expanding or staying the same? First, I think they are up against all The high cost and very complex challenge kinds of pressures and issues that I in attempting to replace MultiValue applica- Shifting ... but ultimately expanding A don’t understand. But sometimes I do won- tions is a testament to their outstanding quietly. A der if their intelligence could be bad (does development and performance. Now, with that happen?). My biggest soapbox, the ONware enabling the integration of Multi- thing I think would be a win-all-around Value applications with mainstream lan- Are your own company’s MultiValue proposition, is to standardize on a sleek, guages, tools, and applications, we have sales shrinking, staying the same, or Q robust ADE with clear and simple API’s for every reason to feel optimistic about the expanding? attaching other back-ends and jazzier front- future of the MultiValue market. ends. All of the MultiValue database A Expanding. providers — since the beginning — have stopped short of providing that. To me it’s Do you think the market is shrinking, just unfinished. Q expanding or staying the same?

14 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 It is difficult to tell; there was a period and object tools as well as MV tools. MV ONware is a suite of middleware products A of time without much in the way of applications are being integrated with rela- that separates business applications from new applications from our VARs. Recently, tional and object applications. the DBMS; it allows redeployment on SQL we are seeing new sales due to the VAR now Server and Oracle.We accomplish this with being able to offer their highly functional little if no change to the original application. The presentation to the end user remains product without changing the business What percentage of your annual sales the same,and there is no need for re-training logic run on relational platforms and utiliz- Q are built around the MultiValue market? of the end user or IT staff. Essentially, ing languages, (e.g., .NET, Java, etc.), tools 92% in 2003; we are forecasting 87% ONware is a run-time and development and other applications in the relational in ’04. At first we were bringing Ora- environment that emulates those of the world.Also, we see the addition of MultiVal- A cle and other relational technology to the common MultiValue platforms. ue Web application development tools that MV marketplace; more and more we bring have surfaced starting to have some impact The difference between ONware and other MultiValue development tools to the rela- on the growth of the MV market. MultiValue environments is that ONware is tional market. database independent; ONware does not include an embedded database. Data is data; it Are your own company’s MultiValue is separate from application logic. ONware Do you have a strategic plan in place Q sales shrinking, staying the same, allows you to choose the databases in which to migrate your business from Multi- or expanding? Q to store your data and in the format that makes Value or are you staying with MultiValue sense for the demands of the organization. ONgroup’s MultiValue sales are expand- or both? A ing. We believe we are meeting the Your applications perform as they do needs of the MultiValue market by allowing Both; our strategic plan is to migrate today regardless of how you choose to the MultiValue application to run on Oracle, A our partners (VARs) and end user store the data. organizations to the relational world with- SQL, and other high-demand database sys- ONware includes: data migration utilities, to out changing their business logic.We accom- tems. As a result, MultiValue applications are move data from the MultiValue DBMS and now running on MV, relational, object-rela- plish this using ONware, a MultiValue into the relational databases; normalization tional and hybrids; and MV applications are environment that equips MultiValue applica- and mapping tools, to re-structure the 3- maintained and developed using relational tions with database independence. dimensional MultiValue data structure to the Continues on page 30

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ◆ 15 QuickWhy ShouldBooks We Care?

B Y NATHAN RECTOR At the Spectrum Most of us have written some kind of Why you ask? Especially when your soft- accounting software. Whether it is a stand- ware already does all the accounting for show last March, alone package or part of our existing main them ... and much better than Quick- package, we know how quickly it can Books can, right? become outdated. I talked with a lot Well, I’m going to have to disagree with The other problem we have is training. Most you on that. I started working with Quick- of software of the accounting software we have included Books several years ago because the paper- in our systems does not conform to other work was getting out of hand, and I didn’t developers that accounting software. Granted there are only have time to write accounting software so many ways to do account- when I was writing software wanted to be ing, but each software pack- for everyone else. I found age handles the data entry QuickBooks that QuickBooks could do able to exchange differently. everything I wanted to do, plus a few other features, and Now QuickBooks comes has tons of did it better than anything I information with along and the bookkeepers would have written. that our customers are hiring reports and QuickBooks. This are asking why they can’t just If you’ve ever worked with use QuickBooks. In larger tools that help QuickBooks, you’d see what got me thinking companies, this isn’t really I’m talking about. The interface the case, but the small shops is so easy to use that people about QuickBooks that only have a controller businesses without accounting knowledge and maybe a bookkeeper, or can actually use it. Intuit has and what it can the owner does all the work manage their made accounting and book- themselves, want to use keeping as close to idiot proof do for our market. QuickBooks. cash and as they could. It is really hard to make an error other than the financing, and general data entry errors. There are tons of reports and to top it all off, tools that help businesses manage their cash and financing, and to top it all the payroll off, the payroll systems are unparalleled. The payroll sys- systems are tem is a gold mine for most businesses. unparalleled. Now, back to the original question: Do we care? Espe- cially when we already have

16 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 accounting software included in our packages. The answer is “yes.” If you haven’t had a customer ask you for it yet, I’m guess- ing you will within the next year or so. The reason: simplicity. Nothing can beat QuickBooks for simplicity and like I said, uestion Suppose you were assigned the task most bookkeepers know it. CPAs are also starting to request the information to be of increasing the maximum length of sent to them in QuickBooks format. an attribute in a file. It is a frequently Qused field, so you know that it will OK, now how do we get the information affect many programs. There are into QuickBooks? There are several ways definite possibilities of over printing to do this. The first is good old hand entry. and screen wrapping. I know, I know ... the tech in us have a hard time with this option. Your system has over 2500 programs spread out over 12 libraries. You know that the code has been modified by multiple programmers over the years and that each one had their own naming conventions. The second option is using comma-delimited files and importing the information Your job is to identify, check and into QuickBooks. The drawback to this is modify every program that is affected that QuickBooks only supports this kind of by this change! How long would it Import with specific file types: Customer, take you to do it? Vendor, Inventory and Chart of Accounts. The third option is to use .IIF files. These have been around for several years, but are ANSWER not well documented. You can find out more information at http://www.Quick- With mvToolbox you could do Books.com/support/faqs/qbw2003/premier/117503.html. The other drawback is the job in just 4 minutes! that it still requires the user to import the information. The example above is just one of The last option is to use a tool like mvQB over 500 MultiValue productivity tools in to update QuickBooks real-time. mvQB is mvToolbox. Developed over a a set of programs that lets MultiValue data- period of 17 years, mvToolbox is the most bases read and write information directly complete set of utility software ever assem- to QuickBooks. With a few program calls, you have to update QuickBooks at trans- bled and packaged for action time, or at the end of the day dur- the MultiValue developer ing a batch update. Editor’s Note: For more information on the mvQB product, you can contact the author at [email protected]. mvToolbox NATHAN RECTOR, a regular contributor to Spectrum, See us at the Spectrum Show in London, is owner of Natec Systems, a con- Sydney and Melbourne sulting firm specializing in D3, AP and R83 environments and custom For more information on how mvToolbox can greatly reduce programming. He can be reached costs and aggravation, or an appointment for an internet demo, at [email protected] or please visit or call 888-999-7571 www.natecsystems.com. www.mvtoolbox.com

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ◆ 17 UniVerse and UniData Hashed FILESPart 4 UniVerse’s 64-Bit Files BY JEFF FITZGERALD AND PEGGY LONG

hen UniVerse introduced the 64-bit file option to support database files files to hold more data. Does anyone ever delete data or reduce the amount of data Wgreater than 2Gb, it didn't directly affect us because we were running an they wish to keep in the “active” file? We are guilty. Until two years ago Fitzgerald & Long had 18 years of accounting data in obsolete HP E-25. Our system didn't have a large enough disk to create a 1Gb file the same file. If performance had not become so SLOW we would not have cre- so we weren't concerned about the 2Gb limit. Since then we have upgraded! ated a “history” file. (We are still using PI/Open, by the way, which will be con- Our new HP has 10Gb, our iPod has 5Gb, described both of these structures as “seg- verted to UniVerse NT before the end of Jeff’s memory stick has 128Mb, and a new ment directories for organizing data files the year!) The files are all dynamic and we Canon digital camera has a memory card by number.” This meant file names were are using alternate keys, so why is it slow? that will hold 4Gb. As we discussed these not used. The subfiles were referenced by It’s BIG. And even with alternate keys the statistics we began a nostalgic review of the number, and for Prime INFORMATION probability of a lot of I/O — reading most disk drives we had used over the last 20 this was a very efficient structure for data- if not all of the file to select year-to-date years. Thinking back, we recalled a num- base files where the hashing algorithm transactions — is a bet you can take to ber of clever ways software had created returned a group number. The group num- Black Hawk (one of our three gambling “workarounds” to compensate for the ber was the “name” of the subfile (aka towns in Colorado). shortfalls of the hardware and O/S group) in the segment directory. In short, restraints we had faced. Yes, there were the segment directory indexed the subfiles So, obviously we are not “casting stones” always limits and tradeoffs — and still are. which were referenced by number instead toward anyone who likes to have ALL of of name. the data in the “active” files. Of course we If you remember Prime INFORMATION know the impact on performance but the you may remember that there were two The header of the SEGSAM structure was bean counter (Peggy) was willing to forego types of files used for statically hashed files 2048 bytes, which limited the number of the best performance to “keep things sim- — SEGSAM and SEGDAM. For files subfiles that could be addressed using the ple” and have easy access to all the data — with a modulo less than 2000 the available addressing space. The SEGDAM until it was just TOO slow. SEGSAM structure was used. For larger structure was a hybrid directory structure modulos the SEGDAM structure was that could address SEGSAM structures thus The largest prime number modulo in used. You could not “RESIZE” across this extending the number of subfiles that could Prime INFORMATION was 65521, barrier. To convert from SEGSAM to be addressed. Using the SEGDAM structure which would have created a file of a little SEGDAM you created the file with the allowed for much larger files. Of course, over 130 megabytes, a relatively small larger than 2000 modulo and INFORMA- since the SEGDAM files used an additional database by today’s standards. In those TION would use the SEGDAM structure. level of addressing, there was a cost. days the problem was not how big a modulo you could use but it was a question of SEGSAM was an acronym for “segmented The need for SEGDAM files was created disk space. INFORMATION didn’t allow sequential access method” and SEGDAM by the need to store more data than a you to vary the separation (except for was an acronym for “segmented direct SEGSAM file could handle efficiently. It dynamic files — either 2k or 4k buffers); access method.” The documentation seems that there is always a need for bigger the buffer was 2k.

18 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 Identifying 32/64-bit Files In 1970 the largest disk drive we had available was a CDC 300 megabyte drive that Here is a very simple program that we wrote and cataloged to create a Verb in was the size of a washing machine and the VOC. sometimes vibrated almost as much! If you bought the disk drive from Prime it was painted orange to match the computer, 0001: FILENME = '' otherwise it would probably be blue. The 0002: PRINT "ENTER FILE NAME ": price tag was around $30,000. Peggy, 0003: INPUT FILENME being an Auburn University graduate, was very fond of orange and blue in the com- 0004: OPEN '', FILENME TO FILE.VAR THEN PRINT "file opened" ELSE ABORT puter room! 0005: ARRAY = '' You could theoretically create a file larger 0006: STATUS ARRAY FROM FILE.VAR than 300 megabytes but where would you 0007: FIELD32 = ARRAY<32> put it? A file could not be split across two 0008: IF FIELD32 = 1 THEN PRINT "Old 32-bit file" physical disk drives or for that matter 0009: IF FIELD32 = 3 THEN PRINT "New 32-bit file" across physical or logical structures. Space was the limit in those days. It was not until 0010: IF FIELD32 = 5 THEN PRINT "New 64-bit file" the UNIX and NT days that addressing a 0011: STOP database larger than 2 gigabytes became an 0012: END issue. The disks weren’t that large, so we purged data, created history files, and sub- divided data into smaller, logical sets such Here is a sample execution: as multi-volume files and distributed files. >FSTATS Disk space was very costly. System ENTER FILE NAME ?LARGE resources such as files units, memory and file opened swap space all worked to encourage system New 64-bit file administrators to keep historical data on tape and even on microfilm. We can think of a number of enhancements to this program, but this example is short and it works! A more useful program would select all of the VOC As an aside, I’m reminded of a COBOL entries that define files and loop through the list reporting the 32/64-bit status class that I took where the project was to and the file size. This would allow undesirable 64-bit files to be identified. Continues on page 20

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ◆ 19 UniVerse’s 64-Bit Files On our HP this is done by using the large- By using the CREATE.FILE and/or the Continued from page 19 files option to the UNIX mkfs command. RESIZE command and the 64BIT keyword on the command line, a 64-bit file Once the underlying UNIX system sup- write a program that would sort data can be created. There is a “32BIT” key- ports large files, there are three ways — at records by their key using no disk and only word that causes a 32-bit file to be created; least — that will cause a file to be created as two tape drives. The issue of course was that its usage is the same as the 64BIT keyword. a 64-bit file. The most obvious is through there was not enough disk space to do this Additionally there is a UniVerse default the use of the CREATE.FILE command. task on disk thus the use of tape drives was that may be configured to define what type the “workaround!” They were 9-track tapes. This command: CREATE.FILE TEST 2 3 of file is created if neither 32BIT nor Can you imagine all of the tape requests to 4 64BIT creates a 64-bit file, type = 2; mod- 64BIT is specified. This default is defined the operator? ulo = 3 and separation = 4. Dynamic files in the “uvconfig” file. On our HP the path- When UniVerse and UniData “arrived” on can be created in the 64-bit mode also. name is: the “MultiValue” scene, disk drives were For example: CREATE.FILE TEST2 /usr/ibm/uv/uvconfig larger and less expensive. But, there were still DYNAMIC 64BIT creates a dynamically The parameter is 64BIT_FILES and the limits. A “show-stopping” limitation soon hashed 64-bit file. became evident. It was a UNIX limitation. value is set to 0, which means that 32-bit A “regular” UNIX file could not exceed Because Peggy had spent hours looking files are the default. By setting the value to 2Gb. This limit was due to the addressabili- through old Prime documentation (to insure “1,” the default can be changed to 64-bit ty limitations of a 32-bit machine. that our facts concerning SEGSAM and files. Here is the documentation found in SEGDAM files were accurate), she first tried the uvconfig file. UniVerse and UniData solutions to this to create a 64-bit file with this command: # 64BIT_FILES - This sets the default UNIX limitation were much the same as mode used to used in the INFORMATION days. Subdi- CREATE.FILE LARGE 2 3 4 -64BIT # create static hashed and dynamic files. viding data into a number of “distributed” Note the “-64BIT” at the end of the com- files where the location could be calculated mand line. Keywords used by the Prime # A value of 0 results in the creation of 32-bit was a successful technique. Moving old data INFORMATION command line to invoke to history and simply purging data were options were generally prefixed with a dash. # files. 32-bit files have a maximum file ways to keep files from exceeding the 2Gb Peggy had been checking the status of each size of boundary. file as she created or modified them to # 2 gigabytes. A value of 1 results in the Large files were slower than small ones (and insure the 32/64-bit objections had been creation still are). Software strategies such as the use invoked. We had written a BASIC program # of 64-bit files (ONLY valid on 64-bit of alternate keys, cross reference files, and to report whether a file header was 32-bit or capable platforms). 64-bit. Quite surprisingly the file she had B-trees could substantially reduce the # The maximum file size for 64-bit amount of time required to select a subset created using that last command with the of data records. But, all of these solutions -64BIT was a 32-bit file! This is what she # files is system dependent. The default behavior required software and labor to implement. found in the VOC entry: # may be overridden by keywords on cer- Another less elegant solution was to convert 0001: F -64BIT tain commands. large files, those approaching 2Gb, to 0002: LARGE 64BIT_FILES 0 dynamic files and let them “overflow.” Dynamic files are created as a directory with 0003: D_LARGE For the grand majority of UniVerse sys- at least two subfiles, data and overflow. Bottom at line 3. tems, having more than one or two files Because overflow — which includes records that exceed the 2Gb limit is rare. But, the larger than the LARGE.RECORD parame- Of course! UniVerse didn’t recognize the new, inexperienced database administrator ter — is stored in a separate file, reaching -64BIT as a keyword and assumed it was the may jump to the conclusion that because description the physical UNIX limit could be post- ! The correct syntax should be the 64-bit file is “new” it might be better. poned. This solution was marginal due to “64BIT”, with no dash! There was a good les- Plus when he resized those big files they poor performance as the overflow increased. son in this — your command may “work,” would be automatically converted to the but you may not get the results you expected. 64-bit structure and he would not have to When many UNIX systems were imple- remember the keyword on the command mented with 64-bit architectures which The RESIZE command also has a 64BIT line. He could simply forget about the issue allowed files larger than 2Gb, UniVerse option that may be used with both statical- of the 2Gb limit if he changed the default. introduced the “64-bit” file. This allowed ly hashed and dynamically hashed files. enough “address” space so that the larger >RESIZE LARGE 64BIT DYNAMIC cre- The very small amount of documentation files could be accommodated. The internal ated a 64-bit dynamically hashed file and that we have been able to find concerning structure of UniVerse files had to be modi- 64-bit files does not offer any advice as to fied to allow for the larger addresses in the >RESIZE LARGE 2 3 4 64BIT created a the costs and/or benefits of using this new record headers. Each record header was 64-bit statistically hashed file. structure. The primary benefit is obvious — doubled in size to enable the 64-bit files. Peggy noted that using -64BIT caused a UniVerse database file can exceed the 2Gb limit imposed by the older structures. If To create a 64-bit file that exceeds 2Gb RESIZE to report a command line error: there are additional benefits, please let us requires that the hardware and UNIX oper- >RESIZE LARGE 2 3 4 -64BIT know. We haven’t found them. ating system allow the creation of these 64- bit files. This usually requires that the RESIZE: Invalid file name, sizing On the cost side, the most obvious issue is filesystem be modified to support large files. parameter, or option on command line. the substantial increase in overhead. Each 20 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 data record requires at least 12 bytes of # filepeek LARGE File type ...... 30 additional overhead. Think what that filepeek status: Modulo ...... 1 means if there are a million data records in the file — 12Mb of additional overhead. Active file ...... "LARGE/DATA.30" Separation ...... 4 Let’s look at a simple example. Let’s imag- Current file address . Group 0 ...... 0x0000000000000800 ine a file has 2.5Gb of data and the average 0x0000000000000000 Free head ...... 0x0000000000000000 record size is 500 bytes (without the addi- Maximum file address . Hash Type ...... 20 (GENERAL) tional 12 bytes when it is converted to the 0x000000000000D7FF 64-bit format). The record count is Split Load ...... 80 Merge Load ...... 50 5,000,000, which means that a minimum Window size ...... 512 bytes Current Modulus ...... 26 Base Modulus ..... 16 of 60Mb of overhead will be added to the 0xFF will display as . "ÿ" physical file size. Okay, that’s only 2.6% Large Record ...... 1619 File Space ...... 41612 Default base ...... 16 (12 bytes / 500 bytes), but why pay the Select Count ...... 0 Next Split ...... 11 “tax” if it isn’t needed. If the amount of Default mode ...... 64-bit data is under 2Gb, is there a good reason Continues on page 22 to use the 64-bit structure? If you can think of one please let us hear from you. If you have been the database administrator since before UniVerse Release 9.5 was loaded AND you know that the default in the uvconfig file has never been changed, then you probably know exactly how many 64-bit files you have because you created them. But, if you are the new DBA or your software vendor installed your system, you may be surprised to find that you have a number of 64-bit files that you would rather not have. So, how do you find those files? We have tried these commands hoping that one would identify whether the file was a 32-bit or a 64-bit file. These first three only read statically hashed files (types 2 through 18). HASH.HELP FILE.STAT HASH.AID These two will also read dynamically hashed files but don’t report 32/64-bit format. GROUP.STAT ANALYZE.FILE We then tried UVFIXFILE and were very surprised by the result! >UVFIXFILE LARGE uvfixfile does not support 64-bit files. We were running out of ideas, but then Jeff suggested we try the old faithful standby that he uses instead of UVFIXFILE to patch broken files — “filepeek”. IT WORKS! Notice the line called “Default mode... 64-bit”. Note that this command is used at the UNIX prompt and not in UniVerse although it is a program provided by the database system. Please be very careful if invoking filepeek — this is a powerful tool with options that can easily destroy files when used carelessly!

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 ◆ 21 UniVerse’s 64-Bit Files ments this statement on page 11-692. approaching the 2Gb limit or has exceeded Continued from page 21 There is an example — a very strange one it. Don’t convert files to the 64-bit structure — on page 11-696. if they are NOT approaching the 2Gb Did someone in the UniVerse design limit. It increases the physical size of the file group decide that we really didn’t need to To summarize the message we are hoping and if there is a benefit to wasting space we know if a file were 32-bit or 64-bit? Our to convey — there are always limits to file have not discovered it. The bottom line is guess is that it was either simply over- sizes, addressing space and physical hard- that using the 64-bit option when it is not looked or the designers decided that if you ware. Creating solutions to “work around” needed is counterproductive. is were aware enough to ask the question you these limits is going to cost something such were probably knowledgeable enough to as performance, additional complexity, Twenty years ago Peggy Long and Jeff write your own utility. additional software, additional labor and perhaps reduced productivity when per- Fitzgerald were running a critical benchmark UniVerse BASIC provides a STATUS formance is impaired. on a top-of-the-line Prime INFORMATION statement that returns a dynamic array containing 33 fields. The 32nd field con- The 64-bit file structure creates a solution system. The benchmark aborted. After sev- tains the “Addressing and Header Support for those files that exceed 2Gb in size. From eral hours of detective work they identified Style” code number. both experimenting and from experience a damaged file. That started a discussion we know that large files are slower — sort- concerning performance, broken files and 1 = old style file header, 32-bit addressing ing and selecting — than small files. To 3 = new style file header, 32-bit addressing improve performance, various software how to check the internal structure of files solutions such as alternate keys, cross refer- after a system crash. 5 = new style file header, 64-bit addressing ence files, distributed files and B-trees can After several weeks of work using Peggy’s Field 31 contains the file revision stamp be incorporated into the sorting and select- that will be either ing process to enhance performance. FORTRAN skills and Jeff’s INFO BASIC knowledge they were confident that they ACEF01xx = 32-bit file or Reducing the size of the file by rolling old data to history or simply purging data may understood the file internals. This led to a ACEF02xx = 64-bit file “work” but are probably less desirable than utility that would quickly scan a file, report keeping all of the data “active.” Imple- Our file called LARGE had the value of menting any of these ideas is costly. errors and recommend the optimum MOD- ACEF020C, the 64-bit revision stamp in ULO and TYPE parameters needed to field 31 and 5 in field 32. To use the STA- Because of the overhead associated with the TUS statement you must first open the new 64-bit structure we encourage you to RESIZE the file. A year later they began mar- file. The UniVerse BASIC guide docu- use this structure only when a file is quickly keting FAST, which evolved from this utility.

22 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 Is Your MultiValue Database Resilient? BY MARK FULLER, NORTHGATE INFORMATION SOLUTIONS

eople say that “the main asset of any company pis its staff” and that staff retention is very important. I don’t for a minute disagree, but I would argue

that another asset, that is also vitally

important, is the company’s data. ‘Data in a

Data in a database constitutes a database constitutes a substantial substantial financial investment, financial and will often contain commercially investment’ or even socially sensitive information.

What happens if a company loses its data?

What can be done to address this risk? How does a

MultiValue database fit into the world of disaster recovery?

These are some of the questions I hope to answer

in this article. Continues on page 24

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ◆ 23 Is Your MultiValue crashes’” whereby some files have been updated and others haven't, causing downtime while someone recovers any inconsistent updates that have broken business logic. Database Transaction Logging enhances the data security and resilience of a MultiValue database by recording all changes made by Resilient? both completed transactions and discrete Continued from page 23 updates. This minimizes the loss of valid updates to your database in the event of a Can You Afford database to a specialized “hosting” failure and enables these updates to be Not to Have a company and pass the risk onto them. replayed rapidly to a restored database. Resilient System? However, for those organizations, which If a company loses its data, then the penalties wish to maintain their own disaster recovery Some vendors now also provide recover- could be astronomical and are often underes- procedures, then a MultiValue database is a able filing systems (Rapid Recovery or timated. Look at some of the evidence. “low cost,” efficient database, which Journaling filing systems). This effectively addresses these needs. records all structural changes to a data- ◆ “Companies that aren't able to resume base. This enables the physical integrity of operations within 10 days of a disaster are MultiValue databases have been tradition- all files to be restored within minutes of not likely to survive.” (Source: Strategic ally strong, and secure data stores deploy- restarting a database after a system failure. Research Institute, Jan. 2002). able at low cost. Some today, such as “Reality” from Northgate Information Northgate includes the above options at ◆ “Problems with IT cost small and Solutions (Northgate) stand out from the no extra cost and has further extended medium enterprises (SME's) £100 billion plethora of vendors with resilience fea- the resilience capabilities, which are in lost turnover each year according to the tures that are second to none and ensure discussed below. London Business School. Computer that they are the market leaders in this crashes are estimated to cause losses of field, but all of the vendors offer some £31 million each year.” degree of resilience, some of which is When an incident occurs, it is not just “free,” so why not implement it? In keep- the material damages that need to be ing with the “ease of use” of the database, taken into account, i.e., loss of earnings these tend to be easy to administer and while systems are unavailable, cost of give you a viable resilient path when cou- human resources sitting idle, cost of late pled with the technologies above. The billings, etc.; but also the non-material capabilities of MultiValue databases, such damages that are often very difficult to as Reality, mean that you can operate a quantify. Now with the World Wide Web, 24X7 operation, and indeed this has been your systems are visible globally and the the case for many years in mission-critical Shadow Database enhances impact of a system being down is far organizations. resilience by allowing two copies of a data- more widespread. Worst still, in a mission base to be maintained on different disks on critical 24x7 system, it could even mean Some of the the same system. The “live” database records the difference between life and death! Solutions Available all updates via transaction logging while the Most, if not all of the MultiValue vendors second or “shadow” database remains provide both Transaction Handling and Addressing the Risk unmounted and unavailable to users. Traditionally, these risks have been managed Transaction Logging capabilities; let's take by simply backing up data to magnetic a look at what they do. At a time convenient to individual sites, the “shadow” database is mounted and the tape or other storage media, and this Transaction Handling provides protection transaction logs are replayed to keep the should still be a vital part of any disaster around a series of updates to data files database in step with the “live” one. Shadow recovery strategy. However, this is no longer from an application by grouping the Database avoids the lengthy processes of sufficient on its own for most organizations “updates” together. A “transaction” is a set restoring a database, enabling the system to as the cost of restoring data is prohibitive. of related database updates that must be become available for use quicker. The RAID disks and cluster technology can also completed indivisibly for the database to “failed” database can then be recovered help and are in themselves great technologies, remain consistent. This effectively means without impacting on the user community. but again, for some organizations, these can that if one update fails, they all do and a no longer be relied upon independently, as “roll back” occurs to “remove” updates and Failsafe provides a high level of resilience they only protect you from approximately bring the files back to the state they were by mirroring databases across separate systems. 30 percent of failures. Another option is to in before the “group” of updates began. Users will connect and run applications on completely outsource the hosting of your This can protect you from “application the primary machine and updates will be

24 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 Seeking Reseller Relationships in Europe Product lines of ■ Web-centric Application Development Environment WADE

■ (reporting Web-centric Application Virtual Environment WAVE writing tool) ■ OHM Web Manufacturing ERP/MRP application seamlessly transferred to the secondary machine and replayed on the ■ Customer Relationship Management via database in “real-time.” If the primary 24x7 Internet processing CRM machine fails, the secondary is quickly re-configured as the primary, and users Current offices in US, Australia and R&D center in India can then re-connect and continue working. Service is thereby maintained with minimal interruption.

OHM SYSTEMS INC www.ohmworld.com I email: [email protected] 1-800-878-0646 USA See us at our Spectrum booth or contact us prior to the show to set appointments to visit with us and see our products. VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.OHMWORLD.COM

Heartbeat is the highest level of Want to see the Future? resilience offered by Northgate Information Solutions. This builds on the “failsafe” technology but automatically detects primary system failure. Should the primary fail, the secondary is automatically re- configured as the primary and users are switched to it. Users are automatically logged on to the top level of their current application so that they can continue working with minimal disruption to service. The above features are available on Windows, UNIX and Linux platforms.

In Summary Great leaps have been taken by vendors of GUI ✔ Business Intelligence ✔ MultiValue databases in the last few years, including fully protected journaled filing Reporting✔ Web Deployment ✔ systems, standby databases and failsafe Single Product, Available NOW ✔ machines which can effectively look after themselves. All of which, when coupled Experience the future with a free test drive with the technologies mentioned above, make MultiValue databases a viable alter- www.staminasoftware.com native to more mainstream databases [email protected] where some of this functionality exists, Outside USA [email protected] but at far greater costs. is

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ◆ 25 Webonomics 101

Wirelesswith Mass Dispersion What’s Next for Wi-Fi

High-speed Internet isn’t munities, then we’ll see homes and busi- short distance coverage of infrared and everywhere. Road warriors nesses taking advantage of the opportuni- Bluetooth, most normal distances will be ties in ways quite comparable to the net-enabled. know this. After a long explosion of cell phones as standard The Web will then be seriously wireless. day driving or flying, you devices. Moreover, we’re likely to see exciting new products and communication tech- These networks are intended to seamlessly settle into a small town nologies, just as text messaging and cell work with each other and with normal telephone networks. Machine and Man and find that there are no phone Web browsers came out of nowhere in just a few years time. will be able to communicate rapidly, auto- broadband options at all. matically, and remotely. You’ll be able to It sure seems like the unlicensed frequen- drive down a highway or relax on a train, Often times, you might cies are the most exciting unexplored terri- all while using a laptop or PDA to surf the not even be in a really tories since we landed on the moon. This net. Or, as gadgets come forth, use a device small town; you might be free spectrum is encouraging all sorts of in your car to warn you of upcoming traf- scientific innovation. Surprising, really, fic conditions, or even perhaps to report in a small city where not since most companies ignored these fre- the traffic conditions for new slowdowns all areas have been con- quencies for years. But from companies that occur annoyingly right in front of like Intel to institutions like MIT, new your car. These tools might report the nected yet. The access for gadgets and uses are streaming out. And weather, too, leaving traffic-weather-news rural towns has been ever we’re talking far beyond the world of cord- AM stations in a bit of a bind. less phones and microwaves. more disappointing. Back at home, we should be able to watch But conventional wireless is only begin- movies and DVDs, listen to CDs and We may be seeing exciting options, however, ning. There are several download song libraries, in the near future. Cities seem to be taking innovations in broadband from the living room TV the cue from many colleges and universi- that you should also be Unlicensed and its remote control, as ties. Rather than worrying about the pro- considering. These new beamed wirelessly from the hibitive costs of rewiring every room and technologies will insert frequencies are remote PC. We’re already every facility, they brought in wireless tech- wireless networks seamless- seeing home theater system nologies to fill the tremendous demand. ly into cars, homes, facto- the most exciting businesses hitching their Telecommunication companies and ries, and service businesses. wagons to wireless speaker municipalities are experimenting with Billions have been invested unexplored systems. No more wires unlicensed radio spectrum to create less in recent years. We’re start- running across the carpet or costly bandwidth. ing to see the results of behind sofas; just sounds these investments and by territories since beamed to speakers hidden So far, the speed of these systems compares next year, we should see a behind furniture, even favorably to standard broadband options, wave of interesting new we landed on without line-of-sight access. despite the novel implementations. The devices exploiting the companies are using less costly equipment. inventions. the moon. Wireless chips will make it Moreover, the use of unlicensed radio spec- easy to create monitoring tra is free; there are no fees to pay to use We’re not talking about devices for all sorts of those frequencies. As the implementations devices that are limited to the 300 feet that equipment. Wireless-enabled light sensors in cities are tested and refined, the Wi-Fi currently offers. Let’s face it: the 300 in skyscrapers can report when the lights telecommunication companies are prepar- feet is a dream already, as most laptops go out. Utility meters will be able to report ing to expand across wide regions in the probably disconnect at around 150 to 200 usage without the need for a meter reader United States and in other technologically feet. No, the new wireless devices are deal- or access for that meter reader. Some com- demanding countries. ing with ranges that cover miles, with the panies are experimenting with using the intention that connectivity simply blankets devices to report changes in toxicity in In many ways, this might be as important a geographic region. Combined with the wastewater. as the rollout of cell phone technologies 20 years ago. If bandwidth can be made avail- BY MELVIN SORIANO able, wireless no less, in all types of com-

26 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 In other words, we’re moving beyond peo- One antenna can handle enormous num- onwards. Eventually, they can reach a more ple talking to people. We’re moving beyond bers of transactions. powerful computer that can then connect computers talking to computers. It’s essen- to a broadband connection. Motorola and tially Nouns talking to Nouns, with or The only drawback for this exciting tech- others will be releasing products this year without our active participation. It’s like nology is that it isn’t good when you’re using this innovation. the battery-operated watch. Once we gave moving. You’ll lose your connection. But up on the task of winding a timepiece, it Intel and other manufacturers are fast Instead of using small data communica- sits there quietly beaming (visually) the developing versions that can stay connect- tions, Ultrawideband serves up monster time to any and all who look upon it. ed even while driving. A similar protocol, files. This technology permits computers known as Mobile-Fi, is said to be two or and users to move large files or databases A bit like science fiction? There are a few three years away, but will shockingly be rapidly over shorter distances. This is an technologies that will make this possible, even faster than most home broadband ideal solution in the home, where people and their rollout this year is quite antici- solutions offered today. All this and at might want to toss a show from the PC to pated. WiMax looks quite a lot like Wi-Fi. highway or train speeds. the VCR or television without any need You’ll have hot spot zones that all revolve for cables. Motorola is selling chips with around an antenna in the center. People In contrast to the WiMax and MobileFi this technology today, so we should be see- can communicate with that antenna to concepts, ZigBee allows communication ing interesting uses very soon. share data, or more importantly, get onto among hundreds if not thousands of minia- ture sensors. The sensors will be placed Stay tuned for more! I’ll cover comparisons the Internet, so long as they have a laptop is or PDA that can use the WiMax standard. ubiquitously: office suites, farms, factories, of these wireless options in the next issue. Just like Wi-Fi. But there is one tiny dif- roadways. The sensors are normal in that ference; the range is 25 to 30 miles. OK, they can detect and collect data, such as MELVIN M. SORIANO works at Eagle not quite like Wi-Fi. temperature, chemistry, and motion. Rock Information Systems (ERIS), an Internet Unlike conventional sensors, however, they Application Service Provider and WebWiz- Essentially, then, WiMax is a realistic alter- can immediately send out information, dis- ard/MultiValue Developer. ERIS has deployed native to conventional broadband. It does- tress signals, and warnings over the radio enterprise-wide solutions on most MultiValue n’t require any telephone or cable spectrum. These tiny sensors are meant to platforms and operating systems. HTM-Mel connection to a home or office whatsoever. be left alone for as long as their batteries More amazing, you won’t have to do what’s can be contacted at [email protected] and vis- can last, which is essentially for years. currently being installed at many campus- ited at http://www.eriscorp.com. You can es and hotels; there won’t be a need to The sensors talk to each other, creating a always call him directly at ERIS’s Pasadena, install antennas every couple hundred feet. vast network, passing data onwards and Calif., offices: (626) 535-9658.

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ◆ 27 Spectrum Spotlight DesignBais Web Tool Modernizes MultiValue Applications DesignBais Blends MultiValue Functionality With the Web’s Ease of Use

At a time when the econo- my is putting the squeeze on many computer companies, business is booming for DesignBais Pty. Ltd., the developer of the Mul-

tiValue Web development An example of a client maintenance form designed in DesignBais. tool of the same name — DesignBais. At the cations,” which puts the MultiValue mar- The DesignBais product is the offspring of ket in a great position. “The database is the decision to Web-enable its applications Spectrum 2004 show last becoming less important. Application in order to be more competitive in the Spring, DesignBais’s functionality, market-readiness and price future. The company researched and select- competitiveness is paramount. We can ed a tool to take on the project, and started sessions were packed deliver this; we have been for many years.” its redevelopment efforts. It soon became with attendees wanting apparent that a number of However, when the power new issues were surfacing. to see firsthand how and functionality of the Mul- tiValue application is shown DesignBais Among them, the develop- DesignBais works. Why? off, it must be “dressed to ment team became split Because DesignBais touts impress” to compete against into two camps — the Web other applications, which has was designed developers and the database something that MultiValue increased the demand for to allow developers. Also, develop- developers want: a route Web tools in the MultiValue ment times were substan- environment. The drive to tially longer than they to the Web without modernize the look of appli- developers to expected. The company cations has made DesignBais stopped the project and extensive development a dominant player in the quickly convert instituted a set of guide- time and huge costs while Web development arena for lines which are an inherent the MultiValue marketplace their existing part of the product known retaining MultiValue’s in the last six months, today as DesignBais. As a powerful functionality. according to McLean. “green screen” result, all the functionality normally associated with DesignBais Pty. Ltd. is a sister MultiValue applications is DesignBais is a tool that can make “appli- company of BA Insurance applications to supported natively within cations look like 2004 and not 1994 tech- Systems, which markets a DesignBais. nology.” In that simple statement, David suite of applications for the a Web McLean, director of DesignBais, sums up international insurance indus- DesignBais allows develop- the appeal of DesignBais. He says that “we try. Its applications have his- environment. ers to design and create are in an age where customers are demand- torically used U2, UniVision, enterprise-wide Web-based ing high-performance, high-quality appli- D3, SB+, and SBClient. applications. Its design tem- 28 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 Peartree Software Redesigns Applications plates allow for the creation of a standard user interface that can be easily applied in the Browser Environment throughout an application or its modules. With drop-down top menus and sidebar PEARTREE SOFTWARE has a lengthy history—dating back menus as a standard feature, user navigation to 1978 — of developing and supporting applications in the MultiValue is simple and intuitive. environment. Recently, it became clear that a change was necessary. DesignBais was designed to allow developers to quickly convert their existing “green David Moser, president of Peartree Software, said the main applications screen” applications to a Web environ- that the company was supporting were badly in need of a total redevel- ment, and provide a superior user interface as well as the high level of functionality opment utilizing the browser environment. He related to Spectrum what MultiValue developers are accustomed to. happened when the company took on this project. “With our product’s interface being an Internet browser, deployment is a breeze, “Our company embarked on a research and development project early and our support costs are significantly in 2002,” he stated. “We investigated a number of development tools reduced,” McLean says. “We can also start to offer deployment of applications via an and attempted to go with a leading-edge and mainstream environment. ASP model, which ultimately reduces the We chose Microsoft .NET. I was expecting to encounter a number of cost of application deployment to our customers, and provides the developer with a learning curve issues and relatively slow development at the start. I never steady and reliable income stream.” imagined that we would encounter the roadblocks and total lack of pro- DesignBais enables rapid development in ductivity that we did. which existing BASIC code can be reused. It incorporates a comprehensive develop- “It was like a breath of fresh air when I was introduced to DesignBais at ment and runtime toolset that doesn’t require MultiValue programmers to learn the Spectrum conference in New Jersey in November 2003 and then Internet programming. A zero client again in Vegas in March 2004. Since we received the first and subse- deployment solution, DesignBais requires no HTA’s, plug-ins or installs at the client quent releases of DesignBais, we have made significant progress. side. Internet Explorer 6 or above is the DesignBais is quick and intuitive for both MultiValue and non-MultiValue only requirement. This makes DesignBais’s programmers. In fact, non-programmers readily pick up most aspects of applications available to everyone immediately; it’s simply a link. development in this environment. DesignBais also runs on all of the major “We expect to be able to bring our RV Dealership application to market MultiValue vendors’ platforms. “This provides the developer with a wide variety of very soon as a result of going with DesignBais. Well done!” choice, which is not available to application providers outside of the MultiValue marketplace,” McLean says. “If our clients optimistic. “I believe that the MultiValue els, barring our user interface and applica- want their application to run on Oracle, it marketplace is poised for a very bright future. tion delivery methods. can. If they want U2 or jBASE or D3, they For years, we have suffered from inadequate can have it. We now have the ability to tai- GUI toolsets for product development. This “Now that we can effectively deliver supe- lor the platform to suit our customer’s has meant that our products do not demon- rior user interfaces to our current and requirements. We are no longer restricted strate well against our competitors. future clients, combined with superior by the database. This means that markets price/performance specifications, we have “We have always provided superior func- that were previously closed to the Multi- a very bright future. In fact, a number of tionality, price competitiveness and lower Value provider aren’t any longer.” support costs, but the seemingly ’old tech- our DesignBais clients are currently experi- Additionally, applications can be easily nology’ interfaces of our products have encing this phenomenon. They are being switched to run multiple languages includ- kept us out of the mainstream.” able to attract large clients that they have ing multi-byte languages like Chinese, been unable to impress in the past.” Weighing in on the ongoing “Is the Multi- which opens up markets that the Multi- Value market shrinking?” debate, McLean With a new crop of tools such as Design- Value industry hasn’t been able to attract in says that he believes the MultiValue market the past, McLean adds. “Our price com- Bais bringing MultiValue applications to has been shrinking for some time. But petitiveness also makes us a more attractive the Web and giving them a more attractive there is a caveat. “I believe that this is proposition for these markets.” user interface, what could be more impres- about to change, and that the MultiValue sive — customers can now have a superior Through being a part of a growing move- marketplace will go through a rebirth over product with an equally attractive price tag. ment in the MultiValue market, DesignBais the next couple of years,” he says. “It’s all has found success, but what about the mar- about our ability to compete in the open “I believe products like DesignBais will ket at large? In general, McLean says his out- market. As I said before, traditionally we help to rejuvenate and revitalize the Multi- look on the MultiValue marketplace is have been the most competitive at all lev- Value market,” McLean concludes. is INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ◆ 29 If you were elected president of a Taking the Pulse of the Q MultiValue database provider, what changes would you make? See first answer. I cannot tell you how A many instances where smaller (up to MultiValue 20 user) customers with legacy systems have told me that relicensing their MV systems in new technology (e.g., moving from R83 or AP to D3) at full list price is more Market expensive than going out and buying a totally new system from some non-MV outfit.The Continued from page 15 core problem is pricing; there is no bell- curve in the pricing model of the industry. two-dimensional, SQL compliant (normal- prices, new entrants are totally excluded, as ized) structure; a MultiValue BASIC language are small users.With “free”at the bottom end Most industry providers think it is absolute- compiler;MultiValue Dictionary object com- of the spectrum, there is a reasonable ly great that they get themselves to an aver- piler; MultiValue Command Language; Multi- chance that new entrants can build a busi- age 30-something port system.This is utter Value Query Language; MultiValue Line ness for themselves, with some eventually foolishness. The reason they are getting to Editor; and more. growing up into large big-ticket companies. 30-something is because with flat-model pricing, virtually no one can/will afford 3 to 20-something port systems, and so do not Are you better off with MultiValue Do you think the market is shrinking, buy these at all. Similarly, because infant- Q today than you were four years ago? Q expanding or staying the same? VARs almost without exception are inca- pable of selling more than 6- to 8-user Our clients are certainly better off with As it has been for almost 15 years, it systems during their first three critical years appears that the overall industry is A MultiValue than they were four years A of business, there is no way for them to be shrinking at a compounded rate of 10% to ago. For example, one of our clients spent successful.The open source/free initiative is 15% a year. about $8 million attempting to rewrite their intended to cure this. mission-critical application to run on Oracle to integrate with other Oracle applications. After three years, they abandoned the proj- Are your own company’s MultiValue Are you better off with MultiValue ect.We converted the MultiValue application Q sales shrinking, staying the same, or Q today than you were four years ago? to run directly on Oracle inside 6 months and expanding? saved them millions of dollars. Our sales continue to grow because A See first answer. A we are in the electronic services niche, solving problems for VARs and users who want to move to data-center based pro- SAM ANDERSON is cessing of their work. DAVID PETERS was president of Easy Computing first introduced to the MultiValue What percentage of your annual sales Co., which offers services market while at Prime with Q are built around the MultiValue market? including mirrored e-mail/ responsibility for the very suc- Web; electronic archiving; dedicated servers cessful U.K. dealer launch of A About 85%. and virtual servers. PI/open.He followed the product when it was acquired by VMark and again had success with Who is your primary MultiValue dealer sales of UniVerse. During his time at Are you optimistic or pessimistic Q database provider? VMark, he sold his first 1,000 user MultiValue Q about the future of the MultiValue None, we currently offer U2, jBASE, market? A and D3 electronic service solutions. database. He also successfully developed the While I have been pessimistic for the We will soon be adding UniVision and QM. General Automation dealer channel in Europe A last 10 years, I am now highly opti- and South Africa for mvBASE. Subsequently, mistic,because a number of people from dif- David developed the European sales channel ferent corners of the community are moving Do you have a strategic plan in place towards either an open-source/GPL or free- Q to migrate your business from for the GA eXpress eTools products.David now MultiValue or are you staying with ports model for the low end of the industry. works from the U.K. branch of jBASE Interna- This is important, because the average MV MultiValue or both? tional,helping to advance the jBASE product in port now approaches a retail cost of $1,000 per seat, when all tools are added in.At such A No; see first answer. both the MultiValue marketplace and beyond.

30 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 Are you optimistic or pessimistic about Do you think the market is shrinking, jBASE International is expanding its Q the future of the MultiValue market? Q expanding or staying the same? A business both through the appointment of Value Added Resellers,either new to jBASE International remains optimistic While it is inevitable that some soft- MultiValue or new to jBASE, new end user about the future of the MultiValue ware suppliers will look to address A A sales and through the continued growth and market.While there will undoubtedly contin- their specific market requirements through success of its longstanding and loyal com- ue to be a metamorphosis of the market, we the incorporation of databases outside of munity of Value Added Resellers. see a convergence of different technologies the traditional MultiValue model, jBASE is that will allow the benefits of MultiValue to be now allowing those suppliers to incorporate At the London Spectrum show there will be enjoyed by a wider audience. these databases through the jBASE jEDI and further announcements that will demon- thus maintain the benefits of MultiValue that strate how this will continue to be achieved jBASE will also continue to lead this change and in fact accelerated. they previously enjoyed. As more and more through the delivery of new versions of the companies adopt the jBASE jEDI approach, jBASE middleware/database/development then it is quite possible that certain segments What percentage of your annual sales environment that address technologies not of the MultiValue market could grow. Q are built around the MultiValue market? previously available to the MultiValue world, such as IBM i5 eServer iSeries (AS/400) and With all the latest Microsoft and Java develop- As one of the major suppliers of Multi- multi-threading. In addition, jBASE is spear- ment facilities, combined with support for A Value databases/middleware/develop- heading the adaptation of MultiValue ben- SQL Server, Oracle and IBM DB2, the jBASE ment environments, jBASE International efits outside the traditional MultiValue database provides the way forward for every- continues to achieve the majority of our world through an extension of the jBASE one wanting to expand their use of MultiValue. annual sales from the MultiValue market. As product family with .NET, conversion and In addition, jBASE allows those who would stated previously,this market remains strong Java technologies. not consider themselves as MultiValue to reap for jBASE and although we will continue to the benefits of MultiValue without moving too diversify, we expect to continue to achieve Unlike the majority of the MultiValue mar- far from their core technology objectives. the majority of our business from MultiValue. ket, jBASE continues to increase market share and, as such, jBASE International fore- In confirming that the majority of jBASE International’s business is in MultiValue, it sees a continuing optimistic outlook for Are your own company’s MultiValue should be noted that the MultiValue market many years to come. Q sales shrinking, staying the same, or for jBASE also includes sales where the expanding? underlying database is SQL Server, Oracle,

Continues on page 46

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ◆ 31 Menus + System Builder Plus is primarily a menu- driven system, but may be command driv- SB en. The menu definition tool allows you to 101 define horizontal, vertical, or free format menus with literal text and graphical lines for your application. The menu tool allows you to add, change or delete menu items SB+ Basics, Part Four very easily. By Danny Passig

Screen Design FIGURE 2 The tutorial on Once you have defined your files and dic- View of the Menu Definition Screen tionaries, you may use the Screen definitions tool to make full or windows size screens. Below is what the menu from Figure 2 SB+ continues, this The screens may contain fields, graphic looks like when it is displayed in SB+. lines or literals. When you design the screens you may use installment covering defaults, validations, field lengths and conversions for each field, which may be taken from the file dictionaries, or you the fundamentals may design these items as needed for each screen. Once you have finished designing the of Screen Design, screen you may place it in a menu or test it immediately. SB+ will build a parameter- Menus, Reports, driven driver to run the screen without the FIGURE 3 need to generate a program. This allows View of Menu you to prototype a screen very quickly and from Figure 2 see how it looks and functions. You can and Processes. change a screen definition and then imme- Continues on page 34 diately run the screen to test the changes.

FIGURE 1 View of a Screen Definition

32 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004

Reports If you wish to use a more powerful and SB+ offers two tools which you can use for sophisticated report writer, use the Report reporting data to the screen, printer, or files. Writer Definitions tool. You may use the ACCESS Report Defin- ition tool to use the operating environ- + ment query language, which makes it very easy and quick to define a report. SB101 There are limitations in the report lay- out if you use this tool as well as limited functionality. SB+ Basics, PartBy Danny Four Passig

Continued from page 32 FIGURE 5 View of the tool menu where you would make a tool selection

This tool caters to all types of reports including pre-printed forms, and you may FIGURE 4 include graphics and special print effects, View of an ACCESS Report Definition which may be embedded anywhere in the report. You may output the report to the screen in a window which allows horizontal and vertical scrolling. Two pass reports may be defined and this allows forward references to other data in the report, for example, percentage calculations.

FIGURE 6 Report definition of CARS.OUT using Report Definition Tool

Processes Processes are the building blocks of SB+. There are 21 different Process types such as Menus, Reports, Input and Output screens. Processes were used to build SB+, which gives you an idea of how powerful they are. There are many ways in which processes may call other processes. For example, in a report definition, you can call other processes at the start of the report, after a read, before and after a break, and at the end of the report.

34 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 value in this variable you can set the action which should be taken when a process is exited, such as return to the previous screen or the top of the screen if you are in an Input screen. Most of the processes in the tools menu (see Figure 5) can be invoked from any input prompt such as /FD(Field Defini- tion), /PD(Process Definition), /MD (Menu Definition) and so on. Figure 7 View showing process slots in a report definition SB+ offers a library of dozens of general processes that perform a variety of useful functions such as DEBUG, which displays Processes and the ease with which they can the current contents of any COMMON be incorporated give the power, elegance, variable; LFK to make active any pre- and flexibility that SB+ provides to you defined set of function keys or Action Bar; when you design an application. or KEYS which will display how the termi- The Process Definition tool is used to nal emulation you are using has mapped define the various process types which you the keys. You can find more information would use for an application. SB+ will about this from the on-line help in the automatically create processes for you technical help menu. when you use other tools; for example, When you first start working with SB+, when you design a screen it will automati- the concept of Processes can be confusing cally create the necessary Input or Output but don't fret, you will soon come to processes. understand them and the power of their flexible interconnectivity as you use the tools more and more. If you need to interface your own BASIC code to an application, there is a library of common subroutines which SB+ uses and you may call any of them to implement the interface. MultiValue Disaster and That is all for this installment of SB+ 101. Archiving Solutions Feel free to email me at passigdanny@ qwest.net if you have any questions about Solutions for D3 , U2, jBase is FIGURE 8 View of the Process this article. 2 to 2,000 users Definition Menu Backup solutions for: PCs and Laptops DANNY PASSIG You may call any process on demand from Windows servers any input prompt. One of the most pow- Linux is a senior software engineer at Natec erful process calls is MP (Modify Process) Unix which detects which process you wish to 1GB to 1TB+ modify by the location of the cursor and Systems. He has 33 years experience in On-site archive servers will automatically invoke the proper Remote archive storage Process Definition that will allow you to the IT field. Danny has done customer Dedicated CoLo servers modify that process, be it a screen, report Disaster plans or other definition attached to the process. software development and system instal- Mirrored solutions I use MP extensively when I work on a sys- Hot-backup solutions tem I didn't develop to find out the inner lations for various businesses, and has Featuring: workings of an application which I am not familiar with. Encrypted communications worked for IBM as a support engineer Secure facilities The SB+ COMMON block allows Redundant servers processes to communicate with each other. for System Builder. He holds a Bachelor’s Redundant networks As a developer you should become inti- Redundant power mately familiar with the variables which Degree in Business Administration/ Managed solutions are in the common block as this will make your job much easier. The RTN.FLAG variable is an example of a variable in the Accounting and a MSCIT from MirroredSolutions.com common block and it is usually set when 800-470-2756 each process is exited. By looking at the Regis University.

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ◆ 35 [REVELATION TECH TIPS]

BY BOB CARTEN, REVELATION SOFTWARE OpenInsight’s Active Tables What is an Active Table? MultiValue products use a table of metadata to describe the information stored in Revelation's active Tables are the topic of this article. The ideas contained one or more data files. This table of metadata is called a dictionary. Each row in are relevant to all flavors of MultiValue databases; the examples are the dictionary table describes a column in the data table. This is a common feature among database products. In most data- specific to Revelation's OpenInsight product. The inspiration for base products the primary role of the dictionary is to enforce the schema, or this article is a recent LinuxWorld conference where this writer organizing rules of the database. Multi- Value dictionaries forsake the role of spent three days evangelizing the benefits of an active table enforcer for a more active role as inter- preter. The flexibility of the dictionaries to members of the Linux community. Some people were and the fact that database columns can manage lists (multivalues) are hallmarks familiar with PICK databases and offered us a hearty of the MultiValue product family.

welcome to Linux; many others, especially the college Fixed Columns Revelation dictionaries provide for fixed, or students, were newcomers to MultiValue concepts. I "F" type columns. Some other MultiValue products call these "A" type correlatives. described how fixed fields correspond to properties, Some more technically minded may call these types of columns Properties of the calculated fields are like methods, and Revelation's MFS table. An interesting feature is that the dictionary allows you to define multiple programs, by intercepting all actions on a table, provide columns pointing to the same physical piece of data. This can be useful for allowing syn- the equivalent of events. In short, our tables play an onyms, or for providing different output conversions for the same data. Generally a active role in collecting and presenting data. It was a developer uses one logical column per physical column in a table; the point is that every column, even the fixed columns, are delight to see newcomers' faces break into a broad smile as actively interpreted by the dictionary and thus actively controlled by the developer. they 'got it.' This article is a reprise of my discussions with

Calculated Columns those Linux developers. I intend to describe the active table as The most obvious example is that MultiValue dictionaries support calculated implemented by Revelation Technologies products, with a focus on columns. Many MultiValue products provide multiple methods for encoding the power of calculated columns. calculations. These methods are often

36 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 called correlatives. In Revelation products User Defined Conversions all calculated columns are encoded in User defined conversions are another Basic+, our scripting language. Revela- feature supported by Revelation prod- tion's calculated fields correspond to I- ucts. User defined conversions corre- Type correlatives. These calculated fields spond to domains in the SQL arena. are full fledged programs that obtain data They can be used to implement custom from other columns in the same or other validation rules and input and output tables, which can call other programs, conversions. Physically they are a subrou- update data, make ODBC calls, and so tine with a specific calling protocol. forth. Tools which query the data via the Revelation's dictionary allows you to dictionary do not distinguish between calculated or stored columns. The active dic- attach your custom conversion to a tionary thus provides a layer of indirection column. Because they affect the storing to implement a logical view of the data and retrieving of data, user defined Figure 1 -The table builder separate from the physical implementation. conversions are another piece of the active table architecture. Revelation MFS Programs products include example custom conversions for phone and zip code validation. Revelation tables provide the developer with the capability to intercept any table Examples action with a program called an MFS. MFS is an acronym for Modifying Filing The rest of the article provides examples System. MFS programs correspond to of creating and maintaining OpenIn- SQL triggers. MFS programs provide a sight's Active tables. very complete level of control on Revela- tion tables, and are often employed to How Do I Create Active Tables? implement field or row level security, The OpenInsight table builder creates encrypted storage, and audit trails. tables. Figure 1 is a screen shot of the Figure 2 - The formula window Detailed examples are available in the tool. Figure 2 is a picture of the detail online help for OpenInsight. window for building calculated columns.

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ◆ 37 OPENINSIGHT’S ACTIVE TABLES Continued from page 37

To create a calculated column you just Call an External Program enter the name in the calculated A calculated field can call any external columns section of the table_builder program. window, double click to get the The following example provides a Attribute Editor, and then enter your soundex lookup on product descriptions. formula. Write the formula in Basic+, Declare function Soundex Revelation's dialect of Pick Basic. Reve- @ans = soundex({DESCRIPTION}) CREDIT CARD INTEGRATION lation's formula processor supplies the current id and the current record in the Aggregate Dates variables @ID and @RECORD. ■ Seamless Integrations into POS, Summarizing data by month, quarter and Order Entry and e-Commerce Columns in the current row are evaluat- year is a common need. ■ ed by enclosing the name in braces, for Single or Multiple Merchants This example will convert an order_date ■ TCP/IP - Secure Internet instance '{FNAME}'. The only rule is to month end date, index this field to ■ Single or Multiple Modems that you must load the result of your sum orders by month. ■ Your Clearinghouse or Ours calculation into the variable '@ANS'. this_date = oconv({ORDER_DATE} 'D4/') ■ VAR Partnerships convert '/' to @fm in this_date Calculated Column Examples next_mm = this_date<1> + 1 Visa ■ MasterCard ■ AMEX Listed below are some examples of what yyyy = this_Date<3> Discover ■ Diners ■ JCB you can do with OpenInsight's Calculat- Debit Cards ■ Custom ed columns. We show just a handful of If next_mm > 12 then ideas of what you can do; there are next_mm = 1 many, many more possibilities. yyyy +=1 end Lookups next_month_Start = 1-866-796-7600 The Translate (Xlate) can look up data Iconv(mm:'/01/':yyyy, 'D') [email protected] in any table. This function is the work- month_end = next_month - 1 www.TotaLinkcc.com horse of calculated fields. Traditionally it @ans = month_end is used in lieu of joining tables. The function uses three variable parame- Automatic Aggregation ters: table name, rowid, and column By concatenating different calculated WEAVER CONSULTING name or number. columns you can synthesize the key to a Your Source for: related table. Revelation products allow For example, to get the customer name you to define a relational index which will ¥ 200+MultiValue UTILITIES! for an order: use this synthetic key to maintain the parent-child tables. For example, to support @ans = Xlate('CUSTOMER', {CUS- ¥ HARDWARE & REHOSTING sales by product by region by month, cre- TOMER_ID}, 'NAME', 'X') ate a set of rollup files with a multi-part ¥ SOFTWARE & PROGRAMMING key of MONTH_DATE*REGION* MultiValue Lookups PRODUCT ¥ ANALYSIS, DESIGN, TRAINING Given a multivalued list of keys, Xlate A calculated field which feeds the returns a multivalued list of results. month_region_product could be Authorized Dealer/Partner for: Multivalued results are traditionally @ans = {ORDER_MONTH}:"*": Raining Data frowned upon in database circles. Forget {SALES_REGION}:"*"{PRODUCT} Monolith Corporation about tradition. For developers of Web Accusoft Enterprises services, methods which return collec- You can extend this idea to create another Zumasys tions evoke smiles, not frowns. column to calculate the key that corre- JBSi sponds to the prior month, then create For example, the formula below looks And Others another column which calculates month- up unit prices for the products on an to-month comparisons. See our catalog, tips, hints & more: order. www.weaver-consulting.com @ans = Xlate("PRODUCT", {PROD- Table Driven Rules or write/call for free catalog UCTS}, "UNIT_PRICE", 'X') Like date aggregation above, use informa- Email: [email protected] tion to calculate relationships rather than storing foreign keys. You can use this MultiValued Operations WEAVER CONSULTING technique to have data roll itself up, or to Calculated fields can build upon one use dynamic relationships to implement 4553 Calumet Court another. Below, the unit prices are used table-driven business rules. Shingle Springs, CA 95682-9378 to create an extended price. 530/676-6052 ¥ Fax 530/676-5675 Calculated keys combined with the Xlate @ans = {UNIT_PRICES} *** {QTYS} function can also let you drive complex

38 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 business rules via lookup tables. I had a HTML Output customer whose service order pricing Generate a hyperlink from the company involved nine levels of logic. By using bin- name to a CGI page of company info. ning techniques, for instance to convert Here we assume a CGI routine named past order volume to "LARGE," "MEDI- infopage which expects the customer_id UM," or "SMALL," we were able to as a parameter. express all of his pricing rules in a set of tables. The unit price of each product was server = Xlate('CONFIG', 'SERVER_URL', 1, 'X') calculated from lookups to these tables. The sales manager maintained the tables. href = server:'/infopage?id=':{CUSTOMER_ID} Pricing policy requires no programming. text = {CUSTOMER_NAME} All of their customers get consistent pricing, so salespeople cannot sell at a loss. @ans= '' : text : '' Implementing Web-based pricing for customers is now possible. or, with some naming conventions for your reports, put a hyperlink in a sum- Selection Rules mary report which will link to the A selection rule lets a user Use a single detail_report supporting the total. Boolean column rather than a family of nested selects. This makes life easier for server = Xlate('CONFIG', 'SERVER_URL', 1, 'X') the developer or user who creates these path = '/reports/':{CUSTOMER_ID}:'_':{MONTH}:'_detail.htm' fields just once, and makes life easier on href = baseurl:path the user who is creating the report. text = Oconv({TOT_SALES}, 'MD2$,') For instance, a customer incentive pro- @ans= '' : text : '' gram could have very complex rules:

* Did Sales Manager plug in a manual award? Note that Revelation allows you to is_winner = {MANUAL_AWARD} index calculated fields. Indexed searches if is_winner else are fast. Note too that I am querying is_winner = ( {status} = "ACTIVE") the XML without disrupting it. Thus, I end am able to provide very fast searches of XML data without needing to break it if is_winner then apart. This capability is useful if you order_threshold = Xlate("REWARDS", {THIS_MONTH}, "THRESHOLD", 'X') want to use your MultiValue database is_winner = ( {MONTH_TO_DATE_ORDER_AMT} >= threshold ) as a message router or transient data end store in a Web service application. if is_winner then overdue_amt = Xlate("CUSTOMERS", {CUSTOMER}, "OVERDUE_AMT", 'X') Conclusion is_winner = not( overdue_amt ) I could provide many more examples. end Calculations which use Revelation's @ans = is_winner ODBC connections to look up factors in external databases, columns which By storing the criteria as a rule you can Using a family of columns like this, if use a socket connection and the Google test the rule without needing to run the you spool a set of reports to your Web API to validate phone numbers or family of programs which implement the server, you'll have an intranet site com- addresses, columns which use OLE rewards. You can create a screen to test the prising hundreds of cross linked pages objects or DLL calls to manipulate rule one record at a time. corresponding to your month-end XML, and so forth. If you can program reports, where users can drill through the it, you can implement it as a method A variation on this theme is to use calculated data as needed. fields to route work on a shop floor based bound to a table. Enormous capability on the status of the job, priority of the work, is encapsulated behind a simple inter- current load on the machines, etc. Parse XML face: if a screen uses a column, or if a Multivalued databases store data as report uses a column, then the method executes for each row selected. The Assertions delimited strings. XML stores data as delimited strings. A natural fit. If you are concept of encapsulating methods, or I often put a column named storing XML as rows in a table, you can services, behind a simple interface is a 'BAD_DATA' into each of my important create calculated fields to extract the ele- guiding principle of the Service Orient- files. The column contains a series of tests. ments you need. ed Architecture, or SOA. SOA is the The result is a code for any failed test. I current architecture of choice for Web run a daily or weekly report like LIST Declare function Parse_Xml services or distributed applications. CUSTOMERS WITH BAD_DATA BY @ans = Parse_Xml(@record, 'COMPA- MultiValue database products are ideal BAD_DATA BREAK-ON BAD_DATA' is NY_NAME') engines to power this architecture.

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 ◆ 39 History of WhereWhereMultiValue AreAre TheyThey Now?Now? 25 Most Influential People in PICK Part 2

Memoirs: Painting a Colorful Picture of PICK’s Past and Projecting Its Future

In the July/August issue of Spectrum magazine, our ongoing series "Where

Are They Now?" featured the "25 Most Influential People in PICK" from 1989.

It took a while, but after locating 20 of the 25, we were fortunate that 16 of

them were willing to be interviewed in a candid and open fashion—sharing not

only their career movements and current whereabouts (last issue), but also

their personal memories about the past and their unreserved opinions about

the future for the MultiValue market (this issue). And so in Part 2, we re-intro-

duce some of our most influential people in the PICK market and bring you a

little closer into their unique personalities, attitudes and experiences in the

history of MultiValue. Continues on page 42

40 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 25 Most Influential People in PICK, 1989 International Spectrum Magazine, 1989

1 NEIL BARRY 13 STEVE KRUSE 1989: Manager of Advanced Hardware Development, 1989: VP and General Manager, Pick Systems Inc. General Automation Today: Co-Founder/Partner, Software Nation Inc., Today: Could not be located Irvine, Calif.

2 JOE BURKE 14 LEN MACKENZIE 1989: Director of Prime INFORMATION, Prime Computer Inc. 1989: CEO, General Automation Inc. Today: VP of Marketing, Exact Software Inc., Norfolk, Mass. Today: Retired, living in Dallas, Texas 15 3 LYNN CARTER EDMOND MARCHEGAY 1989: Director of Systems Engineering, Edgcore Technology 1989: President and Vice Chairman, IN2 (Intertechnique) Today: Management of Software Systems Development Facul- Today: Could not be located ty, Carnegie Mellon University 16 RANDY NAYLOR 4 BRIAN CLEGG 1989: Founder and President, Northeast Data Systems 1989: Director and Co-Founder, Clegg Driscoll Consultants Today: Could not be located Today: Owner, Clegg Web Systems, Australia 17 RICHARD PICK 5 NICK DRESHER 1989: Founder and President, Pick Systems Inc. 1989: Chairman and Managing Director, Universal Com- Today: Deceased puters Ltd. (UCL) 18 TED SABARESE Today: Could not be reached 1989: President and Chairman of the Board, 6 HENRY EGGERS The Ultimate Corp. 1989: Department Manager, Reality OS, McDonnell Dou- Today: A partner in five restaurants and an air conditioning glas Computer Systems Company company in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Today: Retired in Southern California 19 IAN SANDLER 7 BILL FREEMAN 1989: Director of PICK Development, Sanyo/Icon Interna- 1989: President, McDonnell Douglas Computer tional Systems Company Today: Consultant, Florida Today: Could not be located 20 JONATHAN SISK 8 GUS AND MONICA GIOBBI 1989: President and Founder, JES & Associates 1989: Owners of IDBMA Inc. (International Spectrum Today: President and Founder, JES & Associates magazine and tradeshows) 21 PAUL THOMPSON Today: Different address, same business! 1989: Chairman and Managing Director, 9 TIM HOLLAND Sanderson Electronics Plc. 1989: VP, PICK Development, Sequoia Systems Inc. Today: Involved in a number of companies in the U.K. Today: Retired in Ajijic, Mexico and Australia 22 10 JOHN HOWORTH JUDD VAN DERVORT 1989: VP, OEM Sales, McDonnell Douglas Computer 1989: President and Founder, Keystone Information Systems Systems Company Today: Still active in Keystone Today: Senior Vice President, Metron-Athene Inc., 23 WAYNE WAHLENMEIER Laguna Hills, Calif. 1989: VP and General Manager, Fujitsu Microsystems 11 DEANN JELINEK of America Inc. 1989: Manager of Marketing Support, Datatel Mini Com- Today: Jupiter Systems, San Leandro, Calif. puter Co. Inc. 24 ROBIN WHITE Today: Director, Software Development Best Practices and Training Services, Datatel Inc. 1989: VP and General Manager, Systems Division, ADDS/NCR 12 RICHARD JOWITT Today: Retired, living in Florida and New York 1989: Group Chief Executive, EDP Plc. 25 Today: Chief Executive and Managing Director, EDP Plc. BILL WULFF 1989: President and Co-founder, Laguna Software Today: Owner, Orcas Net Inc., Eastsound, Wash.

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ◆ 41 History of Joe Burke MultiValue “The most colorful memories I have of those days were the things that went on at the annual Spectrum trade shows—both Where Are on the show floor and in the private parties and meetings behind the scenes. The executives of the many companies, plus Dick Pick himself, were robust, playful and They Now? spontaneous people and they knew how to Continued from page 40 have fun. I saw scantily-clad rappers and dancers in the Pick Systems booth, a cold keg of beer after show hours in the Sequent Remembering the Past booth and, in some cases, dancing on the tables at private parties.” When asked to recount interesting anecdotes, notable events Brian Clegg or just plain-old funny memories from their careers in the early “I remember lots of parties at Spectrum— well, maybe not all of them if you know PICK days, the 25 Most Influential were prolific in their what I mean. And some wonderful times with the people at ADDS. Robin White story-telling. Here are some highlights of our industry’s history used to ring me regularly at about 7:30 a.m. Sydney time and it was not uncommon for him to ask me to keep talking while he ... as told by those who were there to remember. drove into Manhattan, to keep him awake! The things you do for your supplier!”

42 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 Tim Holland place my bet, above the line as I remember — or was it below the line? Anyway, I put PICK “In the early 1980s, IBM was interested in down two chips and then realized one was PICK for their new personal computer PROFESSIONAL a $100 chip. I went to retrieve the chip, line. They sent two senior V.P.’s to Califor- Don’t make the mistake of placing only to get my knuckles rapped by the man nia to meet with Dick and try to negotiate your career in the hands of just ANY with the long cane. Eventually I ‘took the search firm. We are professionals who some sort of deal. Dick was unimpressed odds’ and won $8,000. The words ‘quit understand the importance of CONFI- with the idea and preferred to think he was DENTIALITY and RESPECT of a job while you are ahead’ immediately sprang going to crush IBM when ‘he really got search, and our database of clients is to mind and I did! Ted played on until the one of the largest in the country. going.’ The day the IBM folks were to Unlike the rest, we will work in YOUR early hours I was told, and won back his visit, Dick brought in a new toy he had best interests’ to help you further your $40,000.” career. Because of our dedication and just discovered to share with the whole professionalism, we are recognized as office. Despite my best efforts, when the the leaders in the PICK/UniVerse/Unida- IBM executives arrived, Dick was upside Steve Kruse ta placement industry in the Tri-State “I was always amazed that I could go any- area and throughout the U.S. So if you down in a gravity swing and insisted on are tired of putting yourself at the shaking their hands from his inverted posi- where in the world and find a PICK install mercy of the rest. tion. At the time I thought it was the dark- — whether it was Russia, China, Japan, CALL THE BEST! Contact... est kind of humor, but it sure was colorful Europe, South America, you name it. One Matt Hart and quite indicative of Dick Pick’s person- of the few times I took a personal vacation ality. Fortunately, I can laugh at it today.” with my fiancée, we went to a Hayman EXECU-SYS, LTD Island resort in Australia. It was very 1 Penn Plaza, Suite 3306 For a different perspective on this story, remote and exclusive — just the place to New York, NY 10119 read on: get away from work. However, as it turned (212) 967-0505 out, the entire resort (which took up the (800) 423-1964 x 302 Wayne Wahlenmeier entire island) was run on a PICK-based Fax: (212)947-8593 Email: [email protected] “I remember the time IBM flew to Orange system, from reservations to provisioning, County to meet with Dick Pick. They maintenance, etc. When the resort’s man- Consultants Needed Nationwide arrived about one hour early for the meet- ager found out I was a top executive at Pick ing. Dick had brought in a temporary Systems, he upgraded our room, took us to receptionist for the occasion. While he was dinner in one of their fine restaurants, and waiting for the IBM VIP’s to arrive, Dick treated us like royalty. Of course, in the assembled his latest toy, an inversion end, he wanted to get a free upgrade.” machine. Thinking he had a little over one hour before their arrival, he stripped down Ian Sandler to his shorts and socks and got into the “[My best memory is] attending Dick machine. Once he was upside down he Pick’s first presentation of Open Architec- realized he hadn’t calibrated it correctly so ture in 1985, and writing what was proba- there was no way he could get upright by bly the first-ever PICK virus during that himself. While he was hanging there pon- presentation. The program I wrote (in dering his fate, the new receptionist — Basic) looked to see how many phantom instead of calling back and informing him copies of itself were running, and made that IBM was out front — just brought sure that at least 20 copies were sitting there them back to his office, finding our fearless sleeping. Each copy woke up every five sec- leader helplessly hanging by his heels! They onds, looked around, and started enough helped him get right side up, he got extra copies running to bring the total back dressed and the rest is history.” to 20. Basically, these processes were completely benign, and really didn’t use any system resources. To get rid of them, someone Richard Jowitt only needed to look at the program, see the “I was in Vegas in the early 1980s attend- name of the record that was being checked ing an Ultimate dealer meeting. Ted that would cause them to stop if it existed, [Sabarese] was at the craps table and about and create that record. Instead, Dick saw $40,000 down. He encouraged me to play them, panicked, tried to force a log-off, and this game, which I did not understand. I ended up crashing the entire system so had won a few dollars and mixed in with badly it wouldn’t boot again.” my chips was a $100 chip. I was advised to Continues on page 44

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ◆ 43 History of mainstream relational databases. On the MultiValue negative side, way too few people outside our community have any idea of what we can and do contribute.” Where Are BRIAN CLEGG: “No, mainly because of the people it attracted. Most of us were not ‘mainstream’ in that we just wanted something that did the job. I always remember a customer survey we did and They Now? one of the questions was, ‘What system do Continued from page 43 you use?’ More than one user responded ‘Wyse’ because they were the terminals we Foretelling the Future were using at the time. I think if it had been Of the 16 people interviewed for this article, only three have IBM they would have known.” officially retired from the business, while six of the "most HENRY EGGERS: “No! All these weird little guys went out and bought this influential" are no longer in the MultiValue marketplace at all. machine one at a time, and they just didn’t Of those we found, nine are still involved in this industry, and tell their competitors about it.” six still have the same job they did when the article was written IAN SANDLER: “No. The main reason is that it probably had the most 15 years ago! In this section, we asked these current and ex- abysmal marketing of any computer software product ever. The best chance was PICK professionals to be frank and forthright with their per- when Prime was rocking with their version sonal opinions, reflections and predictions for the MultiValue of Prime INFORMATION. That was a great product with mediocre marketing, market. The following four questions were asked: and there are still hundreds of sites run- ◆ ning it to this day. Ultimate came closest. Do you think the PICK (MultiValue) market ever made They had better marketing and a signifi- it to the mainstream? cantly worse product, and would probably ◆ have succeeded but for their management Who, of the seven providers left, will make it? Who won’t? problems. I could go on forever on this ◆ Is there still opportunity in the MultiValue market? subject, but won’t. It’s too depressing. Most licensees either didn’t know the dif- ◆ Is the MultiValue market dead or alive? ference between sales and marketing, or didn’t have the resources to do both. Pick Systems spent its resources trying to com- close enough. With the IBM seal of HIGHLIGHTS OF THEIR pete with its licensees, rather than trying to approval we no longer have to defend the RESPONSES FOLLOW: support them and grow the marketplace, old renegade label.” Do you think PICK (MultiValue) and was probably most responsible for lim- Q ever made it to the mainstream? STEVE KRUSE: “Yes. Of course, iting the product’s success.” this all depends on your personal expecta- RICHARD JOWITT: “No. PICK JOE BURKE: “Yes. PICK and its tions. If you compare the PICK market to missed the boat before the arrival of derivative technologies and services Windows or UNIX or any of the leading Microsoft. A lot of bright but incredibly became internationally known and drove database systems like Oracle, then, of greedy people were involved at the outset billions of dollars in total business revenue, course, we were smaller. However, there is — all of whom had little or no vision. not to mention the business value it deliv- more PICK than Sybase or many other sys- Dick was happy to continue to receive his ered to its users for decades. In that sense it tems that can claim to be mainstream. license fees, and those who implemented was as mainstream, if not more so, than Overall, PICK found a niche in the market MultiValue were happy to profit from the many technologies.” and withstood the test of time, lasting sale of hardware and the DBMS. I had decades when other products have long fierce arguments with Dick about all of LYNN CARTER: “Yes, of course it since come and gone.” this but his only answer was that ‘he was did. Thousands of firms used PICK solu- not the telephone company!’” tions and they trusted their business to TIM HOLLAND: “Barely. While these applications. How more ‘mainstream’ we have had several clear shots at breaking ROBIN WHITE: “No. It was a can you be?” into the mainstream, I think we only ever closed proprietary technology, when the got to the edges of it. On the positive side, world was looking for open technology. BILL WULFF: “Yes. As an IBM-sup- a successful port is owned and marketed by But even if there had been the potential for ported product running on Linux, and a IBM. And there are numerous imitators it to be mainstream, I think Dick Pick, his vast variety of hardware, I think it’s as and emulators, including MultiValue func- quirky personality and desire for control, mainstream as it’s going to get and it’s tions being imbedded into most of the would have prevented it from happening.”

44 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 Who, of the seven providers left, there has to be a dozen firms looking to Q will make it? Who won’t? squeeze more performance from as small an operation as possible. Companies are in LYNN CARTER: “I find it fascinat- business to serve their customers, not as a NEEDED ing that I only recognize one name on the ploy to justify a huge IT organization. I list. My, how the world changes.” have to believe this opportunity will always PICK PROGRAMMERS HENRY EGGERS: “As far as I can be there and I see no reason why PICK for Florida, California, Atlanta tell, all of the providing being done is by IBM.” shouldn’t be serving it.” New Jersey, Nashville, Denver, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Texas, TIM HOLLAND: “From my per- BRIAN CLEGG: “We had a lot of Philadelphia, St. Louis, Michigan, and spective, only three have a good chance of success in the Australian market selling New York City long-term commercial success: Northgate business solutions, which included all of the 1-800-949-5423 because of its internal strengths and needs financials. Then along came Oracle Finan- Chuck Okeson, Software Search and a successful application business; IBM cials, SAP, etc., and competing was tough. I 770-934-5138 • FAX: 770-939-6410 because of its name value and installed doubt that has changed significantly.” [email protected] base; and Revelation because of its PC HENRY EGGERS: “Yes, 25 years focus and installed base. All the others sim- after we all thought it would be dead! ply strike me as too small and/or too Building XML output and input files are uncommitted.” slam dunk [in MultiValue] ... so I see lots of opportunity.” years from now we’ll still be saying the IAN SANDLER: “The odds are same thing. Live long and prosper.” that all of them will stay around for some TIM HOLLAND: “Sure there is. time yet. Every one of these products You can still build the world’s best applica- IAN SANDLER: “The PICK prod- works well enough to do the job, and do it tions in impossibly short timeframes on ucts are still very much alive. They are living like a fungus underneath lots and lots for a lower cost of ownership than their any of the MultiValue platforms. You can of businesses. You don’t hear much about non-PICK alternatives. Long term, they still support that application through numerous business rule changes with fewer them per se, but go into a car dealership or will remain viable as long as the VARs who a college or have credit problems and you use them are viable and able to sign more people than on any other platform. This is our raison d’existance, and we should will probably see one at work. Unfortu- new prospects each year than they lose to never forget it. If the industry is spending nately, the PICK marketplace appears to be competitors. Fortunately, most competi- 4 to 5 percent of gross on IT, those using brain dead because nobody is actively mar- tion comes from the Microsoft world MultiValue can feel darned righteous that keting our virtues to new VARs.” where doing anything semi-complicated they’re generally doing a much better job RICHARD JOWITT:“MultiValue with large amounts of complex data is with a 0.4 to 0.8 percent of gross!” will survive as long as applications are run- harder than pinning the tail on the donkey IAN SANDLER: “The opportunity ning, but where are the new applications while blindfolded, or it would have all and new applications developers? Without been over long ago.” for PICK is the same as it has always been. Someone who is a competent marketer will new applications, MultiValue dies. And with free of charge products available such STEVE KRUSE: “Hard question to gain control over one of these versions and as the PostgreSQL DBMS, why would you answer because it makes it sound like none sell it as a reliable and simple way for non- pay for MultiValue?” of them have made it. The fact that most of computer geeks to develop new business these software companies have been around solutions. jBASE is trying. IBM isn’t— STEVE KRUSE: “It’s obviously for years is a testament to their staying although their products are excellent, and alive and many people are still milking the powers. Of the seven, Raining Data should could easily be packaged for use by ‘non- cow. However, it’s not growing and aware- be in the driver’s seat, but none of them PICKies.’ (System Builder is one example ness is at an all-time low. Ten years ago you have a clue how to market their products of their lost opportunity.)” could find people in the industry that had and services to the real world.” at least heard of PICK. These days, no one RICHARD JOWITT: “All is a tale ROBIN WHITE: “I would certainly has heard of PICK, certainly none of the of missed opportunity.” expect IBM to survive long-term, but not new developers and VARs in this market.” in MultiValue. The other participants are ROBIN WHITE: “I think it’s just PAUL THOMPSON: “It’s very only fringe players and will go away soon- the opportunity to ‘survive’ for a few much alive. Many superb application soft- er or later ... but I am constantly amazed at more years.” ware packages thrive on the PICK/Multi- their persistence in the marketplace.” Value database.” ROBIN WHITE: “It certainly isn’t a Is the MultiValue market dead growth market, although certain Multi- or alive? Is there still opportunity in the Q Value application vendors may be doing MultiValue market? Q TIM HOLLAND: It’s alive and still OK. I would say MultiValue is still kick- LYNN CARTER: “For every firm growing, but it’s also still ‘one of the ing a little but is enjoying a surprisingly with more money than common sense, world’s best kept secrets.’ I suspect that 20 long, slow death.” IS

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ◆ 45 Taking the Pulse of the

MultiValue sion of additional elements of the jBASE product family that will benefit both market segments. Examples of these include the fact that jBASE uniquely enables MultiValue Market applications to be deployed onto IBM OS390 mainframes and the IBM i5 eServer Continued from page 31 iSeries (AS/400).

Cache or IBM DB2 as well as classic hashed As stated previously, jBASE already has a strong presence outside the classic files. This is as a result of the jBASE tech- A Are you better off with MultiValue MultiValue database market though support nologies, such as jEDI, discussed previously. today than you were four years ago? for SQL Server, Oracle and other RDBMS Q databases. However, jBASE also continues to We are seeing a convergence of tech- What percentage of your annual sales grow inside the classic MultiValue market nologies and markets from which the are derived from existing MultiValue A Q and remains fully committed to this. During successful parties will be those companies customers? the past two years the family of jBASE prod- that can adopt the best of both markets.This jBASE International has a strong and ucts has grown to incorporate new technolo- is directly in line with jBASE International’s A loyal user community of Value Added gies and utilities (further definitions of these strategic plans and as such allows jBASE Resellers and end users who provide grow- may be found at www.jBASE.com). This Value Added Resellers and end users to ing year-on-year sales and support revenues. growth in the product family provides signif- maintain a leadership position and exceed In addition, growth from Value Added icant long-term benefits to our customers growth plans across the MultiValue and non- Resellers and end users that are new to both inside and outside the traditional Multi- MultiValue markets. Value market. jBASE continues to be strong. The expanded jBASE product family certainly At present, jBASE International’s long-term means that MultiValue Value Added Resellers and Do you have a strategic plan in place to plans include the continuing commitment end users have a far stronger future and greater Qmigrate your business from MultiValue to the classic MultiValue market, further opportunity today, through the adoption of or are you staying with MultiValue or both? expansion outside this market and the inclu- jBASE products,than at any time in the past. is

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46 ◆ INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 news OHM Targets up a contract as Managing Director of Australia. “We have just scratched the Australasian Compuware Inc.’s Australia and New surface with our introduction to this Market; Opens Zealand operation, and was available market,” said Catherine Anbil, vice to take on the OHM opportunity. president of OHM (USA) and one of New Offices in Austin commented: “I am extremely the team members setting up Australia Australia excited to be involved again in an operations. “Once we have local users application business, and especially of our products, we believe our growth pleased to be associated with a robust rate will set new records for installing and technologically advanced package a complete application solutions pack- such as OHM’s ERP/MRP offerings, age to this part of the world. We have plus the many other service and prod- found that most offerings to Australia uct opportunities that OHM will bring are packages that once installed require

Austin Driscoll, who has many years of experience to the Asian Pacific market.” continued modification to meet the in the MultiValue industry, will head OHM’s new Australia-based offices. day-to-day business demands of the OHM USA employees will be attend- client. OHM’s offerings are a complete, OHM Systems, a leader in ing another Spectrum conference in mature environment with only some ERP/MRP Web-centric application Sydney and Melbourne in October of personalization to each installation.” development solutions and other sup- this year. They will be taking advantage porting products for Web-centric envi- of this trip to Australia to begin instal- To learn more about these ronments, has officially opened lations of new clients and to transition and other offerings by OHM makers business offices in Sydney, Australia. the local support and implementation SYSTEMS, visit its Web site at processes to the OHM service team of www.ohmworld.com. In October 2003 OHM attended a well-received Spectrum trade show that targeted the MultiValue companies of Australia’s regions. OHM’s Web-centric Profit-Hound Promotes a application development environment MultiLingual View of MultiValue (tool for developers and large end Recently a new company was formed, Profit-Hound, LLC, propos- users to move their telnet applications ing what it considers to be a fresh perspective on the use of MultiVal- to a true Web environment) generated ue in business. much excitement among the MultiVal- ue developers. Additionally OHM had Thomas Goble, principal of Profit-Hound, puts it this way: “Many made contact with several manufactur- business owners don’t speak ‘geek.’ Likewise, their IT managers don’t speak ’business owner.’ This creates problems when, down the road, ing companies to demo OHM’s exist- the bottom line needs to be met.” ing feature-rich Web-centric application. From those demonstra- In Goble’s opinion, a MultiLingual approach to MultiValue would ben- tions, contracts for installing the OHM efit all parties involved. He cited this example. A client was forfeiting application have started. OHM 20-30% a year from inventory. They had excess inventory and insuffi- cient control. Money was eroding with no end in sight. Technology returned in June of this year to finalize did not understand inventory factors, Management did not communi- contracts with some of the application cate effectively with Technology, Operations wanted results. MultiVal- users and to further develop relation- ue seemed like the logical answer, if only all parties could understand, ships throughout Australia and the and agree, on a MultiValue solution. Facilitation, communication, and a Asia Pacific Rim areas. bottom-line mindset were essential. Goble served that purpose, speci- fying MITS. During the June trip to search for local talent to head up OHM’s Australia As Goble explains, he was fortunate to accumulate the experience he has in order to provide it to businesses. He adds, “Most companies location, OHM was reintroduced to an can look within and find someone on staff who has the actual experi- industry trendsetter from the early ence or potential to serve in a MultiLingual MultiValue capacity.” '80s, Austin Driscoll of Clegg Driscoll Consultants, which had a successful Goble’s background includes IT director, operations manager, finan- MultiValue application running on a cial officer, vice president of a regional wholesale distributor, and leader of two regional software user groups. variety of hardware platforms. After selling their company to the Sanderson For more information, please contact Thomas Goble at Group, Driscoll and Clegg went their (888) 300-9368 or www.profit-hound.com separate ways. Austin had just finished

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004 ◆ 47