.. _-_ ... _---- ..• _.. --_._- ;-=-AC~A;;...;;.HN=ER..;.;::;..S .:....;;;PU..::;.::BL;.;..;;;;ICA;....;.;..JI;..;:;..;ON~ ______-----.,;.1....;.;.;.12...;...;:TO~TA;;;;..;..L ~.;....;;.;;AG=ES ______ -::::.fI"I!~ __-4-~:....:;~, How IS Managers Are. Getting Bigger Bangs For the Buck PAGE 20 I 'N N I 0 N ...:t' '0 0" ...... ("'r'\ I-t: « u 1°'-' 0 c r- 0 oz. u '-" ..... .-oJ .... ~...J C/J Also in This Issue: 1..'"'. r<7;1-- cia r'\.J U.! U! ::: L!" I-~ ~" v, C .... ~ ,to -' Imagi'ng: The Challenge of Integration.PAGE27 r.. ~-I ,...~< -.(;H(.":':-;- r' . c.: u.; C !:!" (/:: The ASj400: IBM's Proprietary Paradox PAGE 41 o :":. :::~ •. - C C --'r;c....HQ..-l I The New Generation of Network Servers PAGE 54 What's Your Strategy for Buying PCs? PAGE 69 s H A R p p o I N T Our point is simple: We want you to look sharp-as a CIO and as a company. That's why we work hard to provide answers fast and to create affordable systems software that's immediately productive for your business. We don't draw the line on performance, because your bottom line depends on it. LAN OM!RK '" 8000 Towers Crescent Drive Vienna, VA 22182-2700 Circle 3 on Reader Card (703) 893-9139 (800) 227-8911 IBM® has a great idea. UNIX, MACs~ etc., so your IBM computers can They're talking abou t getting their SM data­ share data with non-IBM machines as well. bases to talk to each other. ORACLE is also an open DBMS, with gateways But all they have been able to do so far is to data stored in other vendors' database manage­ to get one MVS machine running DB2 to talk to ment and file systems, such as IBM's DB2 and IMS, another MVS machine running DB2. and DEC's RMS~ ORACLE® Version 6 turns all the talk into Now users can access data stored in different action. databases on different computers with the same ORACLE is both open and distributed. So ease as if all the data were stored in a single data­ organizations can integrate different computers, base on a single computer. operating systems, networks - even different data­ ORACLE is backed by the largest support base management systems - into a cooperative organization in the software industry. Nearly half of computing and information sharing environment. our B,OOO employees are specialists, experienced . This preserves investments in existing hardware in applying a particular technology, such as and software, and gives users the networking or database design, freedom to introduce new techno­ to a specific industry, such as logy from any vendor. Insurance or aerospace. Because ORACLE is a distributed If you want to get your IBMs DBMS, it provides transparent data talking to each other, and everyone sharing between IBM computers else, talk to us. CallI-BOO-ORACLEl, running MVS, VM and OS/2~ ext. 8281 for the Oracle Sales ORACLE also runs on VAX™VMS, Office near you. ©1990 Oracle Corporation. ORACLE is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. SQLand SQL'Connect are trademarks of Oracle Corporation. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. OS/2 and DB2 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. VAX and RMS are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation. Mars (Macintosh) is a registered trademark of Apple Computer Inc. UNIX is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories. Other companies mentioned own numerous registered trademarks. CalII·BOO·ORACLE I for hardware and software requirements. ORACLE0 Compatibility. Portability· Connectability 2 DATAMATION-JULY 15. 1990 JULY15,1990 I VOLUME 36 NUMBER 14 DATAMATllOl\l FOR MANAGERS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WORLDWIDE IS executives look for a careful balance in their evaluation of costs and competitiveness. Getting a Grip on Costs 20 BY RALPH CARLYLE Is the boss on your back about how much your IS department is spending? Can't figure out a way to cut back any further without hurting operations? Relax! The efficiency experts are on the way. Cover photography by David Bradley SOFTWARE IMAGING PROFILE The Challenge of SAS: Architecting an Integration 27 Open Strategy 35 BY DAVID STAMPS Image technology BY PAUL PINELLA For the past six years, keeps getting better, but building image SAS Institute has quietly built a $1 00 million applications remains a considerable software architecture, and now it's telling the challenge. At issue is how to integrate world. But can the company use its new­ tomorrow's imaging systems with today's found flexibility to keep growing in the brave business-critical applications. new world of PCs and workstations? Bristol-Myers' Gilson is having a tough time Proctor & Gamble's Esposito applauds SAS' finding image systems at departmental prices. responsiveness to customer needs. INSIGHTS ON DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING The Northwest application We are reevaluating the We're talking about a fairly represents a much broader role of our mainframe on large piece of the budget in use of image. Different da- the network-the PCs, because a PC is an inte- tabases, different data SystemPRO could give our grated component. You types, expert systems, a Unisys AS mainframe a run have to consider the fully number of different for its money. We will bundled costs involved software technologies are certainly be moving more such as software, support, all tied together at the of the processing onto our conSUlting, the controller workstation level using a network. port, the LAN client/server, open administration and the Frank Musick systems architecture. Franke Contract Group chunk of the mainframe. PAGE 54 Bob Castle Peter Daboul FileNet Corp. Mass Mutual PAGE 27 PAGE 69 DATAMATION-JULY 15. 1990 3 Makin The Same Lool( ifferent Applications built using ORACLE Tools automatically adapt to multiple user inteifaces. Developing a program that runs on other workstations. Even character and SQL*Forms 3.0 and SQL*Menu 5.0 the entire spectrum of PCs, Macs, Suns block mode terminals. All without will support both current and emerging and other workstations is next to changing a single line of code. interface standards. X/Motif, impossible. Because each computer' The key to this interface independence DECwindow8, Macintosh, Presentation has its own graphic user interface is Oracle's adaptable look and feel Manager, MS Windows, Next Step, as (GUI), developers must spend months technology that translates "generic" well as character and block mode rewriting each application for each interface operations into the native terminals. incompatible Gill. windowing system of different Call1-800-0RACLEI, Ext. 8202 and Unless the applications are built with environments. So a single application receive the free Oracle Tools Information Oracle Tools. can be easily deployed across an entire Kit. It includes demonstration diskettes An application developed with organization's PCs, Macs, workstations and product information illustrating the Oracle Tools automatically adapts to and terminals. All without recoding. full capabilities of SQL*Forms and the native look and feel of the computer SQL*Menu. on which it runs. PCs, Macs, Suns or Developing applications will never be the same. Or different. Compatibility· Portability· Connectability ORACLE is a names referenced are the service mark, or registered trademark of the respective manufacturer. Call1-ouv-v''''vL<: I for hardware and software requirements. DATAMATiON"FOR MANAGERS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WORLDWIDE SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT MIDRANGE COMPUTERS PC PURCHASING IBM's Proprietary What's Your Strategy Paradox 41 For Buying PCs? 69 BY CHRIS SIVULA Conventional wisdom BY JANETTE MARTIN All those PCs in holds that IBM's AS/400 cannot compete in your company may now represent your a world of open systems and plug-and-play largest technology asset. Should you hardware and software. But new data from continue to buy or should you lease? And the 1990 DATAMATION/Cowen & Co. what's to be done with all those older PCs? survey suggest otherwise. PARALLEL PROCESSING Teradata Revs Up Its Database Machine BY TOM McCUSKER Pioneer database machine builder Teradata thinks it has a better mousetrap for processing big relational databases. Early reports look good, butthe company will have to fend off IBM and Japan. Teradata's Simonds recalls the first database computer produced in 1984. COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKING The New Generation of Network Servers 54 BY LEILA DAVIS Personal computers have been used to facilitate simple file and peripheral sharing, but now a new generation CAREER DEVELOPMENT of server hardware is emerging that promises to do much more. Learning to Cure Technical Obsolescence 75 BY WILLIAM A. WOODWARD A commitment by IS employees and their employers to ongoing education can help eradicate a lapse in professional development that often strikes professionals after the age of40. STANDARDS INTERNATIONAL Measuring OLTP With FRANCE Better Yardstick A PC Refugee Arises in France BY OMRI SERLIN The two-year-old 79 Transaction Processing Performance Council BY TREVOR HUGGINS If adversity breeds is creating a benchmark by setting standards strength, France's newest personal in an area ripe with conflict and disagree­ computer maker, Pekin Stone, promises to be ment-the sensitive and competitive area of a powerhouse. It's founders won't give up computer performance measurement. their revolutionary vision. DEPARTMENTS Inside Look Ahead 19 Company Index 104 DATAMATION 8 New Products 85 Ad Index 104 Letters, Access, Career Planner 12 Opportunities 94 DATAMATION-JULY 15, 1990 5 It's not surprising that two can sometimes accomplish things that one never could. What is surprising, however, is just how bene­ ficial the merger of McCormack & Dodge and Management Science America (MSA) promises to be. Together they are combining their talents and energies, along with an unprecedented wealth of experience, to form D&B Software. On march 1,1990 mSA SOftWare Merged wnh mcConnaClllDOdge To Become Dun I Bradstreet SOftware.