by Jeff Tash was in Summit, President PdJ on Tuesday, Database Decisions December 22, visiting UMX he last thing stem Labora- IBM did right L) on the day that 's acquisi- though RDBMS tion of USL was pub- products such as Or- licly announced. acle and Ingres were Novell's interest in introduced long before as a counterweight to 's impending Win- lBMfs entry into the dows NT had not been a se- market, the truth is that rela- cret. Prior to this merger, tional technology never really Novell and USL had formed a soared in popularity until jointly held subsidiary, IBM released DB2. The same , to create and market phenomenon occurred with a standard desktop version of PCs; it was the introduction UNIX that could be sold of the IBM PC that legiti- through the Novell distribu- mized the concept of personal tion channel. Also, friends of computing. Although Apple, mine at USL had kept me in- Commodore, and Radio formed about 's Shack had earlier blazed the (President of Novell) over- trail for PC pioneers, it tures towards USL. wasn't until the advent of the (contimed on page 9) computing environment, tions. No one is selling true and Information Ware- open systems because there (continued from front page) house, which was supposed is no such thing. The reality to enable end-users to ac- is that customers don't IBM PC that the computing cess hformation from any- "buy" ope11 systems, they landscape was changed for- where to anywhere. "build" open systems by se- ever. In essence, if you've lecting products that can Historically, the indus- followed IBM over the past work together effectively. try has always looked to decade, you'll agree that the Open is a marketing IBM for leadership. Over message has been, "we're a buzzword. How could any the past few years, the most customer-driven com- company possibly be op- pressing issue that IBM has pany-we're focused on the posed to open? After all, been asked to respond to is customer, we're listening to what is the opposite of the challenge of "open" the customer, and we're open? Can you imagine a computing. Once again, going to respond to the cus- company actively promot- IBM has attempted to assert tomer." Perhaps it was too ing closed computing? One its natural role as industry much attentiveness to cus- of the main reasons why leader. The result has trans- tomers that has led to IBM's open is so popular today is formed IBM in what can great downfall. They've because it is the only proven best be described as corpo- been so busy listening and way to compete successfully rate perestroika-Fndustry promising to be everything against IBM. imitating politics. Suddenly, to everyone, that IBM has the world's most proprie- For many years, IBM forgotten how to lead. To- tary company has was viewed as untouchable. day, one of IBM's biggest become a powerful advo- Originally, the computer problems is that it has set cate for open systems. In its industry was known as complefely uwealistic expec- rush to be as open as any- Suow White and the Seven tations. Now, after years of body, IBM has devised a Dwarfs. Snow White was failing to deliver on impos- series of grandiose plans IBM, and the seven dwarfs sible promise after impos- which Gartner has affec- were GE, RCA (both of sible promise, IBM has a se- tionately dubbed mark tec- which eventually quit the vere credibility problem. No tures. These began with computer business), Bur- one believes in them any- SAA, which was designed roughs, Univac, NCR, Con- more. The result is a com- to provide full portability trol Data, and Honeywell, pany that is in a deep across all of IBM's diverse all of whom failed to win funk-IBM's role in the in- proprietary products, and much market share against dustry is diminishing, its AD/Cycle which promised the mighty IBM. The only size shrinking, its stock to automate automation by company that ever truly tumbling, and the company pulling together all software succeeded in combating is struggling. development tools under IBM was DEC with its the umbrella of a single core To examine what's hap- VAX/VMS systems. DEC reposito~y.These were fol- pen to IBM, we should be- found a weakness in IBM's lowed by Systemview, gin by asking the question, strength, and attacked it. which promised to provide what is opefz computing? IBM's strength was it con- a framework that would in- Virtually every computer trolling share of 70% of the tegrate all system manage- company today is selling mainframe market, a 70% ment functions for an enter- what can best be described share in PCs, and a respect- prise-wide, distributed as Pary open solu- able share, albeit not as

February i993 dominant, in the mid-range SAA, IBM promised consis- backs are commonly de- market. IBM's weakness tency, compatibility, usabil- signed to share the cost of was that all three market ity, portability, cooperative mainframe computing segments used radically dif- processing, and common among all users. But, smart ferent architectures. DEC applications. So where did users have discovered that countered IBM with a bril- SAA go wrong? The prob- they can escape recurring liant marketing strategy lem is that SAA turned five monthly charges by moving based on one architecture and years old on March 17,1992, their processing onto PCs one system-from the desktop and about the only success and LANs, or inexpensive fo the data center. that IBM could point to was UNIX machines. Whenever DB2. The glitter had faded this happens, the remaining from all the great promises users on the mainframe are of the past, such as SAA's left with bills that go up Off ceVision. Today, SAA is each month because the IBM's response to DEC's out, open is in. AD/Cycle costs must be spread across great market success with looks poised for the next an ever-shrinking user base. VAX/VMS was SAA. IBM great fall from grace, espe- The poor guy who gets promised to make its pro- cially now that Bachman stuck as the last one on the prietary systems open. and htersolv have dropped mainframe is going to get SAA's approach employed a their support. socked with an enormous time-tested IBM marketing charge! strategy know as FUD-Feal; As more and more users Uncertainty, and Doubt. move off the mainframe, the The FUD principal was pressure for others to based on the old adage that A lot of people believe downsize increases enor- no one ever lost their job by that SAA was really the mously. Today, we are fac- recommending IBM prod- "Save the Mainframe Foun- ing a stampede mentality. ucts. FUD was often cited as dation. " The problem is that People want to migrate off the key to IBM1s global suc- nobody wants to be the last the mainframe, ASAP. They cess. Many CIOs achieved one left on the mainframe, think that they can put their position by dutifully responsible for turning off LANs together to share following IBM's lead, and the machine. This has cre- data, applications, net- more than a few believe that ated a great dilemma for works, and devices. More- they owe their successful IBM as customers have over, they're convinced that careers to IBM. IBM brought lined up in droves to aban- downsizing is going to save along an incredible number don their mainframe sys- lots of money instantane- of people with them as they tems. This crisis is stagger- ously. There's a real prob- rose to greatness. ing for IBM, who still heav- lem, though, with this sce- Beginning with SAA, ily depends on mainframe sales because of their huge nario. The reality is that IBM changed its FUD mar- getting to a downsized keting strategy to profit margins. The result has been a massive drop in utopia is extremely difficult. FUDGE-Fear, Uncertainty, There are a host of issues earnings. and Doubt combined with that first must be addressed Great Expecfations. This pat- Helping to fuel the rapid with regard to security, in- terns was repeated with migration away from main- tegrity, recovery, backup, AD/Cy cle, Systemview, frames is the use of zero- budgeting, licensing, sup and Information Ware- based, cost-sharing, charge- house. For instance, with back algorithms. Charge- (continued on next page)

Schussel 's Do~mzzi~~gJoznrnal, Fe hrzcary 6 993 The Lase Thing T 500 Excel users, each much more appropriate way spending three hours in- to classify our industry is in (continuedfrorn previous page) stalling a new product re- terms of functionality. I/S port, performance tuning, lease. In today's distributed does three things: batch capacity planning, and all of environments, we find processing, transaction the things that we've done repetitions of functionality processing, and end-user in- for years with mainframes. like this going on every- teractive computing. This It's one of those situations where. Real total savings last area, end-user interac- where I've got some good won't accrue from downsiz- tive computing, is where news and some bad news. ing until the entire I/§ or- client/server is having its The good news is that if you ganization is re-engineered biggest impact. Cli- come from an I/S back- and restructured. ent/server is mainly being ground, you understand the There is more to down- used to implement two requirements. The bad news sizing than just potential types of applications: on- is that few, if any, of the cost savings. What is really line complex processing solutions that worked so tempting people to down- (OLCP) and decision sup- well in the glass house data size and move to cli- port systems (DSS), also centers are applicable when ent/server is the graphical know as executive informa- it comes to managing dis- user interfnce (GUI). People tion systems (EIS). tributed environments. love a GUI-it's seduc- On-line complex proc- Moving from main- tive-you ought to think of it essing is distinct from on- frames to distributed sys- as Win-fendo!After moving line transaction processing tems is a very difficult to a GUI environment, most (OLTP). For one thing, the transition. And, there's this people would rather take a audiences these systems perception that people who cut in pay before they'd target are very different. downsize are going to im- consider going back to OLTP systems are mainly mediately save money, working with character- used by clerical workers. which is really kind of a based terminals. What GUIs OLCP systems are designed joke. When you look at the provide are subsecond re- for knowledge workers. total cost of computing, you sponse times, local auton- OLTP systems usually in- find that hardware is only omy, and maximum flexi- volve high-volume, simple one of many different ex- bility. transactions where each penses. Also, before you can transaction is measured in begin to benefit from seconds; transactions are downsizing, you must first highly uniform with many be prepared to make sub- people doing the same thing stantial investments in in- In the old days, this in- at the same time, and most frastructure, such as net- dustry was simple. When transactions are highly re- works, servers, and new we talked about the enter- petitive. OLTP systems are software. You really need to prise, we talked about the mainly concerned with the inform everyone that big "E"-mainframes, minis, price per transaction per downsizing is going to cost and micros. Everybody second ($/TI'S). Character- you money before it will could relate to where they based terminals designed save you money. You also and their machines stood on for heads-down data entry need to examine organiza- this chart. The problem are still often the most cost- tional roles and responsi- today is, what's a effective input devices for bilities. Imagine the cost to mainframe, what's a mini, OLTP applications. OLCP an organization if you have and what's a micro? A

Schussel's Downsizinp Journal. Februarv I993 systems, on the other hand, computing, there is a need ity. However, when you are frequently very com- for a framework that allows step back and look at in- plex, with transactions users to tie all of the dispa- teroperability, what you'll lasting for minutes or even rate pieces together into an discover is that it's really hours. Also, there are few integrated environment. three-dimensional. people performing the same IBM refers to this as enter- The first dimension of task at the same time. OLCP prise computing. It entails interoperability involves systems must provide three components: data- cooperative processing. The maximum flexibility, and bases, networks, and sys- objective is to enable end- benefit tremendously from tems management. This last users to run applications GUI technology. Because of category can be thought of that span multiple proc- their complexity, OLCP sys- as including nearly every esses. The goal is to provide tems are frequently de- word in the English lan- what is known as a single signed and built using a guage that ends with the system image-where an prototyping approach letter "y" such as security, application executes on known as RAD-Rapid integrity, recovery, reliabil- multiple machines simulta- Application Development. ity, repository, etc. neously, but provides the Historically, IBM has IBM has recently an- appearance to the user as if owned the batch and OLTP nounced some new prod- it were rming on a single markets. The reason why ucts referred to as machine. most of the world's batch CID-Configuration Instal- There's been a lot of and OLTP continues to run lation Distribution, which confusion between the dif- on IBM mainframes is be- promise to move forward ferences in cooperative cause there's been no better the notion of enterprise processing and clientlserver or more cost-effective envi- computing. Collectively, computing. IBM has often ronment than MVS for these tools, which operate stressed cooperative proc- running these types of ap- within the Systemview essing based on the use of plications. However, I do framework, provide an open LU 6.2 protocols known as see this beginning to scheme for managing net- APPC, Advanced Program- change, especially now that works. These are some out- to-Program Communica- versions of CICS that can standing new products, and tion; don't let the word ad- run on cheap and powerful IBM deserves to be credited vanced in APPC fool you. RISC machines are becom- for taking a strong leader- APPC may have been ad- ing available. The ability to ship position. vanced back in the 1970s move CICS applications off when it was first intro- expensive mainframes and I n int duced, but by today's stan- onto inexpensive micro- When people use the dards, few would consider based platfoms is creating it terribly advanced. What an opportunity call term open, generally they mean one of two things. APPC provides is a set of RAM-Rapid Application protocols, or verbs, that es- Migration. This will quicken First, open to many people simply means the opportu- sentially allow the simula- the pace of downsizing for tion of a telephone conver- many mainframe users. nity to buy cheap hardware. Customers don't want to be sation. There is an LU 6.2 As the industry evolves dependent on any single verb that corresponds to away from centralized, proprietary hardware plat- picking up a phone and lis- host-based data centers to form. The second thing that tening for a dial tone. There distributed, network-based ope72 means is interoperabil- (continued on tlext page)

Schussel's Downsizing Journal, February 1993 to CASE. Application de- special need for tools to velopment can be thought help manage, control, moni- (conhnuedfrom prevlous page) of as a type of manufactur- tor, and administer data- is another verb that let's you jag. As is true of all manu- bases and networks. IBM pick-up a ringing telephone. facturing, there is a need for promotes NetView as its There's a verb associated a bill-of-materials, which solution for managing all with speaking, and another describes the components the physical resources scat- that lets you listen. Finally, and subassemblies which go tered throughout the enter- there's an LU 6.2 verb for into a manufactured prod- prise network. And, Infor- hanging up the phone when uct, and a well-defined mation Warehouse has the you're done. Using these process definition which responsibility for managing verbs, applications can be defines precisely the steps the logical resources by de- written which can execute to be followed in the manu- scribing what data exists, on multiple machines si- facturing process. With re- what it means, who has ac- multaneously by engaging spect to CASE, the bill-of- cess to it, and so forth. in program-controlled con- materials corresponds to the versations. repository, and the process You get into the differ- definition refers to the de- What should IBM do? ence between APPC and cli- velopment methodology. They've got to go back to entlserver with the concept The goal of CASE is to al- basics. I remember my very of a single system image. In low multiple tools to in- first day when I went to essence, client/server is a teroperate during the de- work for IBM. I was issued subset of cooperative proc- velopment of applications. a pencil and a notepad essing. With APPC, the only The third dimension of which both boldly dis- one who sees a single sys- interoperability deals with played the word "THINK." tem image is the end-user. managing systems across I haven't seen that slogan For the poor programmer, multiple environments. In from IBM lately, and I cer- life's never been more the distributed environ- tainly haven't noticed it in complex. When we talk ment, what we need is to its behavior. The company about client/server, what provide the same level of must stop trying to be eve- we mean is that we're reliability that we have tra- rything to everyone. shifting the boundary so ditionally offered in glass Right now IBM is ac- that both end-users and house data centers. We need tively sending out far too application programmers to be able to manage our many conflicting messages see a single system image. distributed environment as to its customers. For exam- This is accomplished effectively as we have man- ple, if you ask IBM for through the use of APIs, aged the mainframe. The guidance on how to build Application Programming difference is that now the open client/server systems, Interfaces. The key to in- network is the system. We be prepared to come away teroperability is to select a need a full range of tools for very confused. For instance, set of compatible APIs managing this distributed if you ask IBM for advice on which allow applications to environment as a service which client platform to be pulled apart and business. Given the special buy, "When should I buy plugged together seam- importance of databases OS/2?, When should 1 lessly over a network. and networks to enterprise choose AIX?," and "When The second dimension computing, it is not surpris- does it make sense for me to of interoperability pertains ing to find that there is a (continued 017 page 15)

Schussel 's Downsizing Journal, February 1993 SQL plays an important part decision support purposes is in the I/W architecture, I/W's extracted out of that database access is not limited to rela- and a copy is then main- tional databases. One of the tained (in DB2, or any other principal enabling technolo- DRDA DBMS) for query and his is the sec- gies of I/W is Information browse purposes. Once the ond article in Builder's EDA/SQL which extraction has been made, the a three part offers access to dozens of dif- original and copy databases ferent multi-vendor database are kept in synch by an ap- series and file systems. proach IBM calls (expanded More information about "Propagation" which uses a from two) on some of the I/W will be available later 2-phase commit to insure that IBM's developments at in 1993 when IBM publishes both copies of the necessaly data are kept current and ac- their Santa Teresa the architecture's specifica- tions. In fact, it is currently curate. Direct access to a sin- Laboratory. Next gle database certainly seems known that there are two dif- month's article will ferent basic approaches to the easier to implement, but cover: DRDA, AD/Platform, architecture. IBM is offering many of IBM's customers and object oriented research. customers a fundamental prefer to extract from opera- choice (both can be used, tional databases and to create however) between access re- a second informational data- quiring dual databases or di- base. This second, informa- When customers come to tional database can be merge IBM's Santa Teresa Labs rect access to single data sources. While direct access of data from a number of (STL) for briefings, the most sources. People who prefer frequently discussed topic is initially seems to be simpler to implement and manage, this approach usually are IBM's Information Ware- very concerned about per- house (I/W). I/W is an IBM staffers asserted that the dual database approach will formance issues, which can overall architecture for pro- be monitored and more viding access to distributed produce better performance characteristics for many cus- closely controlled with the files and databases across a dual approach. multi-vendor, distributed tomers. environment. It is intended In Figure 2, these two ap- The lower approach in 1 illustrates direct ac- for decision support types of proaches are illustrated by Figure applications, and normally the higher and lower horizon- cess to the production data- wouldn't be appropriate for tal arrows on the right side of base or file, and is based on transaction processing, pro- the diagram. IBM's technol- the EDA/SQL technology developed by Information duction, or update intensive ogy and DRDA (a further Builders (IBI). EDA/SQL is types of applications. What explanation of this technol- makes I/W so interesting is ogy is to follow) are the un- only a read (not updatable) its inclusionary, not exclu- derlying linchpins for the technology. Another issue for sionary, approach to partici- upper approach, the dual da- potential users is whether pants. A very large number of tabase concept. The idea here performance will be ade- quate. For example, many IS end-user tools such as Lotus is that production data is 1-2-3, Focus, and Nomad, are maintained in an IMS, DB2 or managers would not want supported to operate against other high performance, high end-users doing unantici- a long list of potential data- availability database. The in- pated browsing or sequential bases and files. Although formation that is desired for (continued on next page)

Schz~ssel's Dowlzsizing Jourm February 1993 George's Visit to... cessing different databases, then, becomes as easy as (continued from previous page) On the day that I visited changing printers on your PC Santa Teresa, IBM in combi- and choosing a different reads through the production nation with , Novell, driver for your word proces- databases. and WordPerfect, announced SOT. While many of the pieces their joint proposal for a cli- for I/W are already in place, ent side interface to local, re- In the same way that has IBM has yet to deliver the mote or distributed data- happened with every other connectivity and manage- bases. IDAPI is a derivative technology announcement ment facilities that allow I/W of and replacement for Bor- over the last two years, Mi- to be used by those without land's previously announced crosoft and IBM end-up on superior technical staffs to in- ODAPI (Object Database opposing teams for the CLI. tegrate the diverse pieces. API). Like Microsoft's ODBC, Users, however, can have the Important upcoming addi- it is an implementation and best of both worlds since tions are: extension of the SQL Access there is nothing incompatible Group's CLI (Call Level In- between ODBC and IDAPI. It 1. Propagation: While a lim- terface) specification. CLI certainly will be possible to ited version of propagation defines a simple interface for install drivers of both types is now available (MSto having various applications on your client PCs for access DB2, on the same machine), talk to a remote database. to miscellaneous databases. fuller propagation facilities IDAPI provides a facility for A lot of details on IDAPI will be delivered later in mapping requests from one weren't available at the time 1993 and early in 1994. Part database language (e.g. Para- of the an~~ouncement,but of this delivery will be sup- dox) to requests in SQL. there are going to be differ- port for asynchronous Applications constructed ences between IDAPI and (lazy) updates. against existing databases, ODBC in at least the follow- can thus access other data- ing senses: mation of management of bases without change to the multiple copies of data application by acquiring the (cor~finuedon page 1.5) should be at least partially driver for that database. Ac- available across the DRDA architecture before the end of '93. usiness Information Lo- cation: This refers to a dis- tributed capability of ac- cessing metadata, or busi- ness definition definitions about the data that is lo- cated in the I/W. port: Full inte- gration of the I/W with the DRDA architecture is likely to be delivered in 1994.

Schussel S Downsizing Journal, February 1993 Novell, Unix, and... and enterprise computing puter users. A high de- into NetWare. gree of UNU(/NetWare {continued from fiaonf page) integration will also open This list is impressive and doors for more UNIX clearly, if all of these prom- sales to sites moving from ises are kept, both UNIX LANs into true cli- USL and Novell officials and NetWare users will ent/server computing. initially promised that the benefit. merger of the two compa- Without this merger, I nies would speed the inte- Beyond these explicit, would say that the up- gration and interoperability initial promises, an analysis coming Windows NT op- of their two operating sys- of the merger acquisition tion would have been tems by: seems to promise there are likely to pick up much of even more benefits to result. the upsizing client/se~ver @Creating a common ap- From a user's point of view, market. Now, Novell is plication programming it's hard to see the down- going to grab a lot of that interface that would al- side of this business. low developers to write merger/acquisition. Some of applications that would the benefits that this indus- operate under both UNIX try can anticipate include: and NetWare. This is the ~Novell'sstrengths in the same type of benefit that The reaction to Novell's distribution and packag- Microsoft is promising its merger/acqtiisition pro- ing business will give Windows developers posals at AT&T and USL broader exposure to with the Win32s API-a was mixed. Pioneering the UNIX than it would have bigger market with the move to open systems in a received by staying under same effort. vendor neutral environment AT&T1swings. SAdding Distributed Com- is something that appeals to Novell's credibility in puting Environment a lot of UNIXphiies. But, commercial markets will (DCE) support to Net- while being a part of Novell only be a favorable fea- Ware-it's already a UNIX has a lot of advantages, staple. This addition iure for businesses that some don't view the are considering server op- would speed developer "vendor neutrality" as one erating systems-they will development and deliv- of those advantages. know that Novell under- ery of true distributed da- stands their requirements. Likewise, those inside tabase applications. Novell had mixed feelings KZJNovell is the big-time about the acquisition of &?Creatingcommon sys- product in USL. With its NLM technol- tems applications such as PC/commercial comput- ogy, Novell had already administration, data secu- ing, and when its impri- made a serious move into rity, and network man- matur is on UNIX, the the server operating sys- agement between Net- UNIX penetration into tems business. "Why do we Ware and UNIX. commercial markets can need UNIX and all that @Strengthening UNIX to only benefit. baggage when we can get PC connectivity with ElThe coming (for sure) in- NetWare file, database, much of that market for tegration of UNIX and ourselve~?'~ and host access services. NetWare communication BIntegrating UNIX's functions and protocols {continued on next page) strengths in wide area will be a plus for all com- page 10

Novell, Unix, and... bles that of Microsoft. Yes, Microsoft and Novell, more (continued from previous page) you can buy DOS at the than any other company. retail level, but it is mostly This is true for a number of sold by the PC companies reasons: that manufacture the hard- @They are software com- ware and provide DOS with panies. We've all been the basic machine. UNIX has come a long saying that software has way from its incipient days more value added than as a time sharing, word hardware for some time, processing support system now everyone can see the developed at Bell Labs by truth to that statement. Dennis Richie and Ken The two possible excep- Thompson. When Thomp- tions to this rule are the son arrived at UC Berkeley Certainly the computer market's dominant semi- as a visiting professor early and general business conductor companies, In- in UNIX development, he presses were interested in tel and Motorola. gave the product much the Novell/USL announce- OMicrosoft owns the desk- more communications ment. However, because it top. I've had to take a lot functionality. At the same came just before Christmas, of criticism for saying this time, very liberal licensing I don't think it got the play in the past, but now there policies from both Berkeley that it would have received can be no doubt in the and AT&T meant that seed at another time. History will truth of this statement. I copies of UNIX were carried look back on this piece of understand that even IBM far and wide by some of the news as one of 1992's big- is having its developers best and brightest computer gest stories. As a matter of write the Windows API as science graduates. Copies of fact, I think that it's one of a priority over Presenta- the UNIX license ended-up the two most important tion Manager in begin- implemented at computer computer industry news ning projects. companies such as Apple stories of last year. (The and Sun. By 1980, UNIX had other, of course, being the 0Novell owns the LAN become a kind of counter- stock market's awakening market, and is making a culture computer cult. to the desperate straits of serious move into low- When AT&T decided to get IBM's overall business.) end, PC-based server into the computer business, applications with Net- By mid-January this Ware NLM technology. UNIX naturally became a year, Microsoft's overall 0UNIX is the anointed rallying point. market value equaled "open systems" cham- USL is not in the retail IBM's. Novell's market pion and the world, be- or distribution business. For value surpassed that of DEC ginning with the U.S. the most part, it licenses well over a year ago. What Government and its pro- UNIX base code to com- we're dealing with here is a curement practices, have puter companies such as fundamental paradigm shift deemed that UNIXness is Sequent, Pyramid, Apple, in industry power. IBM and equal with goodness. and Sun, each who adapts DEC had the power and the code for their specific could create the standards O With UNIX in the Novell hardware implementations. (and reap the wealth) in the camp, Novell will fully In this sense, the company's past. The decade of 1990 cover the server operating distribution model resem- looks like it will belong to systems business. They

Schussel's Downsizing Jozirnal, February 1993 page 11

offer NetWare on the PC multiple systems from competition for Microsoft. and UNIX on larger en- multiple vendors. There is also one other terprise computing rigs 3Allowing the customer a player in this market, and like Sequent and Pyra- choice of software and that's IBM with OS/2. And, mid. hardware options in a Novell's acquisition of USL broad market-not being is not good news for the locked into any one IBM camp: supplier for a majority of 1. Because Novell will make systems (hardware or sof- UNIX a more aggressive tware) products. product in the commer- 3 Novell needs UNIX to cial market, and that have credibility in its Without dealing with means more competition competition with Micro- any measure of "goodness" for IBM's OS/2. soft for the "open operat- here, or with the blessing of ing systems (server side) any standards bodies, it is 2. Because IBM is on the market." By now every- clear that Microsoft (on the OSF side of the UNIX one understands that the client) and Novell (on the wars. It's own AIX and computer business is go- network) offer the dominant the Mach kernel on which ing through a transition product strategies in each AIX will be redeveloped, to client/server architec- respective area. That meam have no relation, other tures. on both that the widest range of prod- than name, to the USL the client and server side ucts and add-ons are available UNIX. Also, Novell's USL will, of course, need true for the wares of these two vetz- acquisition will focus at- operating systems. The dors. That, in my mind, is tention towards that client side has to look at- the real definition of an UNIX market to insure tractive with GUIs for open environment for the that Novell is less inter- single users, while the 1990s. ested in more joint IBM server side will be judged With the proven UNIX efforts (such as NetWare on the basis of robustness property in its camp, Novell for OS/400, etc.). and performance for should be in the best posi- Microsoft covets multiple users. tion in our industry to com- Novell's networking fran- Open can be defined in pete with Microsoft's up- chise, but has failed badly many ways: coming Windows NT. with its strategy of hitting Novell resellers should have 3 Offering users the flexibil- Novell head on (with LAN an easy time generating Manager). Microsoft's logi- ity to easily change fear, uncertainty, and doubt hardware vendors (the cal response was to try an about the yet unproved NT end run and put communi- software vendors like this compared to the mature and definition, of course). cations functions into the stable UNIX. operating systems it sells. 3 Offering users the flexibil- This strategy has a Trojan ity to easily change soft- As stated above, I don't Horse quality to it--once ware vendors (the hard- see Novell competing with you have Microsoft Win- ware vendors like this Microsoft's desktop Win- dows, Windows for Work- one). dows franchise. On the server side, the dual strate- groups, or Windows NT, 3 Allowing customers to gies of UNIX and NetWare their functionalities start to easily communicate and with their different user interoperate between bases will offer formidable (cot7finueu' on next pcige)

Schussel's Downsizing Journal, February 1993 page I2 -

Novell, Umix, and. was a reaction to the USL acquisition and was re- (continuedponz front page) versed within two weeks. make Netware's functional- The analyst's argument was ity superfluous. Regardless that at an estimated price of I am currently in the process of the strength of Novell's about $350 million, Novell of learning the relatively new networking franchise, Mi- was overpaying for the ac- Freelance for Windows crosoft's quisition of a company with graphics program from Lo- offensive has the potential annual sales of $80 million tus. The program has some of trumping Novell. and negative cash flow. "bugs" or anomalies-in cer- Novell's strategy has be- Four and a half times gross tain import/export circum- come, "why not forget this sales is a high price, but if stances, text font sizes are coopefition (Ray Noorda's you're paying that price in changed, or portions of text word for competing with stock with a high might totally disappear! Lotus people by cooperating with price/earning ratio (P/E), as acknowledges these prob- them) thing and just go did Novell, then the pay- lems, but does not know the head to head with Micro- ment is made in low-value cause or the solution. It was soft?" currency. This acquisition suggested that I add more price is just 25% more than RAM to my system (currently The market that I pri- Microsoft paid for Fox Sof- 4 MB) in order to avoidthe marily see Microsoft and tware. If Novell and USL bugs. If I were using DR DOS Novell battling for is that of follow through on the rather than MS DOS, do you server operating systems. promises made about this Yes, Novell competes in the merger, then I would argue think the Lotus technical sup- desktop DOS market with that USL's addition to port people would have used DR DOS, which it acquired Novell's value is much that as a scapegoat? I do. with , but greater than Fox's potential I've also begun to use Win- DR DOS isn't a serious con- contribution to Microsoft's. FAX which, even with its new tender for desktop When your growth is ag- version 3.0 release, won't shares-the product has less gressive, your stock trades work with long-distance visibility now than when at a high P/E, and one can telephone carrier services Digital Research was an in- afford to pay a high price such as Sprint or MCI. The dependent company. I, for important acquisitions. Delrina people (WinFAX frankly, don't understand There is some risk for publishers) are without a clue the logic behind why any- Novell with this USL ac- when it comes to solving one would buy DR DO§. It quisition strategy, but I user problems, but I'm sure seems to me that any tech- would argue that it's a tre- that if I told them that I was nical superiority that it of- mendously important play using DR DOS that I would be fers over MS DOS is a trivial that will vault Novell into told it was the cause of my issue compared to the con- the big leagues as a rival (in problems. cerns that would be raised fact the only rival) of Micro- over potential incompati- soft for computer industry bilities (see side bar). leadership as we move towards the next century.

The stock market's in- itial sell off of Novell stock

Schussel's Do+vnsizingJournal, February 1993 page I3

and overly complex artifacts was based on data structure of a past era must be aban- analysis. And, the selection doned along with the dino- of which methodology to sauric mainframes that led use always depended on to their existence. Mainf- your perception of the com- rame development has puter-is a computer for per- evolved into the creation of forming computations or "complex solutions for sim- managing data? Most Meth- Part I: Introduction ple problems." odologies used some combi- by Jim Davey On the other hand, the nation of function and data, he definition "just do it" approach that but often separated the has become popular with PC process modeling from the of downsizing data modeling. has evolved developers today often re- sults in applications that fall With the client/server over the past short of what is needed. model, a system of comput- year to encompass Often, I have seen applica- ers now supports the knowl- more than the down- tions built in this "just do it" edge worker. A new method based on business events scaling of hardware. environment that need to be reworked time and time rather than functions or data The processes also entail again. structures needs to be de- downsizing the complexity veloped. The form of speci- These two problems, the of traditional software de- fication must be something mainframe's "complex so- velopment techniques. To- end-users can mderstand. lutions for simple problems" day's businesses cannot af- In the past, end-users were and the "just do it" failures, ford to use traditional main- expected to learn how to use are why new methods must frame-based development Data Flow Diagrams and be developed to produce methods. Methodologies Entity Relationship Dia- specifications that can be such as those supported by grams. This seldom worked used to rapidly develop and the Big Eight (or is it Six?) well; these diagrams are not deploy new client/server accounting giants, or gov- part of an end-users every- applications. ernment standards such as day life. In fact, they were DOD-STD-2167 require usually only seen when MIS many person-years to de- types came around to de- velop complex requirements. velop new systems. Often, these years-long pro- With our traditional jects end-up gathering dust mainframe model, computer In contrast, business while being housed in three systems have supported events are well understood ring binders. business functions and en- by end-users. Events can be articulated by users in nar- Development environ- terprise information re- quirements. Specification rative form either in writing ments such as IBM's or through the interview AD/Cycle with its Reposi- models have typically been based on either functional process. Then, examples of tory Manager require ex- inputs and outputs can be pensive mainframe hard- decomposition or data struc- ture analysis. Most Struc- provided or developed, ware and high priced CASE Simple diagrams using tools. We can no longer af- tured Methodologies were based on functional decom- bubbles and arrows can be ford or justify these ap- used to model events or proaches; these expensive position while Information Engineering Methodology (continued on next page)

Schussel 's Downsizing Journal, February 1993 page 14

Event Driven.. . (continuedfi.om previous page) tools using graphical icons and animation could be de- veloped. The set of events should be used to define the scope of the system, and as events are added, the scope will ex- pand. Both data require- do I need to do, and an in- formation modeling. These ments and processing re- formation component, what approaches generate an in- quirements can be derived do I need to know (see figure formation model from a set from business events. The 1)- of detailed facts and exam- server requirements that can ples-the model and roles be defined as an information O What I need to do can be organized by roles and se- developed using EDC/SD. model are created from the An Entity Relationship set of events. Client require- quences of events for which activities can be defined. model can be developed ments, in the form of user from the event facts and interface and processing re- Roles and events are then organized into windows and used to verify the subject quirements, can be defined matters accuracy. For server for each event. window objects. Activities can be implemented as event development, a fully nor- Using this new ap- procedures to be executed malized relational database proach, EDC/SD, you start when a window object is implementation can also be with a particular user or job acted upon. And, interac- derived from the event facts. title and identify the associ- tions between the clients For client development, ated business events. Next, and the server can be de- user interface and event pro- you select those events to be fined as SQL statements and cedure prototyping seem to part of the scope of the new user views. work well. Prototyping is system. As more users are O Whaf I need to howcan most effectively accom- studied, you will often find plished when the scope of that a single person or job be expressed as attributes and relationships. These the project is predefined. title will perform many The set of client roles and roles, or that the same role event facts can be used to develop an information business events can be used will be performed by differ- to define the scope of the ent people or job titles. The model in the form of an en- tity relationship diagram. project. The information defined roles will be the best model defines a context for way to organize events since Using the information model, a relational database prototype development. It events tend to be specific to defines the entities or appli- a role. In turn, those roles can be developed for the server. cation, defines objects that will be useful for organizing the clients have in common, the user interface. Information modelin and relationships among these entities. With the A model of roles and Once the first step using events should be developed EDC/SD has been per- scope and context defined, the prototyping effort can to define the scope of the formed, data analysis meth- concentrate on user interface system. For each event, there ods, such as Curtice/Jonesl and event procedures. is a process component, what or NIAM2 can be used for in-

Schussel's Downsizing Journal, February 1993 page 15

set of events to be used in detail the techniques in- the development of the This is an overview of a volved in this approach. server database. User roles method to develop require- and event sequences are lRobert M. Curtice & Paul E. ment specifications that can used to define the user in- Jones, Jr., Logical Data Base be used to develop cli- terface. Event activities are Design, VanNostrand Rein- ent/server applications. This then used to define event hold, New York, 1982. method is based on the use procedures and client/server of business events for 2G. M. Nijssen & T. A. Hal- interaction. modeling rather than proc- pin, Conceptual Schema and essing functions or data Future articles are Relational Database Design: structures. An information planned to define in greater A Fact Oriented Approach, model is derived from the Prentice Hall, Sydney, 1989.

George's Visit to. ogy that would have driv- today's standards if for ers for non-relational da- general purposes. We know (continued from page 8) tabases in addition to re- companies that are already lational types. For access running multiple protocol @ ODBC is for Windows to non-relational DBMS, stacks in their clients primarily (nothing in its the IDAPI CLI will come technology limits it to because they want in- with navigational exten- Windows, but all of the terleaved access to different sions. early deliverables are for network servers, e.g. Net- Windows only) environ- Watching the evolution Ware and Vines. With GUIs, ment, while IDAPI was of applications as they move multiple database and net- announced for DO§, Win- toward multimedia and the workbrivers, and multi- dows, and OS/2 clients. emergence of these different media applications, a 486 PC competing "marketecture with 16 MB RAM and 300 @ ODBC access drivers were standards," it is becoming MB of hard disk is going to announced for SQL data- seem rather sluggish! bases, while IDAPI was clear that client PCs will announced as a technol- necessarily be huge by

The Last Thng IBM... direction to customers who vative once again. When you seek assistance in choosing look at some of its new (continuedfrom page 6) among OS/2,OS/400, VM, offerings, like CID and DR- wait for Taligent?," I guar- MVS, and AIX. One thing is DA, you can see that they're antee that its response will certain, no one currently making some real progress. be less than satisfying. Net- thinks of IBM as an industry But, IBM is in the midst of a working is even more con- leader when it comes to cli- large crisis. They must for- fusing. How is a customer ent/server computing. mulate a coherent strategy supposed to decide which that will successfully lead its networks to buy-LAN IBM has become a mas- sive and unwieldy bureauc- existing mainframe custom- Server, NetWare, TCP/IP, or racy that they're now trying ers into the next generation SNA1s APPC/APPN? IBM to modify and change. Es- of client/server systems and sells all of them and claims downsizing. @7 that they're all strategic. The sentially, IBM must stop be- having like General Motors situation is no better when it and push the company back comes to choosing servers. to where they can be inno- IBM provides precious little

Schussel's Downsizing Jourizal, February 1993 ses

ORLD AND CLIENT/SERVER PEN-BASEDEXPO. MOBILE WORLD, in Boston, ORLD are once again being held jointly in March 3-5,1993, features eight separate Boston, June 3416,1993. There are nine conference tracks: Developing/Programming for conference tracks between both shows: Object- Pen Conference, Systems Integration Conference, Oriented Technology Conference, Database Pen Hardware Teclmology Conference, Mobile Technologies Conference, DB2/lnfomation Communications Conference, Keyboard Warehouse Conference, Xbase Conference, Machines and Personal Devices Conference, Database Connectivity Conference, Enabling Technologies Conference, Managing Client/Server Databases Conference, Managing Mobile Technologies Conference, The User the Client/Server Environment Conference, Stories Track. Client/Server Networking Conference, Building Jointly co-sponsored by DCI and Client/Server Applications Conference. DATAMATION is The Information Technology Keynotes are being delivered by several Summit-Re-engineering The Future. The focus renowned industry figures including: Chris of this executive summit is on the competitive Date, Michael Stonebraker, George Schussel, advantages that can be gained from the newest Larry DeBoever, and William Zachmann. In computing technologies. The Summit is being addition, Philippe Kahn of Borland is to be the held at the PGA National Resort & Spa, Palm plenary speaker. Beach Gardens, FL, May 17-19,1993. A new addition to DCI's WORLDEVENTS is For more infomation on any of thse MOBILEWORLD which is being held this year in conjunction with MOBILECOMPUTING EXPO and

Schusse 2 '3 Editor: Dr. George Schussel SDJ is published monthly by: Managing Editor: Stacey S. Griffin Digital Consulting, Inc. DOWNSIZING JOURNAL Subscription rates: 204 Andover Street February 1993 @ $199 annually for US. residents Andover, MA 01 81 0 USA Volume 2 Issue 6 @ USS225 annually elsewhere 508-470-3870 FAX 508-470-1 992

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