Magazine January/February 2005 • an Idbma, Inc

INSIDE! Blast From the Past: Getting Current With People Who Graced Spectrum’s Cover $7.00 U.S. INTERNATIONAL

® SPECTRUMSPECTRUMTHE BUSINESS COMPUTER MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 • AN IDBMA, INC. PUBLICATION Is MultiValueMultiValuea DinosaurDinosaur WhenWhen ItIt ComesComes toto InformationInformation TechnologyTechnology ControlsControls andand AuditAudit ProceduresProcedures?

COBIT:COBIT: AA GuideGuide toto ComplianceCompliance WithWith NewNew GovernmentGovernment RegulationsRegulations

INSIDE! Blast From the Past: Getting Current With People Who Graced Spectrum’s Cover $7.00 U.S. INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL

® SPECTRUMTHE BUSINESS COMPUTER MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 • AN IDBMA, INC. PUBLICATION Is MultiValue a ® Dinosaur SPECTRUMJANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 When It Comes to InformationInformation Technology Controls and WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Two Decades of Spectrum Magazine: Audit Procedures ? 16 Influential People That Made the Cover Take a walk down memory COBIT: A Guide to lane with this peek into the past and current lives of 17 people who have appeared on Compliance With New Government Regulations the cover of Spectrum. BY LEANNE GREEN

SERVICE ORIENTED BUSINESS APPLICATIONS: DISSIMILAR 24APPLICATIONS WORKING TOGETHER Service Oriented Business Application Taking the Bite (SOBA) is actually more than another acronym and building Web-based applications using 8 Out of COBIT SOA standards. If you want to take advantage of Web Services already in existence, remove Part 1: IT Controls: What Are barriers to doing business with customers and suppliers, or attract the next crop of developers, then you are probably interested in learning more about SOBA. BY LEE BURSTEIN They and Who Wants Them? Have new federally mandated USING BASIC AND PERL TO SEND ELECTRONIC MAIL MESSAGES IT controls and audit procedures 41 A common problem encountered with legacy systems is they aren’t designed stemming from Sarbanes- to generate and send status messages regarding reports. With a little ingenuity, you Oxley legislation thrown your can accomplish a better flow of information by utilizing either Basic or Perl to send MultiValue shop into a panic? electronic messages. BY ROBERT COLTUN How do you approach such a large task as implementing WEBONOMICS 101: NEWS THAT GRABS YOU — EXPLAINING RSS IT controls? This article is 14 A few years back, Netscape introduced Rich Site Summary (RSS), and the the first in a series that concept has moved forward since then. Find out how companies can use RSS for their breaks down COBIT (Control benefit. BY MELVIN SORIANO Objectives for Information and related Technology), a REVELATION TECH TIPS: OPENINSIGHT FOR LINUX, AN OVERVIEW comprehensive framework As the Linux desktop environment grows more usable, Revelation Software that addresses the entire set 34 capitalizes on new opportunities in the Linux world. BY MIKE RUANE of business IT functions.

BY W. CLIFTON OLIVER UNIVERSE DYNAMICALLY HASHED FILES: TUNING PARAMETERS, PART 6 26 The concept that dynamic files are maintenance free is a misconception held by many database administrators and prompts the question, “If dynamic files don’t need any maintenance, why are there so many tuning parameters?” This article discusses the tuning parameters for dynamically hashed UniVerse files. BY JEFF FITZGERALD AND PEGGY LONG

6 From the Inside SB+ 101: SB+ BASICS: TOOLS, FILE CREATION AND DELETION 40 In the seventh article in this series, the author covers SB+ tools, file creation 32 Newsmakers and deletion. BY DANNY PASSIG

32 New Products WHERE IN THE WORLD IS VMARK? Unbeknownst to many in the MultiValue 6 community, VMark is alive and prospering in many parts of the world. Find out what’s been going on behind the scenes with the company that many thought had met its demise when it merged with Unidata and became Ardent. INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM is a registered trademark and MVTOOLCHEST: MVTOOLBOX MAKES PROGRAMMERS’ TASKS

DEPARTMENTS MultiValue is a trademark of 46 EASY AND EFFICIENT The basic programming utilities supplied with IDBMA Inc. All other registered MultiValue databases have not been significantly improved for over three decades. Devel- trademarks and trademarks are oped by a programmer for programmers, mvToolbox changes all of that by providing com- the property of the respective prehensive programming tools that take the problems out of problem solving. trademark holders. TECH TRENDS: RFID — WHAT IS IT? You’ve probably heard about RFID 39 in one form or another. Most of us, however, don’t really know what it can do, how it works, or even what issues there may be when implementing it. BY NATHAN RECTOR

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 3 [ FROM THE INSIDE] INTERNATIONAL

SPECTRUM® 24th24th Annual Annual JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005

SpectrumSpectrum ShowShow GUS GIOBBI Chairman

MONICA GIOBBI President

NICHELLE JOHNSON This is my favorite time of year when we're getting ready for the annual Editorial Manager Spectrum Show. It's the time when we find out who's hot and who's not; what's new and what's not; who's doing well and who's crying the blues. TECHNICAL ADVISORY BOARD This year, the new third-party Web-based rapid application development Henry Eggers, Independent Consultant systems will be center stage. Conference attendees can get an overview of Tim Holland, Holland Consulting the capabilities of DesignBAIS, Visage, and WADE, three modern day Bruce Johnson, Tag Consulting products competing for the hot MultiValue Web application development Ronald H. Jones, Ron Jones Consulting market. Interested people can stay on for an extended technical session Nathan Rector, Natec Systems if after the overview they want to hear more in-depth detail. Bryan Shumsky, VIA Systems The MultiValue to Microsoft Connection will also be more prominent in the show — this Melvin M. Soriano, Eagle Rock Information Systems year's conference includes presentations on several fronts in many of these areas from

Raining Data's PDP for .NET to how to interface your MultiValue data with Excel, Word MISSION STATEMENT International Spectrum and Mail Merge. magazine’s editorial mission is to be the premier independent source of useful information for users, developers, and resellers of MultiValue data- In the category of “If you can't lick 'em; join ‘em,” there will be presentations on how to base management systems, open systems business database solutions, take your MultiValue system lock stock and barrel to Oracle or DB2, and still be able to and related hardware, software, and peripherals. Published bimonthly, International Spectrum provides comprehensive coverage of the products, code in Data Basic or whatever you used to do before. companies, and trends that shape the MultiValue marketplace as well as the computer industry at large — helping its readers get the most out of As the number of competing products in the MultiValue business intelligence tools market their business computer systems. increases and the sophistication of drill-down models improves, your MultiValue enterprise can now deliver truly astounding business intelligence to management. This year’s conference includes new two-hour training workshops for these amazing products. Tools, Tools, Tools — There will be more new and creative software tools to enhance your MultiValue tool chest plus many new technologies for MultiValue. This year’s program has lots of .NET for sure, but also other important technologies including XML, SOA, RFID, MV.ENTERPRISE Mentor Pro SOAP, SQL, Linux, and Web Services. MO/E MULTIVerse Also new this year are special system administration tips and techniques sessions given by Native PICK MultiValue database providers who are loaning us their systems experts to give you an PCVerse OA inside scoop on effective system administration. PICK And of course, top executives will present their annual corporate updates. Meet key executives tm Power95 from every core provider of the MultiValue database and hear first-hand reports of future product plans. Participating companies include IBM (UniVerse and UniData), jBASE International R91 REALITY (jBASE), Northgate Information Solutions (Reality), ONgroup (ONware), Raining Data (D3, mvBASE, mvENTERPRISE), Revelation Software (OpenInsight), and VIA Systems (UniVision). AP/PRO There’s lots more happening — including International Spectrum’s Database Challenge — RPL and you can see the whole schedule of events on www.intl-spectrum.com. We hope you’ll MV•BASE register to attend, and we look forward to seeing you in San Diego.

IDBMA’s International Spectrum is published six (6) times per year at the subscription price of $40.00 U.S. in the U.S.A.; $45.00 U.S. in Cana- — GUS GIOBBI, CHAIRMAN, IDBMA, INC. — da and Mexico; $50.00 U.S. for other countries. Single copy rates are [email protected] $7.00 U.S. in the U.S.A. and Canada, and $9.00 U.S. in all other countries. International Spectrum is published by IDBMA, Inc., 311 4th Avenue Suite #513; San Diego, CA 92101; Tel: 619/515-9930; Fax: 619/515-9933 E-Mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.intl-spectrum.com. Copyright 2005 International Database Management Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part, without written permission, is prohibited.

PRINTED IN USA • ART AND DESIGN: CP Design; 858-642-6878; San Diego, CA International Spectrum 2005 NEWS RELEASES/UNSOLICITED ARTICLES International Spectrum is eager to print your submissions of up-to-the-minute MultiValue Conference & Exhibition 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- February 22-25, 2005 sidered. International Spectrum retains all reprint rights.

Hyatt Islandia Hotel & Marina on San Diego’s Mission Bay International Spectrum is a registered trademark and MultiValue is a trademark of IDBMA Inc. All other registered trademarks and trademarks are the 4 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 property of the respective trademark holders.

Where in the World Is

Where in the world is VMark, a MultiValue company that many thought fell by the wayside years ? ago? Attendees at the VMark recent Spectrum show in headquarters where IBM London discovered that helped validate that Red- that certainly wasn’t the Back was the best choice case when they encoun- and also confirmed that tered VMark’s exhibition there was a commitment to booth. It turns out that the future of the product. VMark is alive and prospering, distributing U2 When it comes to partner- products in various parts ing, VMark puts a lot of of the world with head- action behind its words. quarters in Spain, and “VMark works with both offices in France; London; Stuttgart, Germany; IBM and our customers to The VMark Group, headquartered in Madrid, Spain, recently help communicate the posi- Stockholm; and Sao Paulo, opened a new office in Manchester, U.K., which joins locations Brazil. Many people, in France, London, Stuttgart, Stockholm and Sao Paulo. tion of U2 as an actively particularly in the United developed and supported States, had the impression and tell people what we are doing in the U.K. IBM product set,” Delobelle said. “We are that VMark met its and throughout Europe.” able to relay our customers’ needs, their prob- demise when the compa- lems and issues to IBM, letting them know The VMark Group currently employs over ny merged with Unidata what the U2 market wants, what and became Ardent in 120 people. Eric Delobelle, sales they need, making sure that their 1998. However, the manager, said VMark’s success as “VMark individual voices are heard within VMark name lived on a U2 distributor can be con- recently worked IBM. We are also in the position to when Pablo Fuertes, who tributed to many factors. “Many of bring IBM to the customer, recently was then country manager our employees have years of expe- with IBM to stop working with IBM to stop the for VMark Spain, decided rience within the U2 market, most it would be in the best deployment of SAP at a large end- being ex-employees of Unidata, the deployment of interest of his customers user site and, along the way, double VMark or Ardent,” he said. “This to become an independ- SAP at a large their U2 license count!” ent entity and founded has allowed us to provide high the VMark Group. quality services to our customers. end-user site and, VMark is also assisting U2 cus- Taking the time to employ the along the way, tomers to expand their business Headquartered in Madrid, the VMark Group right person for a position has into Europe, from providing them was expanded into France in 2002, becom- meant that our staff turnover has with free office space to helping ing the sole distributor for U2 products. double their U2 been very low, giving customers a with the legal issues. A French More recently, Fuertes opened an office in continued service. We have also license count.” business partner wanted to open Manchester in the U.K. “Having opened a received a lot of support from an office in Spain but wasn’t sure U.K. office earlier this year, it was especially – ERIC DELOBELLE IBM, and have been able to use how to do it, Barrow said. VMark important for VMark to attend this year’s Sales Manager this to benefit our customers.” facilitated by hosting meetings in London Spectrum show,” said Vicki Barrow, Madrid, offering an office in VMark Spain, account manager. “It had been apparent from In addition to the distribution of U2 prod- initiating customer contact, and helping the talking to U2 customers that it was confusing ucts, VMark has a policy of working with its partner understand Spanish culture. for them to hear the name ‘VMark’ again, customers to solve business issues ranging having thought that the name ceased to exist from IBM pricing and procedures to defend- In addition to expanding further across after the merger with Unidata. This response ing their investment in U2. Recently, a VMark Europe, VMark is looking to expand into the was also true at the Spectrum Vendor Fair — business partner was interested in using Red- U.S. in the future, creating a large network of upon seeing the VMark booth, attendees Back for the new version of their application. distribution offices. VMark believes the key looked surprised and puzzled, asking ‘Is this Before they made this investment, they wanted to success is the ability to offer a flexible really VMark?’ and ‘I didn’t think they existed assurance from their customers that this was service that fits around an individual cus- anymore.’ Attending this event gave us the the right thing to do, according to Barrow. tomer’s needs, providing much more than chance to explain the history of the company VMark organized a meeting at IBM regional just the supply of products. is 6 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 InternationalInternational Spectrum—Spectrum— BringingBringing thethe InternationalInternational MultiValueMultiValue CommunityCommunity

Mark your TogetherTogether calendar for February 22-25, 2005 today and plan to attend the MultiValue event ANNOUNCING! of the year! International Spectrum’s First Annual DATABASE CHALLENGE To find out more information about participating in the database challenge email monica @intl-spectrum.com New half-day training workshops conducted by software authors to request contest rules and entry forms. Never before presented MultiValue software utilities The latest in Web-based MultiValue Rapid Application Development tools .NET and other new MultiValue compatible technologies Annual corporate product updates by core MultiValue database providers

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM 2005 MULTIVALUE CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION February 22-25, 2005 I Hyatt Islandia Hotel & Marina on San Diego’s Mission Bay I San Diego, California

Early-bird registration discounts now available on www.intl-spectrum.com Is MultiValueMultiValuea DinosaurDinosaur WhenWhen ItIt ComesComes toto InformationInformation TechnologyTechnology ControlsControls andand Audit Procedures ?

Taking the Bite Out of COBITPART 1 IT Controls: What Are They and Who Wants Them?

n the last couple of years, many MultiValue shops here in the United States

have been thrown into a panic by new federal government mandated IT Icontrols and audit procedures stemming from legislation known as Sar- banes-Oxley. I have been amazed and dismayed, amused and bemused watching

the level of wailing and gnashing of teeth in some of these shops when told they

must take the time to do things like track their program change requests, control

who can change live data on the system and keep records of such data manipu-

lation, and restrict programmers from jumping on the production systems and

modifying programs on the fly with no authorization, oversight, or testing. The

strong, sometimes vile, reactions are such that you would think that someone

had just killed their kitten.

W. CLIFTON OLIVER, CCP

8 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005

Taking the Bite Out How do you “[IT controls are] safeties that allow for of COBIT Continued from page 8 better preservation of value through the management of risks. IT controls If you suggest that these kinds of con- are like the brakes on a car.Not only do trols are generally accepted industry approach best they serve to stop the car and keep it best practices that the Big Kids use and under control,they enable the driver to are a Good Thing, you had best be actually go faster and still remain safe.” wearing asbestos underwear. Yet, in many cases the lack of IT controls is practice IT So let us make the assumption that part of what causes corporate IT peo- your shop has decided that best prac- ple to view MultiValue systems and the tice IT governance is the right thing to people who work with them as sec- governance without do. How do you approach such a large ond-class citizens, uneducated rubes set of topics without getting bogged who don't know better, “cowboys,” if down and making the same mistakes you will. On one IT controls related hundreds or thousands of shops have project, the auditor came right out and getting bogged down made before you? One way is to use a told me, “This [MultiValue] system is well documented,comprehensive,gen- our dinosaur. Every time we try to talk erally accepted best practices frame- to them about controls, they tell us and making the same work that addresses the entire set of that [MultiValue] systems can't be con- business IT functions. COBIT (Control trolled.” The point was then made that Objectives for Information and Related if this was true, they needed to get rid mistakes hundreds or Technology) is one of the best known of it and put in a mainstream system of these frameworks. that did lend itself to industry best Originally released in 1996 by the Infor- practices. thousands of mation Systems Audit and Control Foun- So while complaining that this vendor dation, COBIT is now in its 3rd edition or that vendor is not doing enough to and is published by the IT Governance promote MultiValue as a “real”database Institute. The information is accessible alternative to Oracle, DB2, or SQL Serv- shops have made through the Information Systems Audit er, these same MultiValue professionals and Control Association (ISACA). Their are driving themselves out of a job by Web site is at www.asaca.org. Most of making claims that not only should we before you? the COBIT documents are available for not try to play like the big leagues do, download at no charge. In addition to but our tool does not allow us to play the PDF formatted documents, mem- in that game. So if your IT department does not gov- bers of ISACA can also sign up for This, of course, is pure poppycock. ern itself now, it will be governed by COBIT Online, a very nice Web-based others in the future, either through reference that lets you quickly find Best practices IT controls, also known management edict or governmental information about each control objec- as IT governance, is not about the regulation. IT governance is like a cart, tive. (One of my favorite features is the underlying technology; it is about and the IT department is like the inclusion of “why-do-it” links to explain processes. It is a way of looking at the proverbial dog tied behind it.The dog the reasons for including various com- Information Management and Pro- can either follow along willing, or it ponents.) The subset of COBIT target- cessing functions as they relate to the can lie down and be dragged across ed at small to medium-sized enterprises business goals and strategies, support- the cobblestones. But go along it will. is available for purchase from the ing the business processes, minimiz- ISACA Bookstore in the publication ing risk, maximizing returns on IT Although U.S. publicly traded compa- “COBIT Quickstart.” investments, and identifying new nies are now required by law to have opportunities to use IT to a competi- certain IT controls in place, IT gover- The executive summary makes the tive advantage. Upper level business nance is not about meeting regula- claim, “COBIT is relatively small in management has come to realize that tions; it is not an issue limited to one size.” The operative word here is “rela- information is a core business asset or two countries; it is just good busi- tively.” I suppose over 530 pages of that needs to be managed just like ness. As George Spafford of the IT documentation would strike you as facilities or inventory. Process Institute points out, “relatively small” if you are used to

10 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 Continues on page 12 ROBUST OBJECTS, ROBUST SQL, AND NOW MULTIVALUE

YOU SHOULD SEE THIS DATABASE Only post-relational Caché offers native has become the world’s fastest growing database object, robust SQL and direct access to a product. Caché easily handles the most demand- powerful multidimensional database – and now ing applications with scalability from one to includes Multivalue technology, with built-in 50,000+ users, with modest demands for hard- support for MultiValue Basic, data structures ware and maintenance. and queries. This enables MultiValue developers We are InterSystems – a specialist in data to preserve their existing application invest- management for over 25 years, providing ments, plus make use of the latest Web, object 24x7 support to 4 million users in 88 countries. and SQL technologies. You can see the new Caché, now with Multi- By enabling new levels of high performance Value technology, at booth #219 at Spectrum. and rapid Web application development, Caché

Visit us at Spectrum, or at www.InterSystems.com

© 2004 InterSystems Corporation. All rights reserved. InterSystems Caché is a registered trademark of InterSystems Corporation. 12-04 RobMultivalue Spect Taking the Bite Out should hand programs off to a differ- calls “domains.” These domains are: of COBIT Continued from page 10 ent QA person(s) for testing. Imple- Planning and Organization,Acquisition dealing with government contracts or mentation into production is done by and Implementation, Delivery and Sup- legislative volumes. It is interesting to yet another group, typically Opera- port, Monitoring. note that even the ITGI recognizes tions. But if you are a small shop with Planning and Organization addresses how daunting this can be. Quickstart's two programmers who are the opera- how the IT function relates to and sup- description admits that “COBIT, in its tions people and the help desk, you ports the company's business objec- complete form, can be a bit over- aren't going to do that. But you may tives, planning the IT strategy, and whelming.”In my opinion, it is not the decide to formalize the process the determining the best IT organizational volume that makes it overwhelming, it two follow and document it appropri- structure, staffing, and infrastructure. is the tortured,pseudo-academic,third- ately rather than just letting them do party, passive-voice writing style that whatever feels right at the time. It Acquisition and Implementation deals presents itself as an impediment to a depends on your situation. This is a with finding, developing, or buying complete comprehension of which management decision. (Don't ask the solutions that support the IT strategy the reader might be desirous. (Ahem.) developers.They will always insist they and making sure they are installed, don't have the time or the luxury to configured, and modified correctly, in In this series of articles, I would like to follow controls. Of course, they also line with the defined objectives, and introduce you to the concepts of the insist they can't do their job without with the appropriate levels of security COBIT Framework and its use.After an the root or administrator passwords, in place.This domain also speaks to the overview, we will take one high-level too. History has proven them wrong.) system life cycle of change requests, control objective and drill down to a modifications, and testing to reduce detailed control objective, examining IT governance is also an incremental the chances that you will break it once its control practices.Then we will con- process. No IT department can just bolt it is in operation. centrate on the most critical control the doors and refuse to service new objectives and the COBIT Quickstart requests for a year or two while it Delivery and Support concentrates on sub-set, with comments directly target- changes all of its procedures in one getting the services to the users, ensur- ing problem areas in the typical Multi- massive effort.COBIT objective descrip- ing continuous service, backup and Value shop. Some of these problem tions include some indicators to help recovery, disaster planning, security, areas will, quite frankly, be more of a you determine effort versus reward. help desk,and training.In other words, problem of IT department culture than Operations. A framework can be defined as “a logi- anything technical. cal structure for classifying and organ- Monitoring addresses, well, monitor- COBIT consists of 34 high-level con- izing complex information.” (Inter- ing. Readers familiar with methodolo- trol objectives that are then broken operability Clearinghouse Glossary, gies such as TQM or Six Sigma know down into 318 detailed control objec- www.ichnet.org/glossary.htm). It tells that it is difficult to improve a process tives. Each one of these detailed con- you what to consider doing, but not if you do not have defined, measurable trol objectives has a number of how to do it. Think of it as a list of criteria against which to determine documented control practices. But processes, each one of which may or how well you are doing. don't panic! (I suppose I could have may not be applicable to your organi- Each of these domains contains a num- been a bit kinder and warned you to zation at this time. Once you deter- ber of high-level control objectives (34 have smelling salts or some other bot- mine a particular control objective is tle of restorative at hand.) Part of the appropriate for your company and the total for all the domains). Just as an exercise is to be aware of all of these, payback is worth the effort and cost, example, the Acquisition and Imple- but to make decisions as to which you decide how to achieve it.After all, mentation Domain has the following ones are suited to your business and your company is probably unique. high-level control objectives defined: how best to implement them. These What worked for other businesses may not work decisions are based on how IT needs AI1 Identify Automated Solutions to support the business functions, not for you. That is why on how easy or difficult it is going to COBIT is a framework, AI2 Acquire and Maintain Application Software be. For example, control objective not a cookbook. AI3 Acquire and Maintain Technology Infrastructure AI5.12.2 (see what I meant) speaks to The COBIT Framework AI4 Develop and Maintain Procedures segregation of function in the installa- starts at the top by organ- tion of programs. If you are a medium AI5 Install and Accredit Systems izing IT processes into to large company,it is generally accept- four groups, which it AI6 Manage Change ed by IT professionals that developers

12 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 For each high-level control objective, example, where high-level control guidance in achieving it. (So the frame- you have a Maturity Model, Critical objective AI6 says “manage changes,”its work is a list of lists of lists of lists? It's Success Factors, Key Goal Indicators, detailed control objectives talk about enough to make a MultiValue program- Key Performance Indicators, Auditing change request control, risk and mer's heart quiver with joy, isn't it?) Guideline, and a list of Detailed Con- impact assessment, emergency change In our next visit, we'll take one high- trol Objectives. The Maturity Model procedures, and so on. Each of the lets you evaluate how you are doing detailed control objectives has a list of level control objective and drill down compared to international standards control practices to provide further through its components. is and generally accepted industry best practices. Critical Success Factors aid CLIFTON OLIVER brings over three decades of in-depth experience to his in implementing the necessary con- work in the information industry, much of it in the MultiValue market. His trols. Key Goal Indicators help you determine what the target is. Key Per- expertise includes project management, technology management, applica- formance Indicators assist you in meas- tion development, data warehousing, and strategic planning for information uring how close you are to the target. services. He was an engineer for Devcom Inc., the original team that The Auditing Guidelines are primarily designed and wrote the landmark Prime INFORMATION database system. instructions and recommendations for the Information System Auditors, both He is well-known as an instructor, speaker, and author for both technical and internal and external. (If you are still managerial audiences. These include being an invited lecturer on software upset about this “controls thing,” you development, project management, and business ethics for such diverse can think of this as a pre-release of the organizations as the U.S. Department of Commerce, graduate level business enemy's battle plan.) schools, and the Mountbatten Institute in New York. The Detailed Control Objectives (318 total) are the workhorses of COBIT. He also served as the PICK series technical editor for O’Reilly & Associates. This is where we get to specifics. For

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INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 13 News That Webonomics 101 GrabsYou

• A publisher or company has some Explaining RSS content that it wants to share with others.

• It creates an RSS channel for the content.

BY MELVIN SORIANO • In this RSS channel, the company includes items for Web pages they want to share.

There was a time agencies, and many personal and com- • This new RSS channel can be read by mercial Web sites are now using the for- remote applications, and converted to when you had to go mat. RSS can be used with software headlines and links. looking for news tools in Java, PHP, Perl, Python, and • These links can be incorporated into other major programming languages. online. If it changed, other Web pages, or read in dedicated Many RSS viewer software and news readers. great. But that’s sort aggregator programs work on the Web, on the desktop, even within e-mail • People who read those other Web of like heading down clients. RSS has somewhat become the sites and readers will see the links, click to the newsstand just new standard for syndication content on them, and go to the original site of and metadata over the Internet. the publisher or company. to see if anything RSS is pretty much XML used to share As I mentioned, headline sharing is the new happened. It headlines and links to news articles. most common use for RSS. So publish- was time for home With news articles, the entire article isn’t ers tend to really like it. But RSS is also usually shared, but metadata, or descrip- used for other purposes, by non-pub- delivery. tive information, about the article is; the lishers. RSS is a very popular format in metadata usually includes a URL, head- the weblog/blogging world. It’s also Then a few years back, Netscape intro- line, and a summary. RSS has become an used for photo diaries, classified ad list- duced a concept where news got sent important tool for publishers because ings, corporate job listings, recipes, crit- to you if it changed. It was called Rich these news feeds can be used to syndi- ical reviews, and even for tracking the Site Summary, or RSS, and the concept cate content, and to integrate third- status of software packages. has moved well past wherever Netscape party content into your site. itself has gone. In e-Commerce, RSS feeds are used as a Since it is XML, all RSS files must con- mechanism of information delivery. For Netscape initially invented the RSS format form to the XML 1.0 specification, as example, Amazon provides customized for the various "channels" on its Netscape published on the World Wide Web Con- RSS feeds based on its Web Services Netcenter back in 1999. Non-Netscape platform. You can track top or preferred Web sites began to incorporate the new sortium (W3C) Web site. I’ve spoken books in your personal news reader, or format. The format should look familiar to enough about RSS to probably bore include information on your Web site many of you by now. It’s XML. you to tears but let’s just remember that about related books for sale at Amazon. it’s a flexible way to tag information so Today you can find thousands of RSS that it looks like HTML. Because of all these uses, RSS has feeds. Intriguingly, RSS might be the become rather popular in the last few biggest use of XML, even above e- How can RSS be used? Let’s look at a years. You can check out sites that list Commerce. Weblog writers, news typical example of how a company out a bunch of RSS channels, such as agencies, governments, government moves into RSS.

14 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 Syndic8.com. Yahoo news, the BBC, Dedicated search engines make search- the last election, they’ve become quite Amazon, Apple Computer, Wired, ing for content easier. Web site Feed- important to many people. Daypop.com Rolling Stone, and CNN are among the ster.com monitors zillions of weblogs, finds the most commonly linked-to arti- many popular sources of RSS feeds. and lets you search through an index of cles throughout the world. It creates a log entries and view them by relevance, list of top words that are being used in As the number of RSS channels has date, or blog ranking. Upon submitting weblogs. Lastly, it also ranks weblogs by grown, a new type of software has a search, Feedster.com automatically citations, providing an index of weblogs emerged: the RSS news reader. Unlike creates an RSS feed based on your that are popular with other webloggers. usenet reads, RSS news readers can be request. This can be added to your It’s a search engine that essentially personalized more directly. Think of news reader, so that you can see all the searches for relevancy. On top of that, them as personal aggregators — they recent activity on your search request, you can do custom searches, too. The help you find and organize a list of without even leaving your news reader. ranking lists and custom searches, like channels that you are interested in. How easy is that? Feedster.com, are available as RSS Once you have all of your channels, you feeds that you can import into your can view any of them, using the reader’s Daypop.com will search news, blogs, news reader. standard interface. The news reader and RSS feeds. It lets you track popular checks for updates to the channels that news within the weblog world. It pro- In the next article, we’ll take a look at you are interested in and lets you jump vides a list of the top 40 most popular the syntax of the RSS standard and see to URLs in the content. weblog URLs. Given that weblogs have how easy it is to keep others updated come to the attention of politicians in with your information. is Looking for more content? You can google for them by typing "filetype:rss" MELVIN M. SORIANO works at Eagle Rock Information Systems (ERIS), an Internet and some topic in a search engine. Application Service Provider and WebWizard/MultiValue Developer. ERIS has deployed You’ll get a list of “.rss” files out on the enterprise-wide solutions on most MultiValue platforms and operating systems. HTM- Internet with that topic. Mel can be contacted at [email protected] and visited at http://www.eriscorp.com. You can always call him directly at ERIS's Pasadena, Calif., offices: (626) 535-9658.

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 15 By Leanne Green History of WhereWhereMultiValue AreAre TheyThey Now?Now?

In a 20th-year anniversary celebration that began about one year ago and was inaugurated in the May/June 2004 issue, Spectrum magazine brings you the last of five installments in our series, “Where Are They Now?” What appeared to be a daunting research project in the beginning (“You want me to find how many people who are missing from the industry?”), turned out to be quite an enjoyable, reminiscent, and often refreshing walk Two down memory lane. In the first installment of this series we took a look at the industry pioneers, Decades of the gentlemen who were brave enough to launch the first Microdata dealerships in the late 1970s (see Spectrum magazine, May/June 2004). The second Spectrum and third installments reviewed 25 of the most “influential people” in PICK, as determined 15 years ago in 1989 (see Spectrum magazine, July/August 2004 for Magazine: part 1, and September/October 2004 for part 2). The fourth installment brought back the who and why of the esteemed “Person of the Year” features, Influential which appeared on seven covers of Spectrum magazine between 1989 and 1997 (see Spectrum magazine, November/ December 2004). This fifth and last People That feature remembers 17 other influential people who made the cover of Spec- trum magazine between 1984 and 2004.

Made the In the last five issues of Spectrum magazine’s celebration of its 20th year of publication, we’ve taken a step back into history and remembered a total of 62 Cover people that have made an impact on the PICK/MultiValue marketplace. Of these, only 11 could not be located. We encourage you to contact us at anytime in the future ([email protected]), should you know of someone’s whereabouts that you read about in one of our articles, or you happen to be just one of those on the Spectrum MIA list.

16 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 mvToolbox® puts the fun back into MultiValue programming again! 1984 March/April Issue The inaugural issue of Spectrum magazine featured an elderly couple and two young Current multi-value utilities make you work children.The cover story, titled “Computer: harder than you should. mvToolbox® Friend or Foe?,” featured this generational image as the likely audience that might find breaks programming boundaries that cost a foe in the use of computers.The elderly couple was actually a pair of models you time and needless effort. brought in for the photo shoot by the art director. Thus, their relationship to the Mul- tiValue market is non-existent, and their Search through multiple files and across identities are also unavailable! hundreds of programs in seconds rather The children on the cover,however,do have a personal history with this industry. Paul than hours. Giobbi (the 14-year-old young boy) and Alex Giobbi (the two-year-old girl) are the chil- Simultaneously analyze two or more dren of Gus and Monica Giobbi, the publishers of International Spectrum magazine. programs for code differences. PAUL GIOBBI Recover effortlessly from programming on the Cover: Three years before ap- errors or system crashes. pearing on the cover of Spectrum, Paul started his first job in the PICK market, testing dumb terminals at the age of 11 for a Microdata dealership owned by his father, Gus. He was 14 at the time the cover image was taken in 1984. “I wasn’t supposed to be on the cover of Spectrum that day.The fact is that I was there to babysit my little sister who was two at the time. If I recall correctly, the See other examples of how the elderly couple that was modeling for the cover were not providing the desired MVToolbox programming environment image and for some reason, my parents got Alex and me to stand in with them. I makes coding fun again at our website: guess that is when the Giobbi nepotism all started.” –Paul Giobbi www.mvtoolbox.com Paul Giobbi After the Cover: or come see us at the February While still in high school and college, Paul held various positions for International Spectrum show in San Diego. Spectrum, ending his career there in 1994 as VP of Sales. For the next five years he served as VP of Sales for Jones Business Sys- tems in Houston,Texas.In 2000,Giobbi and mvToolbox I 888-999-7571 a partner bought out the PICK division from JBS, relocated to Southern California, Contact: John Read, Director of Sales and Marketing [email protected] Continues on page 18 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 17 Where Are They Now? Continued from page 17

and formed Zumasys, a systems integrator focusing on solutions such as email/con- verged communications (MS Exchange, VOIP from Cisco & Intel); access infra- 1987 Nov/Dec Issue structure (Terminal Server & Citrix); cus- Steve Epstein on the Cover: tom-built servers (HP, IBM and Intel), In 1987 Steve Epstein, a software develop- networking, and security. ment consultant for scientific and engi- Explaining the thrust of his company, neering applications, was chosen to depict Giobbi said:“I’m not out of the MultiValue the average computer consultant in this market! It’s like Scarface,’Every time I try to cover image for a story about the career of get out, they pull me back in.’Zumasys still PICK consulting. In a year when most con- supports close to 10,000 D3 users, helping sultants were earning between $45 and them to implement emerging technology $75 per hour, Epstein told Spectrum maga- solutions like 3G wireless, which allows 1985 July/August Issue zine that it was time to diverge away from field personnel to access their MultiValue PICK:“This is probably the last year I’ll be applications from anywhere using a cellular FRANK BROOS working exclusively with PICK. By itself, I Internet connection. on the Cover: feel PICK simply doesn’t relate to the real Frank Broos,aka a “super world of computing. There’s no mouse, it salesman”in a superman isn’t multi-tasking, and the operating sys- ALEX GIOBBI tem doesn’t run alongside the ’real’ operat- on the Cover: costume on the cover of Spectrum, worked with ing systems of the world.” Alex Giobbi was just AWA Computers from two years old when Steve Epstein After the Cover: 1972 until 1986 in vari- she made her debut in True to his word, Epstein must have left the ous capacities, starting as technical support the PICK marketplace industry as we were unable to locate him for manager and finishing as deputy general in 1984, and by the age this article. One source, however,emailed us manager. He appeared on the cover 10 years of 8, she said she was to report that Steve was teaching at Midland after he introduced Microdata REALITY to proficient in using a PICK system. She Girls’ School in Los Olivos, Calif. about four the Australian marketplace in 1975. (He was proudly states that she has witnessed 24 or five years ago. He is no longer there (con- AWA’s sales manager then, and had become years of International Spectrum shows firmed by contacting the school),and no for- deputy general manager at the time of the (one of which she attended in her mother’s warding contact information could be Super Salesmen issue in 1985). womb) and said,“I couldn’t be more proud obtained through the school. of my family for having created the Spec- “The reason I appeared on the Spectrum mag- trum legacy.” azine cover was in recognition of the arguably greatest penetration of the PICK system in the Alex Giobbi After the Cover: Australian marketplace.”–Frank Broos Like her brother before her, Alex held positions at the family business through- Frank Broos After the Cover: out her teenage years and during her col- Broos left AWA in 1986 and subsequently lege summers.Today she works as a Land established C-Itoh Pick Systems in Australia. Purchasing Agent with Pulte Homes Cor- In 1988 he returned to AWA and took the poration out of Orange County. She lives position of general manager. In 1989, with in San Clemente,Calif.,which her mother, the backing of General Automation and Monica, affectionately refers to as “laun- Sanderson Plc., Broos led a management dry distance away.” (Alex explains: “This buyout of AWA and changed the name to means it’s too far for me to bring home General Automation. In 1995, his company laundry on the weekends.”) became a subsidiary of Sanderson Group, and he became the managing director of the Australian company. Broos retired from 1989 May/June Issue Sanderson in 2000, and since then has served as the chairman of Associated Com- MARCIE MILLER on the Cover: puter Solutions, another Australian compa- It was 1989 and Marcie Miller (then Marcie ny focusing on MultiValue solutions (using Gebauer, owner of PICK training company the UniVerse environment). Discovery Computer Systems), was chosen as the cover image for the story,“Women in Computing.” Depicted as the “average” super woman, super wife, super mom and super business owner, Marcie was pictured 18 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 holding her daughter, Elise, who was about (The “baby”Elise is now 17,the youngest of “I appeared on the Spectrum cover with one and a half years old at the time. After her three daughters. Elise is pictured with three other people as representatives of leaving McDonnell Douglas just one year her mom in the updated photo, wearing the different fields in the computer indus- before, Marcie had established her own her soccer uniform. Miller tells Spectrum try. We looked at what our job responsi- PICK training company and was well on she would love to hear from old friends, bilities were in relation to the service we her way to a long-lasting career as a suc- students or clients, and can be reached at provided and what issues we each faced. cessful female entrepreneur. [email protected] or 703-476-1418.) Today that cover would have a lot more faces on it, representing IT careers and “I can still remember to this day walking to industries that didn’t even exist then. All I my mailbox, opening it up, pulling out the can say is that it was hard enough to get May/June 1989 issue of Spectrum magazine, the four of us to smile at the same time!” and seeing myself on the cover.Even though – Mike Roberts I knew I was going to be on the cover,I was still amazed to see myself there! It was truly one of the most exciting experiences that Mike Roberts After the Cover: I’ve had in my nearly 22 years of being in Roberts stayed with Figi for 22 years, with the computer industry!” – Marcie Miller positions ranging from data processing manager to senior VP of Information Sys- Marcie Miller After the Cover: tems, and enjoyed the evolution at this Miller ran Discovery Computer Systems company from “soldering terminal wires until April of 2003. Due to the poor econo- to building Web sites.” He left Figi four my,she explained that the training business years ago and founded Roberts and Asso- was slow.She now works full time for Asso- 1989 Sept/Oct Issue ciates, a consulting business specializing ciation of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA), in IT and business operations manage- where, as a programmer/analyst, she also MIKE ROBERTS ment. “For over 20 years I commuted 50 teaches classes and provides technical sup- on the Cover: miles daily in pretty heavy traffic,”Roberts port to about 180 employees.“I am really When Mike Roberts remembers. “Now,for most days, my com- enjoying my job because of the wide vari- was chosen to partici- mute is between my home office and the ety of tasks that I am able to do every day. pate in the article about coffee machine. The biggest traffic issue is It is fun to work in a building full of people computer profession- tripping over the cats.” after working virtually by myself for 15 als, he was VP, Informa- years!” Miller said she still runs Discovery tion Systems, with San part-time, offering MultiValue and UNIX Diego,Calif.-based Figi Graphics,a gift com- training at customer sites. pany he worked at for 22 years. Continues on page 20

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 19 personally and professionally. At JES, she Dirk Thayer After the Cover: developed and taught AP transition courses Where Are Although Thayer has worked for the same to former R83 users and programmers. She company for over 20 years, the company and her husband also wrote the first ency- They Now? itself has evolved from Interactive Inc. to Continued from page 19 clopedia, from A to Z on AP,named EPICK DataWorks to Epicor Software. His posi- (with co-author Harvey Rodstein). Today tions have evolved also, and include pro- TERRI HALE Hale works for Data Systems Group in grammer, PD analyst, customer support, on the Cover: Sacramento, Calif., doing D3 training, pro- system administrator,pre-sales support,and Although most of her gramming, and customer support. career has been spent as IS manager.Today he holds the position of an independent contrac- senior software engineer in the iSolutions DIRK THAYER tor,Terri Hale was work- Value Chain group with Epicor. He works on the Cover: ing for Pick Systems mostly on integration technologies allow- when she appeared on When Dirk Thayer ing the company’s back office products the Spectrum cover for the story about com- appeared on the cover (ERP systems utilizing MultiValue technolo- puter professionals. She had been brought of Spectrum and was gy) to communicate with its front office onboard by Dick Pick to ensure that the interviewed for his offerings. (Dirk is pictured here with his more commonly performed PICK applica- thoughts on careers in five-year-old son, Bryce.) tion tasks became part of the new Advanced computing,he was a sys- PICK operating system functionality (aka: tems analyst for Interactive Inc.in San Diego, CAROL OLIVER- Open Architecture, D3). Calif. The article about Thayer began, “Dirk PARTEE Thayer is an unusual computer professional: on the Cover: “I can tell you that my husband, although he is loyal. He has been with one company When Carol Oliver- exceedingly proud of me [for being on the for over five years.” That was in 1989,and 15 Partee was inter- cover of Spectrum in 1989], was just a tad years later, he is with the same company. on the green side, because it wasn’t him. viewed for the Sept./ Sorry, Jon!” –Terri Hale “I can remember wondering why the heck Oct. 1989 issue of a magazine would choose me to be on its Spectrum, she was cover, especially since I hadn’t been in the the executive VP for Terri Hale After the Cover: industry for very long at that time. The Alert Computer Systems, a software house In the late 1980s,Dick Pick “loaned”Hale to cover did tend to start a number of conver- specializing in field service applications. JES & Associates to help train the PICK sations. I would be at some PICK gathering She was included in this cover story on dealers on Advanced PICK. Hale left Pick and someone would just come up saying, computer professionals because she had Systems shortly thereafter and joined ’Weren’t you on the cover?’ I met a lot of begun her career as a documentation spe- forces with JES owner Jonathan Sisk—both interesting people that way.” –Dirk Thayer cialist, and then evolved into other techni-

20 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 cal careers,from customer implementations to customer service to executive management. By the time the magazine was printed, she was working at Pick Systems and about a year later moved on to The Buckley School as systems administrator. “It was such an honor to appear on the cover! I would like to appear on the cover again on my Harley. Maybe I could be an ambassador,going from state to state on my Harley and letting the world know about the MultiValue industry and most particularly about Raining Data and the vision of Dick Pick.” –Carol Oliver-Partee

Carol Oliver-Partee After the Cover: In 1999 Oliver-Partee went back to Pick Systems (which then became Raining Data) and simultaneously worked with Peterson Research designing a GUI front end for Oaktree School Management Software. Today she is in Palm Desert, Calif., working for Colt Security Investigative Services as CIO and vice president.“I am no longer in a MultiValue environment, and am forced to use QuickBooks for accounting,” she said.“I hate every minute of it!”

1992 Sept/Oct Issue

NEILL MILLER on the Cover: In 1992 Neill Miller was the chairman of System Builder, an Australian company he co-founded in 1982 with his brother Derek Miller, who served as the company’s chief technical officer. He appeared on the cover with two other Australian businessmen, each of whom had a leading 4GL product for PICK- based applications.Miller was quite worthy of this limelight in the early 1990s, having grown the business of System Builder into an international company with OEM contracts and a dealer network that spread to almost every major country in the world including the Soviet Union, which was quite remarkable at that time. “I was flattered to be on the cover of the magazine and felt that together with Derek

Continues on page 22 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 21 Where Are Excerpts from Spectrum Cover Stories They Now? 20 Years of Amazing Progress in IT! Continued from page 21 1984: “The trend is apparent. In the last year, getting the right information out of a computer has been made simpler than ever. For example, a new inquiry system from Microda- Miller we had made a significant contribu- ta, called Natural Language, uses a form of artificial intelligence to understand questions put tion to spreading the word of the PICK mar- to the computer in ordinary, everyday language. Normally, a question like: “Who beat the ketplace worldwide. I was proud to be sales quota in Florida last year?” would confound most computer systems. But the new associated with what was one of the success stories of the IT industry at that time. PICK computer languages will maintain several dictionaries that help it interpret such questions.” was an exciting product and the whole (Quote from the Spectrum author of the cover story, “Computers: Friend or Foe?”) ancillary PICK market was an exhilarating Shucks, we missed the opportunity! place to be. It was littered with exceptional people with vision and an indomitable 1985: “I think I would like to see the PICK marketplace gain the image and the reputation entrepreneurial spirit.” –Neill Miller of IBM. I’d like to see McDonnell Douglas become the IBM of the PICK market; to carry that same image of strength and support.” (Quote from Susan Davis, account manager for Neill Miller After the Cover: McDonnell Douglas in 1985, in an interview for the cover story on “Super Salesmen.”) In the mid 1990s,Miller successfuly merged 1987: “As far as I can see, the economic outlook for the consultant in this [PICK] market System Builder with Unidata. He played a is fantastic! There’s much more business than there are consultants. The market is grow- major role in the eventual merger of Unida- ta and VMark into what became Ardent Inc., ing so fast there is an acute shortage of qualified consultants. We’re making more money listed on Nasdaq.Ardent went on to merge than ever before! (as quoted by an “anonymous longtime consultant” in the cover story, with Informix,which subsequently sold the “PICK Consultants: The Glue That Binds It All Together.”) entire MultiValue business including System Anybody looking for a COBOL programmer? Builder to IBM for over one billion dollars. Today System Builder is an IBM-owned and 1989: “I see salary studies that compare people that are doing COBOL work and people supported product with hundreds of thou- that are doing PICK work, and PICK programmers are typically much lower paid than some- sands of users worldwide. body with four years of COBOL experience.” (Quote from Kevin King, a financial systems After nearly 30 years in the computer busi- programmer, in an interview for the cover story, “Computer Professionals Speak Out.”) ness, Miller explains that, “I needed a Harvey’s crystal ball really worked! change.” Today he spends his time in venture capital investments of start-up compa- 1992: “I have seen the future of PICK-based systems and it’s full of icons, mice, bars and nies, and is also a promoter of a substantial buttons.” (Quote from Harvey Rodstein, author of the cover story, “The PICK 4GL: It Will portfolio of commercial properties. (Neill Fizzle Without Sizzle.”) is pictured here with his three-year-old granddaughter, Sarah.) Guess what? Dick Pick was not Bill Gates (and his son isn’t either). 1993: “Being a ‘Pick’ in the PICK business can often raise some curiosity. Many people, BOB GUTHRIE when they get on the phone with me or meet me at a trade show, ask, ’So, are you the Pick on the Cover: of Pick Systems? Aren’t you a bit young? Oh, I get it. Another Bill Gates, eh?’ And I just Bob Guthrie, who answer, ’No. And Pick Systems isn’t just another Microsoft either.” (Quote from Mark Pick, founded the success- who was with Pick Systems at the time, in an interview for the cover story, “Top 20 Sales- ful PICK software people in PICK.”) development house Pick Products in 1979, has been a “PICK Bob Guthrie After the Cover: CueBic Systems (known in the U.S. as icon” in Australia. He About five years after appearing on the Apscore International) was making the began his computing cover,Guthrie sold Pick Products to Gener- news throughout the industry, as he fought career in the 1960s al Automation and stayed on as general a legal battle with The Ultimate Corp over a when he was an RPG manager. In 2003, the Australian assets of lawsuit pertaining to exclusive marketing programmer and then General Automation (by then called GA rights of the CueBic 4GL. landed a job with Express) were acquired by Fusionware Microdata in the mid “At the time,I remember thinking that it was Corp., where Bob has remained in his man- a real honor to be on the cover of our indus- 1970s. Shortly before agement position. appearing on the try’s most important magazine. Also, Neill cover of the magazine, he had worked to and Bob turned out to be nice guys, which JAMES MURRAY acquire the rights of the Wizard line of appli- was a nice surprise.”–James Murray on the Cover: cation generators. James Murray not James Murray After the Cover: “After the death of Ken Simms, the author only designed and Murray is still the CEO of Apscore International. of Wizard, I bought the business from his developed the Cue- However, over the last year he has founded a estate. At the time of the Spectrum cover, Bic 4GL and operat- company called LivingMemory.com. After three of the world’s leading MultiValue 4GL ing system product, but also managed the spending his time in raising capital for the products were being developed in Aus- business as it stretched from its early suc- venture and designing the software behind tralia.This fact prompted the lead article.” cess in Australia in 1984 to huge marketing the site,Murray hopes for LivingMemory to go – Bob Guthrie efforts in the U.S. In 1992, at the time Mur- live early in the new year. (James is pictured ray appeared on the cover of the magazine, here with his 10-month-old son,William.) Continues on page 44 22 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005

Service Oriented Business Applications: Dissimilar Applications Working Together

My last article, You may already be familiar with Web Ser- In addition, you may find organizations “Legacy Applications vices or at least heard of them. There are offering add-on Web Services to enhance Get New Life, With thousands published that you can use. All your product offering to your customers, Service Oriented you need to know is how giving you a competitive edge. Architecture,” intro- to ask for information These enhancements fre- and what to do with the quently require no change to duced a new IT If there is no results. You do not need your existing application. For acronym, SOA (Service to know anything about need to take example, you can send your Oriented Architecture), the platform they run on. financial statements to a serv- as a way to make You do not need to know advantage of ice that will analyze them portions of your anything about their with respect to fraud indica- application available development environ- Web Services tors. Or a payables ledger can to business partners. ment. All you need to already in be analyzed to help determine This article discusses know is how to request areas of savings. Or billings another acronym information and what existence, can be reviewed to help view popularized by Gart- you want to do with it receivables/payments over once you get it. To get an time, giving you a different ner, SOBA — Service remove barriers idea of publicly available perspective on your business. Oriented Business Web Services (those that in doing business Or internal productivity Applications. While have been published on reports can be examined using at first this may the Web for all to use) with your analytical tools to expose hid- appear to be nothing check the Web site den operational trends. more than building www.xmethods.net. You customers and There is little question that Web-based applica- will see such services as currency exchange, fax suppliers, or computer students are being tions using SOA stan- exposed to this technology. dards, it is actually services, SEC filings from Edgar, worldwide white attract the next They will emerge from their much more. SOBA is and yellow pages, country programs knowing how to giving rise to anoth- lookup of IP address, etc. crop of developers, take advantage and imple- er development stan- ment Web Services, SOA, dard, SODA — Then there are the pri- then you SOBA, XML, etc. New pro- Service Oriented vate Web Services. You gramming hires in your must be invited to use probably do not organization will be able to Development of these and they typically work with your existing devel- Applications, which come from your cus- need to be opment staff to properly inte- relies on SOA as well tomers and suppliers. A concerned with grate your legacy application as building reusable supplier may invite you to the world of Web Services components and to query the status of an SOBA. and SOA, allowing you to developing and order, track shipping sta- offer SOBA to your suppliers deploying in a dis- tus, submit an order, and customers. is tributed fashion. obtain technical support, etc. A customer may allow you to check their inventory to LEE H. BURSTEIN, founder and presi- Why bother if everything is working just permit you to automatically create a replen- dent of Dynamic Systems Inc., has been a fine in your current environment? If there ishment order, obtain the phone number well known speaker, trainer and consultant is no need to take advantage of Web Ser- and email address of an employee, check for two decades. He is also co-founder and vices already in existence, remove barriers corporate news, etc. So what would you executive vice president of Guided Intelli- in doing business with your customers and like to invite your customers and suppliers gence, LLC, offering SOA solutions for suppliers, or attract the next crop of devel- to have access to from your computing sys- Forensic Financial Analysis and Opera- opers then you probably do not need to be tem? Perhaps things like order inquiry, concerned with SOBA. However, if this order entry or something that sets you tional Analysis as an ASP. For more infor- can benefit your organization today or in apart from the competition. mation, visit www.dynamicsys.com. the next five years, you may want to consider moving in this direction. Let’s take a BY LEE H. BURSTEIN, PRESIDENT look at these advantages individually. Dynamic Systems, Inc., Executive Vice President, Guided Intelligence, LLC. 24 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005

UniVerse Dynamically Hashed FILES Tuning Parameters

BY JEFF FITZGERALD AND PEGGY LONG

In our last article we introduced the concepts and theory used in the design of dynamically hashed UniVerse and UniData database files. Although implemented quite differently, the objective of these structures, which are generally called “dynamic files,” is to expand the size of the file as data are added in order to prevent the seri- ous performance degradation that can occur when overflow is excessive. This is the sixth article in our series describing database file theory, structure and maintenance considerations. In all of our articles we have emphasized the need to minimize overflow because of the huge impact it has on performance. With the advent of dynamic files in 1987 many Prime INFORMATION users believed that dynamic files would solve the overflow problem and completely eliminate the need to do regular file maintenance. We quoted one of the INFOR- MATION spokesmen as saying, “This is a performance release.” His reference was to Release 7.0 of INFORMATION, which was the first release to support the dynamically hashed file structure. For database administrators who never performed file maintenance it truly was a “performance” release. You could expect this to be the case with UniVerse and UniData dynamic files as well. In application, dynamic files have eliminated the fearfully long chains of overflow that could occur when “statically hashed” files were not resized when needed; but the concept that they are “maintenance free” is certainly a misconception held by many database administrators. When dynamic files were first introduced, we responded to those who touted the “maintenance free” litany with our question, “If dynamic files need no maintenance why are there so many tuning parameters?” In this article we will discuss the tuning parameters for dynamically hashed UniVerse files. We will review the defaults and discuss the theoretical considerations to be considered when tuning dynamic files for better performance. Additionally we will describe the information provided by the ANALYZE.FILE utility as well as how and when to use the RESIZE and CONFIGURE.FILE utilities to change file parameters. Let’s take a look at each of the six UniVerse dynamic files parameters. We will save the discussion of UniData dynamic files for a later article in order to stay within our editor’s suggested “file” size.

26 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 But, before we discuss the parameters we need to describe how a dynamic file is created. The UniVerse command CREATE. FILE will prompt for the file name if not provided on the command line. The next prompt is for TYPE. If the response is either the number “30” or the word “DYNAMIC,” a dynamically hashed file will be created. This is a bit inconsistent with the use of the meaning of TYPE. For statically hashed files the response to this prompt selects the hashing algorithm, TYPES 2 through 18. However, if the number “1” or “19” is entered a directory structure is created instead of a hashed file.

The RESIZE command can also be used GENERAL — Specifies that the general such parameter as SEPARATION in to convert a statically hashed file to a hashing algorithm should be used for the INFORMATION static files. All static files dynamically hashed file. The RESIZE dynamic file. GENERAL is the default. used a buffer of 2,048 bytes. When dynam- command will accept either the number ic files were introduced, the option of using “30” or the word “DYNAMIC.” SEQ.NUM — Specifies that a hashing a larger buffer was added but only for algorithm suitable for sequential numbers dynamic files. In those days the disk drives should be used for the dynamic file. You were formatted into “tracks” much like the Six Dynamic File should use this hashing algorithm only for Tuning Parameters “tracks” on an LP record (remember records with IDs that are mainly numeric, those?). Each track was subdivided into 9 MINIMUM.MODULUS — If we were creat- sequential, and consecutive. “records” which could hold 2,048 bytes ing a statically hashed file with CREATE.FILE CREATE.FILE and RESIZE allow you each. The “normal” size of a buffer was one we would be asked to enter the modulo, the to specify the hashing algorithm for physical disk record, therefore a group size number of groups. When creating a dynamic file dynamic files. of 2 would mean two physical disk records. the modulo will default to 1 unless the MINI- GROUP.SIZE — According to the docu- GROUP.SIZE may be specified with the MUM.MODULUS parameter is included mentation, static files may have a SEPA- CREATE.FILE and RESIZE utilities. It is on the command line. RATION, the size of the buffer in units of NOT available via the CONFIGURE.FILE From on-line HELP: 512 bytes, between 1 and 8,388,608. utility. The on-line HELP for GROUP.SIZE Interesting. Creating a file with a separa- is wrong. MINIMUM.MODULUS tion of 8,388,608 would produce a 4 GIG When we create or resize a static file, the Specifies the minimum modulo of the file. buffer. We have never tried to do that! The parameters to set the hashing algorithm, This keyword takes an integer argument default separation is 4, a 2,048 byte buffer modulo (number of groups) and separation greater than one. This value is also the initial for dynamic files. However, dynamic files (number of bytes in each buffer) are speci- value of the modulo of the dynamic file. don’t use the term “SEPARATION.” fied. When creating a dynamic file, the Instead the size of the buffer is called hashing algorithm is specified by the use of This parameter can have a significant “group size.” The parameter either GENERAL or SEQ.NUM. The impact on performance. But, we will save GROUP.SIZE allows the buffer size to be buffer size is specified by GROUP.SIZE that discussion until we have described all set to 2,048 or 4,096 bytes — a separation {1|2} and the modulo is set via the MINI- six parameters. of either 4 or 8. MUM.MODULUS keyword. When these Hashing Algorithms — There are two GROUP.SIZE 1 sets the buffer to 2,048 keywords are not used, the file defaults to hashing algorithms that may be used with bytes and GENERAL, GROUP.SIZE 1 and a modulo of 1 (one group). dynamic files. These algorithms are named GROUP.SIZE 2 sets the buffer to 4,096 GENERAL and SEQ.NUM for “sequen- bytes. Reminder: Dynamic files are imple- tial numeric.” Static files reference the mented as directories containing two hashing algorithms as TYPE. The hashing Are you wondering why a group size of “1” files, one is the primary data file, algorithm can be specified when the file is is 2,048 and a separation of 4 is 2,048? It called DATA.30, and the other is the created via the use of the words “GENER- might be just a little something to keep overflow file, called OVER.30. AL” or “SEQ.NUM” on the command line. things interesting because file maintenance can be a bit on the “dry” side but we believe LARGE.RECORD — The use of the If neither is specified, the file will default to the real reason is that the design for Uni- term “large record” in the UniVerse data- the GENERAL hashing algorithm. Verse dynamic files is based on the Prime base file context means the data record is From on-line HELP: INFORMATION model. There was no larger than the buffer defined by the sepa- Continues on page 28

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 27 HASHED FILES Continued from page 27 additional 96 bytes, they are not all the first, meaning data in group 3 will usable). The number of bytes in the file move to group one and the third group ration. For example, if the separation is 4, needs to exceed 3200 to cause a group to will be deleted. the buffer is 2,048 bytes in size. If a data split and create another group yielding a record is greater than 2048 bytes it is called modulo 3 file. The load is calculated on To set or change MERGE.LOAD, use a “large record.” It is also stored different- the entire file, not on an individual group. CREATE.FILE, CONFIGURE.FILE or ly than smaller records. Imagine a record It is common for a dynamic file to have RESIZE. that is 3,100 bytes long. In a static file, groups in overflow and the load be less UniVerse would chop off the last 2,048 than the split factor. Changing Parameters bytes and place that “chunk” in the over- To set or change SPLIT.LOAD, use CRE- flow area of the file. The first chunk of the Through changing some of the UniVerse ATE.FILE, CONFIGURE.FILE or RESIZE. record, the smaller fragment would be dynamic file parameters you can potential- written into the primary buffer with the MERGE.LOAD — There is another ly reduce overflow, conserve disk space and offset to where the buffer size chunk is parameter called MERGE.LOAD which reduce system overhead, which will result located. In effect, this gets the “lumps” out causes the file to decrease in physical size in faster system performance. That sounds of the primary buffer. when data are deleted. The default is 50%. good. So how do you get started? With dynamic files, the user may specify Again, the load is calculated on the entire We start by looking for opportunities the number of bytes in what is to be con- file, not the individual groups. In our where setting MINIMUM.MODULUS sidered a “large record.” But with dynamic example let’s imagine that most of the data might be used to reduce unnecessary split- files, only the record ID and the offset are are purged from our modulo 3 file which ting and merging. Such processes where written into the primary file. There is no has the capacity of holding 6000 bytes. If new dynamic files are created and populat- fragment of data in the primary data file, there are 2400 bytes of data in the file the ed or transaction files are populated and DATA.30. The entire data record is writ- load will be 40%. This is less than the cleared are good cases to consider. The ten into the OVER.30 file. default MERGE.LOAD factor. In theory amount of time saved by pre-allocating the The default for LARGE.RECORD is 80% the last group in the file will merge with file can be huge. of the buffer size, which is 1,628 bytes for a group size of 2,048 bytes (80% of 2,035 ANALYZE FILE EXAMPLE bytes, allowing 13 bytes for overhead). ANALYZE.FILE EXAMPLE1 STATS LARGE.RECORD may be set using CREATE.FILE, RESIZE and CONFIG- File name ...... EXAMPLE1 URE.FILE. It may be set as a number of Pathname ...... EXAMPLE1 bytes or as a percentage. For example: File type...... DYNAMIC Hashing Algorithm ...... GENERAL LARGE.RECORD 1600 would set the No. of groups (modulus) . . . . 18 current ( minimum 1, 0 empty, large record size at 1600 bytes and ...... 5 overflowed, 1 badly ) Number of records ...... 774 LARGE.RECORD 80% would set the Large record size ...... 1628 bytes large record size to 1628 bytes. Number of large records . . . . 1 Group size ...... 2048 bytes SPLIT.LOAD — The ratio of the number Load factors ...... 80% (split), 50% (merge) and 79% (actual) of bytes stored in a file to the capacity of Total size ...... 55296 bytes the file is called the “load.” For example, Total size of record data . . . . 29948 bytes imagine a file with one group and the size Total size of record IDs . . . . . 5600 bytes of that group is 2,048 bytes. Let’s use 2,000 Unused space ...... 15652 bytes Total space for records . . . . . 51200 bytes bytes for this discussion. If we place 1000 bytes in the group we could say the group Number per group ( total of 18 groups ) is 50% full or we could say the load is 50%. Average Minimum Maximum StdDev Group buffers...... 1.39 1 4 0.76 With each addition and deletion to/from a Record ...... 43.00 18 62 12.56 file, UniVerse calculates the load. A param- Large records...... 0.06 1 1 0.23 eter called SPLIT.LOAD defines at what Data bytes ...... 1663.78 459 7580 1495.27 point the file should split. The default Record ID bytes . . . . 311.11 129 442 88.69 SPLIT.LOAD is 80%. In our example, Unused bytes ...... 869.56 168 2000 654.56 80% of 2000 is 1600. When the byte Total bytes ...... 2844.44 2048 8192 0.00 count in our file is greater than 1600 the group will split and a second group will be Number per record ( total of 774 records ) created. In theory, half of the data records Average Minimum Maximum StdDev Data bytes ...... 38.69 19 6155 221.27 will be moved to the new group. The mod- Record ID bytes ...... 7.24 1 25 3.82 ulo is now 2. The capacity of the file has Total bytes...... 45.93 20 6180 221.93 doubled, let’s call it 4000 bytes (ignore the

28 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 In a small experiment to quantify the The selection of a minimum modulus 5 overflowed, 1 badly.” The 0 (zero) empty “cost” of splitting we created a dynamic file could be based upon an average file size for is a good sign. This means that all of the 18 using all of the defaults — a modulo of 1. the life cycle of that particular file. groups contain at least one data record. We wrote a BASIC program which wrote The 5 overflowed means there are 5 out of The second opportunity that can substan- 50,000 records of 500 bytes each into the 18 groups that have one overflow buffer tially reduce overflow in a dynamic file is file. The total elapsed time was 883.46 sec- each attached. The “1 badly” is a badly changing the hashing algorithm. But, this onds. The file split to a modulo of 15,671. worded and misleading choice of words. is not a simple process given only the tools We were the only user on an HP UNIX When there is a group that has more than supplied by UniVerse. Of course we use computer. one buffer of overflow attached, ANA- our file maintenance utility, FAST c/s, to LYZE.FILE will use “badly” to describe it. Next we deleted the file and recreated it do this; but here is a technique you can use In this file the largest group is 7580 bytes using the MINIMUM.MODULUS key- to determine if testing the other hashing which means there are at least 3 buffers of word and set it to 15,671 which pre-allo- algorithm is worth the effort. overflow attached to one of the groups. cated the required disk space. We ran the Which files are updated and/or read con- That would seem to indicate that at least same program again and it completed in tinuously by the majority of the users? If for the one group, performance would be 367.15 seconds. The pre-allocated file was you could improve performance for one or poor. But, notice the last section of the populated in 40% of the time it had taken two processes, which processes would you report called “Number per records.” This is to populate the file where splitting was select and what files are used by those supposed to list the average, maximum and required. This is more than 2.4 times faster processes? Once you have a prioritized list minimum sizes. Notice the Maximum col- and the only difference was the use of the of target files, use the UniVerse command: umn reports Data bytes for one record as MINIMUM.MODULUS parameter. ANALYZE.FILE filename STATS LPTR being 6155. This report says that the For a transaction file that is purged and to produce a statistical report and send it LARGE.RECORD size is 1628 bytes, the repopulated frequently, setting the mini- to the printer. In our example of the file default. It also says that there is one “large mum modulus so that the file does not called EXAMPLE1, notice the line in the record.” So, we can assume that there is a contract to a modulus of 1 and then first section of the report labeled “No. of 6155 byte record in the file. expand again may improve performance. groups (modulus).” Our file has “0 empty, Continues on page 30

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 29 HASHED FILES Continued from page 29 Given the statistics for the file with the smaller. The effect of the increased I/O due alternate hashing algorithm we would cal- to the increased use of physical space was We investigated using a UniVerse query: culate the %SD of data records per group. observed during experimentation when the The file with the small- SPLIT factor was set extremely low. est %SD would be the LIST EXAMPLE1 BY.DSND SIZE TOTAL SIZE; In choosing the SPLIT factor, a compro- winner, which would mise must be made between oversizing the LIST EXAMPLE1 BY.DSND SIZE TOTAL SIZE 02:05:42pm 08 Dec mean that there was less file and increasing I/O and the cost of 2004 EXAMPLE1.. Length... variance of number of overflow. If performance is critical for a data records per group, TEST.LIST 4,807 certain file and changing the SPLIT factor more even distribution, SQL.KEYWORD 361 can improve performance for a given and the hashing algo- ... process, then the change is recommended. rithm that produced the However, a larger physical file is slower for ======smallest variance would 17,387 TOTAL processes which SELECT, LIST, and be the preferred hashing SORT the file. For interactive, random algorithm. access, reducing overflow tends to improve We agree that there is ONE record For the SPLIT.LOAD, MERGE.LOAD performance. greater than 1628 bytes but we do NOT and GROUP.SIZE parameters there is no agree that it is 6155 bytes. UniVerse The MERGE.LOAD parameter defaults meaningful statistical analysis we can per- to 50%. If the SPLIT.LOAD is changed, appears to be counting the unused space form to give us an indication that we in the large records overflow buffers as you should probably consider changing should make a change. However, there is the MERGE factor also, keeping them sep- “data.” Notice that the second largest substantial theory suggesting when making arated by 20 to 30 percentage points. Set- record is only 361 bytes. changes is appropriate. ting the SPLIT and MERGE factors high SIZE is an I-descriptor that uses the LEN The SPLIT.LOAD parameter defaults to will tend to increase overflow but will con- function on @RECORD. This is very 80%. This value works to maintain the serve disk space. A low setting will avoid handy when looking for large data records. physical size of the file to be less than 80% overflow but at the expense of large physi- full. In a number of experiments (by the cal files with sparsely populated groups. Our mission is to determine if the authors) it was noted that as the SPLIT Setting SPLIT and MERGE too close SEQ.NUM hashing algorithm will pro- together creates excess overhead where factor was increased, throughput time duce better results. If we create another file there is little opportunity to realize any increased and as this factor was decreased, performance gains via the splitting and using the SEQ.NUM parameter and copy throughput time decreased. This behavior merging operations. all of the copy into it, we can then use is explained when viewed as a function of ANALYZE.FILE and compare the statis- overflow. As the SPLIT factor increased, The parameter GROUP.SIZE may be set tics. We will look at the “overflowed” num- overflow increased. As the SPLIT factor to 1, a 2048 byte buffer or 2, a 4096 byte ber to determine which has the smallest decreased, overflow decreased. buffer. When most of the data records in a number of “overflowed” groups as well as file are close to or greater than 1600 bytes, These results were readily accommodated the number of “badly” groups. Next we will using the larger buffer could possibly in the theoretical model. When the SPLIT look at the statistics for “Data bytes” per improve performance. Increasing the group. We want to use the hashing algo- factor is low, more space is available in buffer size to match the physical I/O sys- each group, therefore the probability of rithm that produces the statistics where the tem is regularly suggested but we have no overflow is decreased. The reverse is also average, minimum and maximum are clos- empirical evidence that this improves per- true. When the SPLIT factor is high, less est. In the idea file these three numbers formance. Once the buffer is available in space is available in each group for addi- would be equal, meaning that each group memory, UniVerse searches sequentially tional data and the probability of overflow contains an equal number of bytes. within the buffer for the specified data would increase. record. If the buffer is larger, then more But we still have not answered the question It is tempting to lower the SPLIT factor search time will be needed, assuming the as to whether testing the alternate hashing until throughput time for a particular task buffer is close to 80% full. algorithm is worth the effort. Our tech- could be minimized. There are, however, Remember from our example that the nique is to calculate the % standard devia- two other interactions that must be con- average data record size was substantially tion, which simply divides the standard sidered. The first is the physical size of the skewed because of the existence of one very deviation by the average. But, because we file. As the SPLIT factor is lowered, the large record. This is a good example of must distribute records and hope the byte groups in the file become more sparsely when NOT to use average record size to count per records is homogeneous we will populated because the number of groups decide if the GROUP.SIZE parameter use the “Number of records” per group data has increased. The file will occupy more should be changed. If you were to only for our calculation of %SD. To calculate physical disk space. Second, as the file is look at that one statistic you might %SD, use the StdDev number (221.27) as spread over more and more disk space, increase the group size when there is no the denominator and the Average (38.69) as more I/O will be necessary to read the good theoretical reason to do so. the numerator. 38.69/221.27 = .17 x 100 = additional physical space and the amount GROUP.SIZE cannot be changed with 17%, the %SD. of data accessed with each “read” will be CONFIGURE.FILE. 30 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 When dynamic files were first introduced Reducing overflow improves performance insures that there is more overhead asso- we were intrigued by the idea that we might because unnecessary disk I/O is eliminat- ciated with their use. is be able to set LARGE.RECORD small ed. Through “tuning” the SPLIT.LOAD enough so that ALL of the data records and MERGE.LOAD parameters, experi- Twenty years ago Peggy Long and Jeff would be written into the OVER.30 file. menting with both hashing algorithms, Fitzgerald were running a critical bench- Our reasoning was that only the IDs and and setting LARGE.RECORD optimally, mark on a top-of-the-line Prime INFORMA- the offsets would be written into the overflow can be minimized. But, care DATA.30 file which could remain very should be taken when changing these TION system. The benchmark aborted. parameters to not cause the physical size of small and we would have created a database After several hours of detective work they where the location of all record data was the database to be excessive. identified a damaged file. That started a indexed — the offset would specify the disk Reducing unnecessary overhead will reduce location and we would have a “direct access” CPU usage. Setting MINIMUM. MODU- discussion concerning performance, broken file. We thought this would be a great way LUS appropriately will eliminate the over- files and how to check the internal structure to improve performance. We tested this the- head of splitting and merging that may of files after a system crash. ory and it was VERY wrong. Performance occur with transaction and work files which was much slower. Most likely this was are purged and repopulated during some After several weeks of work using Peggy’s caused by the excessive overhead because it update processes. Enlarging GROUP.SIZE FORTRAN skills and Jeff’s INFO BASIC insured that every “lookup” would have to could reduce overhead necessary to look up read two buffers, the primary file buffer and the location of large records. knowledge they were confident that they the overflow file buffer. Dynamic files are more complicated and understood the file internals. This led to a CONCLUSIONS — The best perform- more accommodating than statically utility that would quickly scan a file, ance is achieved through reducing unnec- hashed files. Through the use of the report errors and recommend the opti- essary overhead such as disk I/O and CPU parameters the database administrator has usage. Performing desired tasks in the more control over the behavior of the file mum MODULO and TYPE parameters most efficient way produces the best than with static files. Dynamic files do needed to RESIZE the file. A year later results. Dynamic files provide a number of not accumulate excessive amounts of parameters through which these objectives overflow when neglected. However, the they began marketing FAST, which may be pursued. splitting and merging of dynamic files evolved from this utility.

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GA Services has also moved ability to make users aware of key dealers’ business performance, giving • Enhanced Column Functions cre- into its new headquarters in Irvine, metrics in their specific area of them dynamic reporting capabilities ated on the fly responsibility greatly empowers that provide a near-real time view of nearly doubling its warehouse, • Flash Screen Libraries may be them to be on top of activity in their critical metrics,” said Ron Lamb, sen- depot and dispatch areas. flagged as read-only, allowing organization. Productivity will increase ior marketing director, Platforms and resellers to distribute and control About GA Services as employees are made aware GA Services, LLC offers seamless Services for Reynolds and Reynolds. standard flash screen reports with of key activity.” product and service solutions to “The dashboard technology saves their OLAP offering. For example, the MitsWeb Dashboard dealerships time with its easy click manage all aspects of information For more details about MITS Version may be used to show how many and point interface while delivering technology. From professional IT 5.3 and the new MitsWeb Dash- consulting and design, to integration transactions are being entered today access to business critical information board, contact a MITS Authorized and implementation, to services versus the same date and time last at their fingertips.” Reseller or visit www.mitsonline.com.

32 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 management, GA Services offers scheduled quarterly classes in the With many businesses looking for a IBM U2 / MultiValue VARS can profit cost-effective solutions that combine U.S. as well as additional classes competitive edge that will enable by their involvement with the MITS many years of experience with now being held internationally. them to effectively analyze and use product.” proven abilities in critical areas such company data, business intelligence MITS Marketing About Management Informa- as client, network, server and tools such as MITS, which offers MITI handles all marketing and press- tion Tools, Inc. storage technology. GA Services is advanced dynamic and interactive related issues in regard to MITS. Based in Seattle, Wash., Management data reporting, are becoming more headquartered in Irvine, Calif., with Information Tools Inc. (www.mitson- MITS VAR Integration Services in demand. MITS, utilizing MITI’s sales and support throughout the line.com) is the developer of the MITI Professional Services continues to unique Hypercube technology, is a United States. For more information, MITS Online Analytical Processing/ grow and has been actively creating powerful OLAP solution that takes visit www.GASLLC.com or call (949) Business Intelligence system that MITS Hypercubes for resale by VARs. information in a company’s system 752-6515. incorporates technology allowing the and makes it quickly and easily MITS Application Support for VARs creation of OLAP Hypercubes and a accessible to decision-makers. “The Management A very successful program in which data warehousing environment on a business activity revolving around MITI helps sell, install and support company’s existing host computer. Infor m ation T ools the MITS product has continued to MITS systems for VAR customers, MITS systems are firmly Dissolves MITS grow from year to year with 2004 MITS Application Support for VARs entrenched in a wide range of R eseller A greement being the most successful yet,” will continue and be expanded. industries: distribution, W ith IBM Gilbrough said. “We are proud to manufacturing, vehicle dealership, MITI Brings All Activities Relat- MITS VAR Interaction report that we have many very suc- healthcare and services, to name ed to Management Information MITI will continue a close working cessful MITS resellers throughout a few. MITS is available on many Tool Software (MITS) In-House relationship with its VARs. the world. These resellers have and Expands Services MultiValue databases, including greatly benefited by offering the MITS On-Line Product UniData, UniVerse, D3, jBASE, Management Information Tools Inc. MITS product either in addition to, Ordering for VARs and mvENTERPRISE, and may (MITI) announced that it has terminat- or in conjunction with, their existing The new MITS Partner On-Line Order be ported to other MultiValue ed its agreement with IBM Corp. that products. As MITI moves forward, System is now in place to expedite databases in the future. allowed IBM to resell the MITS online MITS VAR Order Processing. our focus will be to show how other analytical processing/business intelligence (OLAP/BI) software products. The agreement was in effect for nearly four years. MITI plans to con- solidate all MITS-related activities in- house, enabling it to provide the best service to its resellers and customers in the future. Pat Gilbrough, president of MITI, said that although MITI values its close working relationship with IBM, the company has made a strategic decision in anticipation of the expansion of its services. “We appreciate all the time and effort that we have spent with IBM U2 personnel,” Gilbrough stated. “As our MITS product greatly extends the value companies have in their UniVerse- or UniData-based systems, we expect that our relationship with IBM U2 will continue in an informal and jointly beneficial way.” Since MITI was already handling most of the service functions related to MITS, customers will see few changes as a result of the end of the IBM agreement. MITI will be continu- ing MITS-related activities as they are now and expanding its services. Those services include: MITS Worldwide Support MITI has handled MITS support in North America since 2002. Australia MITS Support is now established to focus on support in Australia and New Zealand. MITS Engineering Continual enhancement and development on all MITS software components. MITS Product Activation MITS Product Activation and Fulfillment will continue to be performed by MITI. MITS Training MITI’s training program will continue and be expanded, with regularly

INTERNATIONALINTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM SPECTRUMJANUARY/FEBRUARYNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005 3333 [REVELATION TECH TIPS] OpenInsight for Linux An Overview evelation Software recently released ucts have taken a factory approach, dividing tasks a Linux version of its flagship product, into smaller, more special- OpenInsight. In this article we take a ized pieces. This leads to R large teams of people with look at that offering. The look, feel, and capa- small sets of skills. These bilities of the product are virtually identical factory teams are cost effective where labor is cheap to the Windows version. This article focuses and flexibility is not impor- on why the product will be useful to you. tant. These factory team jobs are now heading to India and China. Revelation targets craft Why Linux? developers, small teams of smart people. Three things motivated Revelation to Small teams respond quickly when they implement a Linux version of its software: are needed and cost nothing when they are location, location, location. done; in essence they are the just-in-time Look at our location in the business world suppliers of the software industry. Revela- tion and the other MultiValue products — small to medium-sized businesses, offer a cost and performance mix that where equipment is retained for years, matches the needs of the craft developer. where stability and reliability are prized, Linux offers an environment and a philos- where high software cost is intolerable. ophy that is compatible with the craft pro- Look at the types of applications we typi- grammer. Linux is a natural location for cally support — back office, point of sale, today's Revelation developer. or factory floor. These are applications that are not tightly bound to Microsoft Look at the location of the new developers in application development. They are Office; these are the applications with the looking at Linux, often from outside the most pressure and least risk for migration U.S. They glaze over when they see any- off the Microsoft desktop. thing else. As early adopters of the PC, Look at our location in the spectrum (pun when “real” work was done on big iron, intended) of developers: mainstream prod- many PC developers received condescend-

BY MIKE RUANE, REVELATION SOFTWARE

34 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 ing comments from establishment work- reading records, running programs, exe- QM, A New Approach ers. Look at the PC platform now. The cuting queries, etc., this is straightforward. to MultiValue Linux world is where the early adopters in The hard part is the last bit, the GUI run- application development gather today. ning on the desktop. We turned to Main- Only $119 per user Linux is a natural location to find tomor- soft Corporation, which sells Visual 10 year upgrades just $30 row's Revelation developer. MainWin, a set of libraries to map Win- Proven for 4 years dows API calls onto Unix system calls. Thousands in use In short, the Linux world is a place of great These libraries let us use one code base for U2/Prime Compatibility opportunity for us. both Windows and Linux, and we run D3 extensions Network Ready more or less “native” on each. The non- Remote files What's the Big Deal? visual pieces seem faster on Linux, while Client/server API So we concluded that Linux offers oppor- the GUI rendering seems slightly slower Useful bundled items: tunity. This is not new news. MultiValue on Linux than on Windows. This is partly AccuTerm + GUI a reflection of the fact that the Windows Coyote Web Server products have been on Unix and now GUI is tightly bound to the kernel, while Companion GUI/Web 4GLs Linux for some time. The big deal is that OpenTPH $30/user the desktop environment is growing the Linux GUI is managed by an X server. Neucleus $72/user usable. “Linux runs the Web” has been the Because we are using the same code base Supported Platforms: rallying cry for the Linux community for for both versions, OI for Linux is largely Windows 98, XP some time. The flip side of that coin is that running code that has been tested and Windows NT, 2000, 2003 people have been using Web browsers from debugged since the first OpenInsight BSD, Linux OpenQM their Windows desktop because moving to release was issued over ten years ago. GPL on Linux w/ source a Linux desktop was too painful. The big Because we are using Visual MainWin's deal is that the Linux desktops are almost libraries, the code that would have been there. A Microsoft Office power user will new for Revelation is instead running EasyCo.com not be satisfied, but the desktop is good within a mature set of components. The 800-470-2756 enough for most people. Windows will bottom line is that OpenInsight for Linux remain good enough, too. Apple has trans- works well because it sits atop mostly formed itself to be a cool skin atop Linux. mature code. Desktops are becoming commodity software. There will be no compelling reason So Why Not Go Straight for users to switch or to stay on any partic- to Java or .Net? ular platform except for the drag imposed If you need to implement in those tech- by their legacy software. As a software ven- nologies, go ahead. OpenInsight will sup- dor we want to be comfortable in either port you. We provide JOI, Java for place. Revelation has long been geared OpenInsight, which builds MultiValue toward the PC desktop user. We predict a friendly, ultra-thin-client Java Forms. long period of transition as our customers Alternatively, it is easy enough to imple- evolve to this commodity desktop environment Web Services via our CGI interface. ment. Thus, our Linux implementation is Web Services consume XML, a delimited designed to enable customers to deploy in a pure Windows, pure Linux, or mixed data format that is almost a cousin to the environment. MultiValue data storage model. If you can do Web Services, then you can do .Net. How Does It Work? However, reaching out to these technologies moves you away from the ultra simple, Java has made the “Write once, run any- ultra low-cost implementations, which are where” promise for years. The trick is to the hallmarks of MultiValue databases. compile your code to platform neutral bytecodes, then write platform specific vir- OpenInsight for Linux offers a MultiValue tual machines to execute the bytecode. friendly way to rapidly deliver a modern Revelation has always been an interpreted look and feel for your application, without environment. Thus, moving to Linux preventing the use of other methods. You meant writing a Linux version of our inter- can cost effectively use OpenInsight to pro- preters. For the non-visual components, totype in our multi-value friendly GUI Continues on page 36 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 35 OPENINSIGHT FOR LINUX FIGURE 2 - A Screen in Continued from page 35 the OpenInsight Examples Application before committing to an expensive project in If you have seen OpenInsight a different technology. Revelation's goal is for Windows, you know that to make every step a productive step in the these windows look the same right direction, even if it is not the final step. in the Windows version. To a Linux purist, the Windows What Does It Look Like? look and feel is incorrect. It looks a lot like OpenInsight for Win- If you need to satisfy that per- dows. The following screenshots were taken son, it is possible to adjust the from a Red Hat Fedora KDE Desktop: look and feel of the OpenInsight Win- mented in a manner that supports a grad- dows. However, in the world of ual transition of desktops from Windows the commodity desktop, the to Linux. Equally important is the fact that Windows look and feel is com- Revelation, like all MultiValue products, pletely acceptable. See the Lin- embeds the small team, low-cost philoso- spire version of Linux for a good phy that is at the heart of Linux. example. Some of us will be pulled toward Linux by the opportunities, some of us will be Conclusion pushed there by customer requirements, From the PC to the various Win- and some will commute between Win- dows desktops, and now to the dows and Linux for a long time. OpenIn- Linux desktop, Revelation Soft- sight for Linux and/or Windows, builds on ware has evolved to satisfy the the strength of MultiValued architecture desktop user. OIL is the latest and years of GUI experience to let you refinement of the product, move your application where you want, reflecting our belief that the when you want, without losing that low- FIGURE 1 - The Application Manager Linux desktop is maturing. OIL is imple- cost footprint that you need to survive. is

36 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 This article will deal with the SB+ tools, file SB+ creation and deletion. 101 SB+ Basics: Tools, File When most files are Creation and Deletion created they are divided By Danny Passig into two separate sections, a data section File Creation To create a file in SB+ you need to go to "Tools > File Create/Delete >". Create a new file and you will get the file creation screen (Fig 1). and a dictionary section.

The information which

defines the data FILE NAME - Enter a unique name for the file. You should make the name meaningful and short as it will be referred to frequently. The name should relate to the data which will be stored in the file. The maximum recommended length for a file name is characteristics is con- 20 characters. Do not use a name which contains spaces or the special characters +-/*:<>=\^ or a name which exists in the Master dictionary. DESCRIPTION - Enter a meaningful description as this will be used in documen- tained in the dictionary tation which SB+ can generate. It is recommended that the maximum length be 25 characters. NUMBER OF FIELDS - The number of fields for the file should be entered here. section and the raw data, This number doesn't have to be exact, but you should try to be reasonably close when you enter this. If you are only creating the Data part of the file, enter 0. NUMBER OF RECORDS - You should enter the approximate number of data such as phone number records which the file will hold. If this will be a dictionary only file, enter 0. AVERAGE LENGTH OF RECORD - You can calculate this figure by adding together the average number of characters for each field defined for the file. This needs and zip code, is stored in to be an approximate figure as the file may be resized later, if necessary. USE GLO BAL DICTIONA RY - Enter Y if the dictionary definitions for this file are to be maintained via the Global Dictionary, a central repository of definitions. If you the data section. enter M, the dictionary for this file will be maintained as a mix of Global and Local Dic- tionary definition items. You should be aware that dictionary definitions created for this Continues on page 38

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 37 SB+ 101 Continued from page 37 That is it for this installment. Remem- file within the Global Dictionary may not ber Spectrum be maintained from the Local Dictionary FILE NAME - Enter the name of the 2005 is coming up. If you're there, come and vice-versa. Enter N if this file is to be a file to be deleted. Use care with this and see me at the Natec Systems booth. I local file. option. Using this option will result in the will also be doing a presentation on Linux loss of data. It is best to be careful now, Fundamentals. is When you develop a new application, this instead of having to recover the deleted is usually the first tool which you will use. data from a backup. Do not delete a file, Danny Passig is a senior software engineer Files are the heart of your system, so you unless you are sure of the links between the should put a lot of thought into their file and possible screens, reports, menus at Natec Systems. He has 33 years experi- design. A file must be created before you and other SB+ processes. can use some of the other SB+ tools to ence in the IT field and is currently on the develop it. DESCRIPTION - The description you entered when you created this file will dis- adjunct faculty at Colorado State University File design determines if you will have an ele- play here for your information and may be gant system — a system which performs well, used to help you further identify the file - Pueblo in the computer science depart- can be easily maintained and performs well you are about to delete. technically or an inefficient, inelegant system. ment. Danny has done customer software When you delete a file, you will be given Decisions made during file design will have the opportunity to delete all the processes development and system installations for a direct bearing on the efficiency and flexi- that use this file. As a general rule you bility of the system you are creating. should delete these processes as they will various businesses. He has also worked for At any input prompt you may type /FC to no longer be needed, but make sure that enter the File Creation process. you fully understand what you are doing IBM as a support engineer for System before you delete the processes. If you aren't sure, err on the side of caution and Builder. Danny holds a Bachelor's Degree in File Deletion don't delete the processes. When you need to delete a file you created in Business Administration/Accounting and a SB+ go to Tools > File Create/Delete > You may enter /FD at any input prompt to Delete File for the file deletion screen (Fig. 2). enter the file deletion screen. MSCIT from Regis University.

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38 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 [TECH TRENDS]

RFIDWhat Is It?

We have all heard about RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) in one form or another. Whether you have to implement it because you are a Wal-Mart or DOD supplier, or you have just seen it in a few articles.

However, most of us don't really know what it can do, how it works, or even what issues you may have implementing it. Let alone if you should look at implementing it.

If you do a quick search on Yahoo for "What is RFID," you get about 2.8 million hits. This is a lot of information to look through ... and trust me, very time consuming. Since I'm assuming you don't have the time to do all that research, here are the basics of RFID.

There are two main parts to an RFID system: the Transmitter/Reader (Interrogator), and the RFID Tags There are two types of tags you can use: active or passive. (Transponders). In this article, I'm going to focus Passive tags reflect energy radiated by a on the RFID Tags. reader. Meaning they get their power from the RF waves striking them. They have no RFID Tags are basically glorified bar codes. Where a bar internal power source of their own. It is a code requires line of little thicker than an average sheet of sight to read the data, paper. Passive tags have an effective range of up to 30 feet (10m). RFID data is transmitted Active tags include an internal power to a reader using RF sig- source and transmitter. Of course, these nals. This allows the tag components make the tag even larger. Some active tags are the size of a brick. to be read without really However, they significantly boost the having to search for a effective operational range of a tag. Active tags can have an effective range label or bar code. of 100+ feet (33+m). Transmission speed and range is determined by the frequency used, antenna size, power, and interference. Readers can read between 10 and 800 tags per second, BY NATHAN RECTOR depending on the equipment and the environment. Continues on page 40

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 39 RFID Continued from page 39 Seeking Reseller Low frequency 125kHz 10 inches (254 mm) High frequency 13.56 MHz 3 feet (1 meter) Relationships in Europe Ultra-high frequency 433 MHz up to 30 feet 868 MHz (<10 meters) Product lines of 902 to 928 MHz 2.45 GHz Web-centric Application Development Environment WADE

(reporting Web-centric Application Virtual Environment WAVE writing tool) Many of us will be using the RFID tags in OHM Web Manufacturing ERP/MRP application retail environments, which means we'll be

using tags that supply an ePC. An ePC, or Customer Relationship Management via Electronic Product Code, is a standard nam- 24x7 Internet processing CRM ing scheme for items or merchandise. It is the next evolution of the UPC, or Universal Current offices in US, Australia and R&D center in India Product Code, found as a bar code on most products today. The UPC provides a unique identifier for every product. The ePC provides a unique identifier for every item. Please note, I said that a UPC is for every product, but the ePC is for every item. The OHM SYSTEMS INC ePC allows you to tag every item in a prod- www.ohmworld.com I email: [email protected] uct line with its own unique code. There are 1-800-878-0646 USA several standards for ePC, each allowing you to contain more information, but the most See us at our Spectrum booth or contact us prior to common at this time is the ePC-96 version. the show to set appointments to visit with us and see our products. Here is an example of an ePC-96 code: VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.OHMWORLD.COM 01.115A1D7.28A1E6.421CBA30A 01 - Version of ePC 115A1D7 - Manufacturer Identifier. 28 bits WEAVER CONSULTING (> 268 million possible manufacturers) Your Source for: 28A1E6 - Product Identifier. 24 bits (> 16 ¥ 200+MultiValue UTILITIES! million possible products per manufacturer 421CBA30A - Item Serial Number. 36 bits ¥ HARDWARE & REHOSTING (> 68 billion possible unique items per product) ¥ SOFTWARE & PROGRAMMING CREDIT CARD INTEGRATION Like UPC codes, the Manufacturer and ¥ ANALYSIS, DESIGN, TRAINING Product IDs are distributed and controlled by a central authority called EPCGlobal. Seamless Integrations into POS, You can find more information at Order Entry and e-Commerce Authorized Dealer/Partner for: www.EPCGlobal.org. Single or Multiple Merchants Raining Data TCP/IP - Secure Internet Monolith Corporation Now, the question is, "How do I use the Single or Multiple Modems Accusoft Enterprises RFID tag in my business?" I'll have to leave Your Clearinghouse or Ours Zumasys that for another article. is VAR Partnerships JBSi And Others NATHAN RECTOR, a regular Visa MasterCard AMEX Discover Diners JCB See our catalog, tips, hints & more: contributor to Spectrum, is owner Debit Cards Custom www.weaver-consulting.com or write/call for free catalog of Natec Systems, a consulting Email: [email protected] firm specializing in D3, AP and R83 environments and custom WEAVER CONSULTING programming. He can be reached 1-866-796-7600 4553 Calumet Court [email protected] Shingle Springs, CA 95682-9378 at [email protected] or www.TotaLinkcc.com 530/676-6052 ¥ Fax 530/676-5675 http://www.natecsystems.com.

40 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 BY ROBERT COLTUN Using Basic Perl to Send& Electronic Mail Messages

t is amazing how often I’ve heard the following complaints from users Iin different organizations. I never know when my report finished. I have no idea whether my report completed successfully. When did my report run last? Why do I have to ask the administrator if the report finished? If only I could send the results to the client easily. These are common problems when using legacy systems that are not designed to generate and send status messages regarding reports. There’s no fast and easy way to know if the reports are finished, if they finished successfully, or even if the clients were notified of the results. Let’s face it. There are still a tremendous amount of legacy systems out there. These systems have been upgraded to some extent to meet today’s current needs, but the upgrades have only scratched the surface as far as correcting the problems. These systems were migrated from older versions where the operating system and the RDBMS were one and the same. All the old timers in this community remember the older versions, including: Microdata ADDS (Applied Digital Data Systems) Ultimate Fujitsu Prime Information (Note: One of the first variants of the PICK O/S originally developed in Fortran by Devcon and sold to Prime Computer.) Just because you have a legacy system doesn’t mean that you’re dead in the water. Legacy systems still exist because: They’re cost-prohibitive to upgrade — the cost associated with replacing and/or redesigning the application is just too expensive. They’re time-prohibitive to upgrade — the time needed to review and analyze all the applications may take years of work. Just because you have a legacy system doesn’t mean that you’re dead in the water. There are many ways to improve the output from a legacy system. In

Continues on page 41

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 41 USING BASIC AND PERL Fax this form to TO SEND ELECTRONIC MAIL (619) 515-9933 MESSAGES Continued from page 41 and keep most cases you’re already working on a system that’s been migrated to either a Unix or Spectrum magazines Windows environment utilizing new hardware. This was the first hurdle to cross, and coming FREE for 1 year!! it’s already been completed for you. The next hurdle is to be able to improve the

NAME TITLE flow of information generated with these migrated systems. With a little ingenuity, you can accomplish a better flow by utiliz- COMPANY ing either Basic or Perl, or a combination of both, to send electronic messages. ADDRESS Perl in itself is just another programming language, like Basic. There are versions of Perl CITY STATE ZIP that run under Unix, Linux and Windows. The Perl language is free forming, so it allows you PHONE FAX to document the program very nicely if you decide to. I like it because, like Basic, it con- E-MAIL WEB SITE tains a wide variety of instructions. The more educated you are, the bet- SIGNATURE DATE ter off you’ll be. (All questions must be answered. Incomplete forms will not be processed. Complimentary subscriptions are limited to U.S. addresses.) I personally write most of my scripts today using Perl, rather than using Bourne, 1. What is your job function/title? Korn, C Shell, Sed and Awk. Let’s not for- Principal/Owner Sales/Marketing get that it’s wise to know the other script- President/GM/CEO Programmer/Analyst ing languages as well. If you work on a MIS/DP Manager Purchasing wide variety of systems, sooner or later you’re going to come across scripts writ- Controller/Financial Consultant ten in different languages from what you VP/Department Head Other ______use. With as fast as this industry is growing and changing, the more educated you 2. Is your company a (check one): are the better off you’ll be. Computer System Supplier Dealer/OEM/VAR Software House Consultant End User Other ______Once I became familiar with Perl running under Unix, I was amazed at its flexibility. Using Perl and the Unix job scheduler, 3. What MultiValue Databases does your company use? (check all that apply) cron, I’m able to write scripts that will not D3 Native MultiValue Reality Other______only execute applications but also send jBASE uniData UniVerse uniVision emails confirming if these applications were executed, failed, aborted, etc. This 5. What major business/industry most clearly describes your company? way I have data available if upper manage- Accounting Medical Direct Marketing Legal ment or a client complains about missing Banking/Finance Dental Construction Retail data and/or reports. I’d rather be pro- active in addressing these concerns before Education Insurance Other ______they become real problems.

6. What are your firm’s approximate gross annual sales? If you’d like some sample code for sending Under $500,000 $500,000 - $1 million electronic mail messages using Basic and Perl, Over $1 million - $5 million Over $5 million - $10 million please visit www.mount-olympus-systems.com. Over $10 million - $25 million Over $25 million - $100 million Note: The Multi-purpose Internet Mail Over $100 million - $500 million Over $500 million Extension (MIME) is the current Internet standard for sending e-mail messages. FREE SUBSCRIPTION IS 1/05 This is because it has the capability of sending information that contains non

42 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 US-ASCII character sets, enriched text for- INTERNATIONAL mats, images, audio, and video. I have found that some electronic mail systems are ® SPECTRUMTHE BUSINESS COMPUTER MAGAZINE unable to open attachments I’ve created SPECTRUM using uuencode in conjunction with the Unix Mail command. I found these email ª systems were able to open these same - attachments if they (the attachments) were e tra generated with MIME instead. is x Have you seen it?

ROBERT R. COLTUN is one of Everyone’s talking about it, International Spectrum e-xtraª, the new e-newspaper. the founders and the CEO of Mount Look for e-xtra, on the first and the fifteenth of each month. This e-newspaper has timely industry news, hot topic, classified Olympus Systems, Inc., the developer ads, and things of interest heard on the MultiValue grapevine. • Let us know what you’ve heard on the grapevine that you ™ of Zeus Data Integration software. think we should look into. • Let us know what’s new at your company that you’d like other He has been working in the IT industry people to know! • Find out how to add e-xtra punch to your International for over 25 years and specializes in Spectrum Magazine ad with a complementing ad in International Spectrum’s e-xtra. • Take advantage of placing an inexpensive classified ad in ETL tools. He can be reached at International Spectrum e-xtra.

[email protected]. Get your FREE subscription at www.intl-spectrum.com

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 43 Where Are Spectrum Magazine Asks, “What is the Secret to They Now? Your Longevity in the PICK/MultiValue Market?” Continued from page 21 Paul Giobbi: “Realizing that the value of core business applications written in PICK was so strong that people would stake their careers on it! And it is a lot of fun working with customers to protect and preserve these applications and get them to work in new environments like the Web, wireless, etc.” Marcie Miller: “Because I think that the MultiValue database is the best, most flexible, and the most fun to work with, I have simply made the choice to stay in the market! When I real- ized that I would have to find a full-time job, I called and emailed everyone I knew in the Mul- tiValue marketplace. Unfortunately, not a lot of companies were hiring, so I was lucky to find such a good job with nice co-workers and two great bosses!” Mike Roberts: “It’s no secret that as long as the informational needs and processing requirements of business keep evolving, there will be a need for my services. My many years of busi- 1993 March/April Issue ness and PICK experience have given me the ideal background to provide these services.” Terri Hale: “Karma. There isn’t anything I’d rather be doing. I’m pretty much a one-trick CATHERINE ANBIL pony. Fortunately, there has been enough demand for the PICK product and my skill set, to on the Cover: feed the pony.” The 1993 issue of Spectrum magazine featured 20 PICK Dirk Thayer: “I think my secret has been flexibility. As indicated, I have held a number of salespeople,considered to be varied positions over the years. This has not only allowed me to grow my knowledge base of leaders of the industry’s sales both the MultiValue systems and alternate technologies but has also positioned me well for pack. When Catherine Anbil my current responsibilities utilizing multiple technologies to integrate our various products.” was selected to this group, she had only been in the Bob Guthrie: “I’m still happy to serve the MultiValue market: it has been good for our cus- PICK industry for three years, tomers and I hope we have been good for it.” after founding OHM Systems in 1989 with James Murray: “My longevity would have to be attributed to having a vision for a her husband,Suresh Anbil.Obviously,as a co- groundbreaking and innovative product; commitment to its success; perseverance in the owner and the company’s vice president at face of an avalanche of dream killers and people that ’can’t’ rather than ’can’ do; the support that time, her sales skills have proven effec- of wonderful customers and the fantastic contributions of every team member that ever tive as her company enters its 15th year. passed through the Apscore and CueBic Systems doors over the years.” “In October of 2003, Gus Giobbi and I Catherine Anbil: “The longer I have remained in MultiValue, [the more] I understand were discussing the past and I reminded that OHM has been able to rapidly develop changes in features and functionality. We are him that I was one of the individuals on the cover that year.He raised his eyebrows and quick to understand the change in the market and plan ahead of the demand to stay current said, ’That was you?’ Obviously we all and futuristic with our insight to the market of manufacturing, applications and technology.” change, including you Gus! And after all, I Mark Pick: “It’s all in the name . PICK. How could I ever leave it? I tried to leave the PICK was much ‘taller’then!” –Catherine Anbil market briefly during the sale of Pick Systems and was becoming so disgusted with the Catherine Anbil After the Cover progress of the sale. I was pleased when I got a call from Gil Figueroa inquiring about the sale of the company. I found myself back doing what I know best: selling and servicing PICK OHM is still a strong MultiValue application customers. I guess I’m a PICKie for life!” provider for the manufacturing sector of JIT,Job-Shop, Repetitive, Mix Mode and dis- Bruce Randall: “I enjoyed working at Columbia Ultimate and with all the great people there. crete industries. Anbil remains a co-owner I felt I could make a difference in the public sector. I always wanted to be better and learned of OHM Systems USA and a shareholder in much about change while there. To me, the MultiValue world has been pretty straightforward the company’s R&D center in Bangalore, (my sales viewpoint) and selling something straightforward has always appealed to me.” India, and most recently, its offshore Aus- tralia offices. Her primary role continues to tured on a cover of Spectrum magazine, but be in sales and operations. myself looking for a new job and ended up as Mark Pick explains below,that is probably at Unidata.”From there he has made many a good thing: career transitions, including positions back MARK PICK at General Automation and back again to on the Cover: “When Spectrum magazine came calling in the early nineties asking me to be on the Pick Systems (renamed Raining Data), after The year Spectrum mag- cover,we all joked around that it was a jinx his father passed away and the sale of the azine highlighted the to be on the cover—similar to the Sports company to private investors. industry’s leading sales- Illustrated jinx (just ask Rich Lauer). Soon people was the year Earlier this year, Mark Pick formed a new after my appearance on the cover I found Mark Pick found himself company,Highroad Information Technology, myself looking for a new job.” –Mark Pick at Pick Systems as the along with two partners. Pick, who serves national sales manager. (Out of college, he as the company’s president and CEO, says joined General Automation, a friendly com- Mark Pick After the Cover: the company focus is not primarily on Mul- petitor to his father’s company,Pick Systems. Mark Pick eventually became VP of Domes- tiVaue, but specializes in computer system From there he joined Seattle OS, which tic Sales for Pick Systems, but said, “Soon integration, maintenance, security, and sup- became PickBlue, which became Pick Sys- after my promotion and my father’s hiring port solutions that improve the business tems.) Surprisingly, Dick Pick was never fea- antics of certain family members, I found processes for companies of any size.

44 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 Bruce Randall on the Cover: ing for the public sector in the debt collec- Stacey Smith on the Cover: Bruce Randall was selected for this cover tion arena and do some custom program- In 1993 Stacey Smith was pictured on the story on leading salespeople in 1993 ming in PICK.And third, they are getting the cover of Spectrum magazine and featured because he had been leading the sales first release of their debt collection software as one of only two women in the article efforts for Columbia Ultimate (CUBS) for package (called “Revenue Results”) sold into about the top 20 salespeople in PICK. At four years. For over 18 years at CUBS, Ran- the smaller government market. the time, she was an “automation special- dall worked in a variety of sales roles, ist”in the sales division for Dynix Inc., the where he made the biggest impact in the Mike Sutkowski on the Cover: provider of one of the leading library government marketplace. Only four years automation applications in the country, Mike Sutkowski was an obvious choice for after the article was published, he and had worked for Dynix for four years. the cover image of Spectrum’s “Top 20 stepped out of sales to head the new Pub- Salespeople in PICK,”as he was responsible lic Sector Division of CUBS, and remained for VMark’s largest revenue-producing Stacey Smith After the Cover: there as the vice president and general region in North America from 1988 until All of our research methods proved to be manager until he left the company in Feb- unsuccessful in locating Stacey. is ruary of 2004. the article was written in 1993. The same year he appeared on the cover of Spectrum “I never thought I would show up on a he was promoted to vice president of Sales magazine. Ordinary people like me don’t for VMark Software. get on the cover of magazines, so it was NEEDED really a surprise, and flattering to me that it Mike Sutkowski After the Cover: would actually happen back in 1993. That We were successful in tracking down Mike PICK PROGRAMMERS the possibility exists that it could happen Sutkowski and found him at Massachu- for Florida, California, Atlanta again, even with a light-hearted slant, still setts-based Sepaton Inc., where he holds New Jersey, Nashville, Denver, puts a big grin on my face and my wife and the position of vice president, OEM Sales, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Texas, kids think it is great.” –Bruce Randall for its data protection products.We learned Philadelphia, St. Louis, Michigan, and that after leaving VMark, he was general New York City Bruce Randall After the Cover: manager for Data General’s AViiON server Today Randall is the president of RevQ channels and healthcare divisions. Next, he 1-800-949-5423 Inc.,a company he started with a couple to moved to Auspex Systems, where he Chuck Okeson, Software Search focus on three areas: First, they are a worked as vice president of Sales, Eastern 770-934-5138 • FAX: 770-939-6410 reseller for The Intelitech Group and mar- Region. Unfortunately, Sutkowski’s sched- ket “Acumen! Government” into the public ule was such that an interview could not be [email protected] sector market. Second, they provide consult- nailed down in time for our deadline.

A Final Note From the Author PICK To be honest, I agreed to write this year-long series for Gus and Monica Giobbi at Spectrum not only for a fee, but partly out of a PROFESSIONAL personal curiosity in the history makers of the MultiValue market Don’t make the mistake of placing and a desire to find some of the people I once dealt with in my your career in the hands of just ANY own on again/off again relationship with this marketplace. To put search firm. We are professionals who understand the importance of CONFI- my intimacy with this industry in perspective, and throw a few DENTIALITY and RESPECT of a job qualifications out there for writing this article in the first place, search, and our database of clients is the Giobbis have asked me to explain my personal history in this eclectic industry. one of the largest in the country. Unlike the rest, we will work in YOUR My father, Larry Walton, was a PICK programmer in the 1970s and remains one to this day best interests’ to help you further your as a semi-retired consultant at the age of 70. It was his friendship and business relation- career. Because of our dedication and ship with the Giobbis that landed me my job at Spectrum in 1987, where I worked full-time professionalism, we are recognized as and part-time for the next nine years. It was a great job for a young gal; I helped organize the leaders in the PICK/UniVerse/Unida- ta placement industry in the Tri-State the Spectrum conferences in Australia and England in the late 1980s, spent many days in area and throughout the U.S. So if you the ballrooms and conference rooms of our national and regional conferences around the are tired of putting yourself at the country, and even enjoyed a few years pretending to be a good editor for Spectrum mag- mercy of the rest. azine until we found a professional editor in Nichelle Johnson! CALL THE BEST! Contact... My personal and brief “where are they now” story is that I left Spectrum in 1996 to pur- Matt Hart sue a teaching credential (which I received) but accidentally fell into a freelance writing gig for General Automation. This blossomed into a full-time marketing consulting busi- EXECU-SYS, LTD ness that has spanned many industries and projects. With the end of this series for 1 Penn Plaza, Suite 3306 Spectrum, I am also officially ending my career in high tech marketing as my husband New York, NY 10119 and I prepare to open a coffeehouse in our hometown of Fallbrook, Calif. (212) 967-0505 Thanks to all of you for your help in finding missing people over the last year, for your (800) 423-1964 x 302 interest in reading the stories of your peers, and for your continued support of the Fax: (212)947-8593 industry by reading 20 more years of Spectrum magazine and attending the Spectrum Email: [email protected] conferences. And thus we end this chapter in our Spectrum history books. –LG Consultants Needed Nationwide

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 45 mvToolChest mvToolbox Makes Programmers’ Tasks Easy and Efficient

Reduces Repetition and Increases Productivity

The basic programming ver the years, code. When programs are written or Oprogrammers researched, the programmer very often utilities supplied with have faced barriers needs to access and view several programs MultiValue databases that prevent access concurrently. beyond the current Wouldn’t it make more sense to seamlessly have not been significantly record, resulting in traverse data and multiple program records unnecessary, and improved for over from within one edit session — without time consuming, the need for multiple searches and lists to repetitive actions. three decades. All of locate code or data? mvToolbox has creat- Most programmers ed just such a programming environment. that changes with the working with Mul- This MultiValue database solution will save tiValue databases new mvToolbox programmers tremendous time and effort. have found it neces- programming environment sary to take out time To explain how mvToolbox works, imag- from their higher ine that you are standing at the edge of a with comprehensive priority program- vast forest called Forest A. There are cer- MultiValue programming ming duties to tain “problem” trees that need to be locat- develop tools of ed and you will have to walk through tools that take the their own in an thousands of trees to locate the trees you attempt to eliminate need to fix. Just over the hill is another for- problems out of problem at least some of the est, Forest B, that contains a number of solving. constant backtrack- trees that have the same problem. With ing and repetition. conventional MultiValue programming But few, if any, MultiValue database pro- capabilities you must complete your work grammers have the time and resources in Forest A, then travel to the next location available to really address the major barri- and start the process all over again. ers that hinder MultiValue database pro- mvToolbox provides you with innovative ductivity. search tools and the capability to search both locations at the same time. Bro Cope, For example, standard MultiValue editors president of mvToolbox explains, “Utiliz- allow editing only one program record at ing the powerful search capabilities of a time. This results in repetitive edit ses- mvToolbox, programmers can do in min- sions, moving in and out of programs utes what used to take days or weeks to do.” seeking answers to question after question, and mentally attempting to join dis- With mvToolbox, it is possible to concur- continuous and disjointed sections of rently search across several accounts, each

46 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 with multiple files that can contain thou- mer can go many levels deep within pro- take eight hours to do, I did in less than one sands of program records with thousands of grams and files and return to where he hour,” said a user who needed to reconcile dif- code lines. The results are then viewed in started with simple mouse clicks. The code ferences in two program records containing work windows that provide functionality to is not just text being edited, it is viewed by over 15,000 lines of code. further drill down to specific code lines. the mvToolbox as a map, a source of infor- Editing these lines is a simple mouse click mation to provide easy mobility in and Whether you program daily in MultiValue away. Searches take seconds or minutes — through the code. databases or are an integrator making a not days or weeks. MultiValue database compatible with other There is one feature that is worth its database platforms, mvToolbox pays for Over 450 tools and functions are integrat- weight in gold. mvToolbox has four levels itself many times over. And, in the words of ed within mvToolbox to make the pro- of error and disaster recovery. These four one veteran user of mvToolbox, “MultiVal- grammer’s day-to-day activities easier and levels progress from recovering from cod- ue programming is fun again!” is more efficient. Programmers work in a ing mistakes to full disaster recovery due to fully mouse-enabled GUI-like environ- server crashes and power failures. Revision ment. This enables programmers to utilize controls also allow records and files to be For more information about the power mouse clicks to move through code and locked and unlocked by management to data. A built-in text editor makes changing prevent unauthorized changes. Revision or adding code a breeze. “Our program- controls also keep a permanent audit trail of this new programming environ- mers, when working solely on code gener- of changes to programs. ation, save 20% of their time,” said one manager in San Diego, Calif. Another helpful set of tools and functions ment, go to www.mvtoolbox.com or There is no need to exit mvToolbox, as all enables reconciling current and previous versions of programs or data. mvToolbox search and edit functions are integrated call 888-999-7571 Ext.102. Their e-mail and available at any time. Information that has the power to reconcile up to six concur- is the result of one command can be used rent versions and allow changes or transfers as input to another command. A program- between each version. “What I expected to address is [email protected].

That’s one way to keep your data squeaky clean.

The other is with PRC software configuration management tool as the framework. You gain immediate control and clarity. Then, scale into best-practices that keep you — and your metadata — clean, clear and credible.

With data trails, defined emergency access, change control, process documentation, check out/in and automated deployment and rollback, you’ll get the control and trans- parency that management and the auditors demand.

They’ll be showering you with praise.

SJ+ Systems Associates www.sjplus.com I 954•796•9868

INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 47