Decrease IT Costs with IBM DB2 9.7

fact sheet Vendor: IBM Corporation (www.ibm.com) Vendor's Information: About IBM DB2 About IBM Corporation vendor resources ROI Tool: IBM DB2 Compression The IBM DB2 ROI tool has been designed for developers, database administrators and senior IT management personnel alike, to help them perform a clinical analysis of the cost savings gained from the Storage Optimization feature of DB2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows. Video: Find Savings with DB2 9.7 Customers talk about the savings they found with IBM DB2 9.7. pureXML Flash Demo Watch this Flash video to see how the seamless integration of XML and relational data makes the insurance industry more efficient. eBook: Lower IT Costs with Database Technology Learn how your organization can take advantage of recent breakthroughs to lower the cost of data management. This informative e-book describes proven strategies for lowering the costs associated with database administration, development, systems, and data storage. Video: SAP Chooses DB2 Watch this YouTube video to see how SAP IT benefits from IBM DB2.

Everyone is cutting costs and keeping a close eye on spending, but for far too many organizations cutting costs also means cutting projects that could help the business grow.

The latest version of IBM's DB2 database, version 9.7, helps lower operational costs and automate routine tasks, which means your IT staff is free to work on those projects that lead to innovation and revenue. Even more impressive, DB2 9.7 saves your organization money while at the same time making all of the innovative development languages and environments available to developers who like to be on the leading edge.

The mantra for DB2 9.7 is lower costs, said Irshan Raihan, Worldwide Competitive Strategy Manager, Data Management, at IBM, but DB2 9.7 is also more reliable and easier to use than its predecessors.

Download a 90-Day Trial of IBM DB2 The latest version of DB2 is the result of a five-year development project that transformed traditional (static) database technology into an interactive data server that merges the high performance and ease of use of DB2 with the self-describing benefits of XML.

Let's begin with costs, since increased reliability and ease of use also help organizations save money, and saving money is the big issue in today's economy.

IT organizations deploying IBM DB2 9.7 can lower their administration costs thanks to DB2's automation features. Storage costs can be reduced because DB2 9.7 offers improved compression over its predecessors. The database's industry-leading performance helps lower server costs, and fast and easy virtual appliances help cut overall IT costs.

Organizations spend more money on server management and administration than they do on new server purchases and on powering and cooling servers. IBM DB2 9.7 features, a self tuning memory manager and automatic storage management which allow DBAs to work on new needs and capabilities within the organization instead of minding the database. Lithonia Lighting, based in Conyers, Ga., for instance, runs 100 instances of DB2 with only three DBAs.

IBM DB2 9.7 features a self-tuning memory manager that can configure the database in seconds without a DBA using tools like a Configuration Assistant, and wizards and advisors.

The improved compression capabilities of DB2 9.7 means organizations spend less on storage (30 percent less than Oracle, according to IBM) and improve backup and recovery times. IBM is unique in the industry in that it offers multiple algorithms for automatic index compression and it offers automatic compression for temporary tables. Intelligent compression of large objects and XML is included in the latest version.

On average IBM DB2 9.7 sees compression rates of about 60 percent, Raihan said, which is about a 10 percent hike from previous versions.

Database performance helps lower server costs, software licensing costs, and software maintenance costs.

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Reliability
According to IBM, 44 percent of IT staff identified unauthorized access as a key security challenge. Nearly the same percentage of CFOs said governance, controls, and risk management are a top challenge. IBM DB2 9.7 can help organizations reduce this risk with its improved security and audit features.

Auditing was redesigned for this latest version of DB2 so that it quickly provides administrators with all the details of database access. Precision control, encryption, and label-based access control (LBAC) all reduce the risk of unauthorized access.

A user's ability to access systems and manipulate data in IBM DB2 is tied to their assigned role. When IBM DB2 defines roles and assign privileges to those roles, the objects within the database are owned by the roles, not the user. This helps enterprises enforce internal business policies, audit user access, and provide separation of duties within their database systems.

A tiered approach to workload management in IBM DB2 9.7 keeps the database running more efficiently and reliably by preventing incoming work from competing for resources. DB2 9.7 uses High, Medium, and Low priority service classes to manage workloads.

Easy to Use
IBM DB2 9.7 is easy to use and flexible, allowing organizations to adapt to changing business needs without being limited by the technology. DB2 9.7 lets administrators change database schemas and move data to new tables without downtime. Data can easily be moved between QA, test, and production environments.

XML is one of the keys to DB2 9.7's flexibility. In the insurance industry, for example, where changes are common, adding a new field to a form means adding a new column to a table. Traditionally, DBAs have to make the change, then test and propagate the change. XML makes changes like this easy because it's flexible.

In addition to XML compression mentioned earlier, DB2 9.7 puts XML in the warehouse, not just the database, so it can be used for analytics. XML can be used in data partitions, range partitions, database views, and multidimensional clustering.

Integrated tools help the various roles involved in database management collaborate. Architects can build schemas and send them to DBAs, who can then send them to developers to create the SQL. Integrated tools like IBM InfoSphere Data Architect and IBM Data Studio will work with other databases like Oracle and SQL Server, which allows IT departments to save on skills since most run a heterogeneous environment.

IBM DB2 9.7 also provides database developers with access to the latest technologies and innovations. It features support for all the latest languages and versions, as well as the latest environments, including Visual Studio 2008, Eclipse, and pureQuery, and support for multiple SQL dialects and procedural languages.

Developers can also choose their query languages and APIs, as DB2 9.7 supports SQL, XQuery, XPath, CLPPlus, JDBC, SQLJ, ODBC, ADO, .NET, CLI, OLE-DB, to name a few. With all of the possibilities, getting certified in DB2 can help developers make themselves more marketable in a tight job market.

Whether you're a DBA, an IT executive looking to manage costs, or a developer looking for a database that supports the latest generation of development tools and languages, IBM's DB2 9.7 has something that appeals to you.