Oracle Corp’s acquisition of Digital Equipment Corp’s Rdb relational database will see Oracle consolidate its worldwide market leader share and also buy it a majority stake in the VAX database market. Oracle says it is likely Oracle and Rdb will eventually become one product, with pieces of Rdb’s technology being subsumed into future releases of Oracle. Exactly what it will look like is unclear, but Oracle could use a layered approach, similar to its object-oriented overlay development. However, other database watchers believe that Rdb will simply cease to exist because the technical investment involved in making an old VMS technology work with Oracle would prove too costly and is irrelevant to Oracle’s open systems strategy. But in the short term, it seems, the company will be offering a dual database strategy. Oracle says it will continue to invest in Rdb technology and improve Rdb’s performance, and there are plans for new releases, if there is enough demand. For existing Rdb customers there are several options, according to Oracle.
Gateway extensions
For those that want to downsize to DEC-based open system environments, Oracle will complete the conversion of Rdb to DEC’s Alpha AXP OSF/1 and Windows NT machines. It will also extend its gateway technology to ensure greater interoperability between Rdb and Oracle7, using its existing Oracle Transparent Gateway product. But customers can also go to DEC for its database integrator gateway product. For the immediate future there are no plans to enable Rdb-based applications to run under Oracle7. But Oracle will offer customers full consultancy, training and technical support to help move applications over to the Oracle7 system if required. To facilitate research and development and support, Oracle will create an Oracle New England Database Centre and a new Rdb support centre in Colorado Springs. It also hopes to retain the majority of the 250 DEC RdB software engineers, management and support staff. On the tools side, Oracle has also acquired DBA Workcenter, DEC’s set of database administration tools and the CDD – Cohesion Data Dictionary – Repository. The DBA suite will continue to be supported and there are plans to integrate specific systems management features with Oracle’s own tools. As to the future of the Repository and Oracle’s Computer Aided Software Engineering strategy, there is not much news. The company admits that the Repository and Oracle’s Cooperative Development Environment do not have much in common. But it is likely that Oracle will write a direct interface between the two for software engineering model design sharing, in addition to support provided via CASE Exchange. Apart from that, Oracle says it is just going to look under the covers and see what is on offer. Although Oracle’s Rdb product plans seem to be a little vague, the firm says Rdb and its toolset are currently under an operations review and complete product plans will be revealed after the acquisition has been validated by the regulatory authorities. In the meantime, for customers wondering about maintenance, DEC retains the responsibility for existing contracts for the next 15 months. Thereafter, customers will have to negotiate contracts with Oracle. But DEC will continue to offer Rdb consulting services and will add consulting support for Oracle7 products. Oracle says it will expand the range of products it offers on DEC hardware. It will put Media Server up on DEC’s video server system; convert Oracle7, Oracle Co-operative Development Environment and Co-operative Application Environment for DEC Alpha Windows NT machines; and add support for Oracle Workgroup Server to DEC’s Intel-based NT boxes. Oracle also agreed to resell DEC’s transaction processing and data integration lines. – Alison Hawkings
