Database tools outfit Raima Corp has released version 2.0 of its Velocis database Server, and is hailing it as the most significant update in the product’s history. The product is described as a high performance client-server database management system that includes object database connectivity features, very large database support, advances in binary large object handling and international character sets. The latest upgrade enables interfaces to Visual Basic and Borland International Inc’s Delphi software development tool. Version 1.0 of Velocis was first released in 1993, and the most recent update came at the beginning of this year with 1.4.1. This is the first full upgrade. Among companies looking at the product when it was in beta testing was Hewlett-Packard Co, which is now set to build Velocis into its Omniback network backup product. Version 2.0 includes the Hot Online Backup feature that enables the backup of the database to take place while the applications continue to read and write to the database. ODBC version 2.0 enables Velocis’s interaction with third party applications and development tools, while the network encryption function extends the product’s previous encryption capabilities enabling data to be encrypted prior to the transfer between the client and the server. Designed as a midrange database with tools to enable developers to create applications, Velocis accounts for 60% of Raima’s product revenues and around 50% of its overall figures. But it hasn’t been a completely smooth ride for the 70-person Seattle, Washington-based organization. In June 1994 Raima filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and only managed to claw its way out of that deep hole in November 1996 when it won a lawsuit dating back to the late 1980’s with a New York company called Peckham, relating to a consulting agreement. Last year the company reported revenues of $7m, and this year anticipates sales of between $9.5m and $10m. Raima is currently preparing to announce its first dealings with Java, and is set to announce in the next few days a Java Database Connectivity driver for Velocis.
