In a characteristically low-key manner, ICL Plc has sneaked out news of a great leap forward in database processing by adapting its Content-Addressable File Store hardware search mechanism to speed global searches of relational databases under Unix, the first version being for Ask Computer Systems Inc’s Ingres database release 6.3. ICL is planning versions of the new Relational Database Search Accelerator for other widely-used databases, but in the meantime, the one for Ingres will be out at the end of the month for its DRS 6000 Unix server. The company sees the product being used primarily in decision support applications where ad hoc queries that range all over the database can really slow down other applications. The product consists of a board installed on the SCSI disk channel between the CPU and the disks; a device driver that is an extension to Unix System V.4, Ingres Search Accelerator software and the smart disk interface that is part of Ingres 6.3. ICL reckons that the product will significantly speed applications development by enabling potential bottlenecks to be by-passed. The Ingres Search Accelerator is initially available only in the UK at UKP10,000 for one board plus software and UKP20,000 for two boards plus software. Further boards are UKP5,000 apiece and up to nine can be installed in DRS 6000.
