Burlingame, California-based Gupta Technologies Inc got the big guns to turn out for the launch of its first software product designed for end-users rather than developers. Quest is an end-user Windows 3.0 data access, query and reporting tool for use with corporate SQL databases, and key officials from Novell Inc, IBM Corp, Microsoft Corp and Oracle Corp showed up to wet the baby’s head. Gupta reckons that Quest is the first Windows database tool designed specifically for accessing and manipulating corporate data contained in SQL databases, and when it ships in August, Gupta believes it will be the only company to market all the key products needed for implementing MS-DOS-based client-server and co-operative-processing applications: end-user and programmer tools, SQL database servers and SQL communications software. Quest is primarily designed for business professionals needing easy access to corporate SQL data; SQLWindows application developers needing to provide their end users with a tool for ad hoc querying and reporting; and individuals in a workgroup needing a database management tool for their SQL database servers. Once the data is accessed, end users can create reports that take full advantage of Windows 3.0 presentation features, or put the data into applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel or PageMaker. It is also designed as a companion product to Gupta’s SQLWindows development system but does not require it. Quest comes with a single-user SQLBase engine so that it can also be used on stand-alone machines. It costs $500 and will be available for SQL Base Server and IBM’s DB2 on August 15, and for OS/2 Extended Edition Database Manager, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server and Novell NetWare by November 15 – but it doesn’t stop there: at the DB2 end, SQLHost and SQLGateway are needed – the first at bet ween $40,000 and $100,000, the second at $3,500 per server. Oracle requires either SQLGateway at the same price or SQLRouter at $150 per client – the latter is all that is needed for SQL Server. OS/2 Database Manager requires SQLGateway, at $1,000 per server. NetWare SQL requires either SQL Gateway or SQLRouter but Novell is to bundle SQLGateway software with NetWare SQL.
