A post beta version 8.2 of Informix Corp’s XPS parallel database is set to ship by the beginning of the next quarter on a strictly limited basis, hears Unigram.X. The key feature of the upgrade is support for online transaction processing. General availability is set for the second quarter. XPS was originally tuned for data warehousing applications, but Ali Shirnia, who looks after XPS in Northern Europe, says giving XPS an injection of transaction processing brings its kernel closer to that of Universal Server. This will make a merger of XPS and Universal Server easier, says Shirnia, who worked at parallel technology supplier Pyramid Technology Corp before he joined Informix. Informix is also set to announce a raft of application development tools supporting Universal Server at the end of February. Its New Era application development tool looks set to be part of this announcement.
