Platinum Technology Inc this week confirmed it will partner with Microsoft Corp to develop the next version of the software giant’s repository, due for release in the second half of 1999. Platinum and Microsoft already collaborated on the previous release, version 2.0, of the software but Bob Robinson, Platinum’s VP repository said this agreement was more significant as Platinum would be involved in the development from the ground up. He said the two companies have already had a series of meetings to pinpoint the most important enhancements needed for the new repository; essentially a central hub for storing metadata. High on the list of priorities is security, he said. Up until now, there has been no way of granting user access to the repository; only to the database underneath, Robinson said. But the intention is to provide user-based security, which will allow customers to define certain rights for different users. The two companies will also work to improve the repository’s constraint enforcement. Robinson said at present the repository could define cardinality (rules that dictate that a table, for example can only have X number of columns or rows) but he said there was no way to enforce these rules so users can end up doing what they like which compromises the integrity of the repository. The next version will also include better support for distributed repositories including more advanced ways of replicating and managing data across dispersed systems. It will also use the XML format to populate the repository and pass the metadata between, in and out of repositories. As well as a number of technical improvements, Robinson said Platinum would concentrate on improving ease of use of the repository. Traditionally, he said, the metamodel has been very complicated and users have had to understand the modeling before they can work with the repository. But the new version aims to simplify this process to allow users to have just one logical view. A feature Platinum refers to as ‘super objects’ ie, a table, for example, can be treated as a single object and all the underlying metamodel becomes transparent. Platinum, which has exclusive marketing rights to port the repository to other platforms via ISVs, has already demonstrated the 2.0 technology running on Solaris and Robinson said it was due to have a version for Hewlett Packard’s UX by October. As far as work on its own repository is concerned, Robinson said Platinum had decided long ago not to compete with Microsoft but to work with Redmond instead. He said Platinum’s repository would be based on the same core engine but that Platinum would add a number of enhancements to enable the repository to work in non-Microsoft environments. Microsoft shipped Repository 2.0, bundled with the Visual Studio 6.0 programming tools suite, last week (CI No 3,488) and later in the year it will come bundled with SQL Server 7. By partnering with Platinum, Microsoft hopes to establish the industry standard for repositories.
