San Mateo, California-based Trifox Inc, which just announced its first round of venture funding (CI No 1,859) has introduced Vortex, claiming it to be a breakthrough in database-independent technology. Vortex is intended to address the performance and integration problems associated with client-server and host-based applications – the family of products is claimed to enable users to achieve interoperability and portability among heterogeneous applications – with no additional programming and up to 10-fold gains in performance. Available now for most major relational databases and legacy data managers, it consists of the Vortex Accelerator performance optimiser; Vortex Interface to multiple databases and network protocols; and Vortex Compilers, a set of standard high-level and proprietary language compilers. The Accelerator is claimed to increase the number of concurrent application users by up to 10 times through a highly effective method of managing database cursors: it transparently maintains open cursors and enables them to remain open, eliminating the need to repeat the first five functions of creating a cursor to reduce the amount of work the database kernel has to do exercise each SQL query; it caches all cursors auto matically into shared memory, freeing up memory for each application. Vortex Channel is a virtual database interface that is the core of the architecture and enables read and write access to multiple data managers: users can access and change data stored in applications on disparate data bases. Vortex Interface also includes Vortex Client and Vortex Server interfaces to network protocols, making applications network-transparent, enabling access to multiple databases via protocols such as TCP/IP, NetBIOS, DECnet, RS232 and X25. The Compilers consist of third generation pre-compilers and fourth generation compilers that enable applications to access Vortex Interface and Vortex Accelerator. Trifox says it is currently completing development of a Vortex Compiler for Oracle’s SQL*Forms applications, which will dramatically increase transaction throughput and increase the number of Oracle application users, for announcement next month. Vortex supports Oracle, Ultrix/SQL, Ingres, Sybase, Informix, Allbase and Rdb, and VMS, HP-UX, SunOS, Santa Cruz Unix and Ultrix. Legacy data managers supported include TurboImage and RMS flat files and the company plans to support IBM’s DB2 relational data base under MVS, IMS and IDMS hierarchical databases and some object-oriented databases later this year. Prices go from $5,000 to $100,000, depending on number of users and systems, and on components purchased.
