Sybase Inc swears it will have SQL Server 11.0 out by the end of the year. The development, code-named Cougar 1, goes into beta test this month or next. Version 11.1, Cougar 2, follows in 1996. Together – System 11 is planned as a series of roll-outs – they are intended to break the six-processor barrier, a scaling deficiency that’s haunted the company since the original design of its database, which assumed that networked uniprocessors would rule the industry. A first symmetric multiprocessing cut of SQL Server in 1992 was dismal and problems have only recently been fixed in the current System 10 release. Version 11.0 will scale across six or eight processors, 11.1 will run parallel queries across multiple processors, the company said. But the real idea with SQL Server 11 is to provide a system that can act both as a transaction processing and decision support database in a single version. Essentially this means no extra database options. New database features include a cache memory manager, which configures memory into partitions; application queues to prioritise tasks; and private log cache for every processor. Sybase is clearly impressed with this version of the database and though its TPC-C results aren’t out yet, the firm said it has had the database running applications five times faster. Its IQ Accelerator high-speed search mechanism is due to go into beta testing imminently.
