Sybase Inc’s Web.sql, part of its Web.works middleware, is finally with us. The company has been slipping out parts of its Web.works architecture piecemeal over the last few months, but it has now put a price on Web.sql, which is available under SunSoft Inc’s Solaris. A version for Silicon Graphics Inc’s Irix is currently in beta test and versions for Windows NT and HP-UX will follow, later this year, according to David Hsieh, vice-president of enterprise product marketing. Sybase’s Web.works encompasses the company’s database, middleware and tools products to use information stored in Sybase databases on the Internet. Sybase’s Web.sql enables users to insert SQL database requests into World Wide Web pages and can also maintain multiple connections between Web pages and databases. The Emeryville, California company claims that current Web systems require a connection to be immediately broken after each individual query. And Hsieh said Oracle Corp’s similar offering works the other way round, requiring stored procedures to be called which then serve up HyperText Mark-up Language pages. He added that here other Internet initiatives in Web.works that have yet to be announced. Some of these will be in the area of database communications to the Internet and native support for additional data types and video data snap-ins. Hsieh said the company’s object strategy is a stepping stone to the Internet. Sybase Web.sql can supports the NSAPI Netscape Application Program Interface and the CGI Common Gateway Interface interface, so it is compatible with all major Web servers. It costs $700 and is available for download on a 90-day trial from www.sybase.com.
