Teradata Corp has introduced an interface to IBM’s Transaction Processing Facility from the Airline Control Program that for the first time enables users to derive useful information from records of TPF transactions without having to import them into another system – if they are also users of the DBC/1012 database system. The new TPF Interface combines the relational DBC/1012 Data Base Computer – an array of 80386 microprocessors managing a disk farm – with IBM’s TPF – didn’t we tell you back in 1984 that it had a bright future ahead of it? The system is designed to provide more immediate access to the valuable detail data captured in TPF applications such as airline reservation systems or automated teller machines, so that users can apply the information for competitive marketing and service strategies. Up to now, doing trend spotting or ad hoc query of TPF data required transporting data from TPF to other systems and writing query programs. The TPF Interface was developed with Citibank, one of the very first customers for the DBC/1012, and has been operational in a test environment for a 18 months. The TPF Interface enables TPF hots to access and manipulate data on a DBC/1012 concurrently with IBM VM and MVS; Honeywell Bull GCOS 8; Unisys OS11OO; DEC VAX/VMS; AT&T 3B2 and Sun Microsystems Unix; and MS-DOS personal computers. All Structured Query Language requests and relational database processing are offloaded from the host to the DBC/1012, where processing of TPF data is done, eliminating the need to move the data to MVS or VM systems. It consists of the Teradata Director Program to performs session management and input-output control between the host and the DBC/1012; the Call Level Interface where application programs request Director Program services; and a pre-preprocessor for the PL/TPF, PL/1-like language that is marketed by Eastern Airlines. The TPF Interface is available now, but pricing for the new product is by negotiation.
