More than anything, the database software market is in the throes of a massive brawl, major changes in IT deployment, and big changes in what's available to solution providers to deliver value.
A good part of the tectonic shifts in this space are owed to a degree of consolidation. In the past year, Oracle has taken over Sun Microsystems, which was the purveyor of the MySQL platform (the "M" in the "LAMP Stack"). SAP has taken over Sybase. SAP's former CEO, Leo Apotheker, will soon run Hewlett-Packard, whose former CEO, Mark Hurd, is now president of Oracle. And Oracle now controls MySQL. And swing your partner and do-se-do.
All the while, Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM has remained a relative sea of calm. Even though it lost out on its attempt to acquire Sun Microsystems, the company continues to be one of the bigger players in the database software space. Its DB2 platform, like much of IBM's line card, is among the most mature in the industry. But maturity doesn't necessarily mean stodginess. IBM continues to make major investments in expanding the footprint of DB2 -- and has made broad strides with the lowest part of its database line: DB2 Express-C.
First launched in 2006 as a free database alternative for small businesses, DB2 Express provides a lightweight, small-business-friendly approach to the market. Like MySQL, its no-cost, downloadable DB2 Express-C is true cross-platform software. It supports 32-bit and 64-bit Linux, 32-bit and 64-bit Windows (including, now, Windows 7), 64-bit (Intel) Solaris and Mac OS X (now in beta).
Relatively speaking, DB2 Express-C doesn't need a lot of hardware support, requiring a dual-core processor and 2 GB of memory.
The CRN Test Center decided to install and evaluate the most recent rev of DB2 Express-C, with an eye on determining how it has held up and whether it remains a viable option for VARs working with customers that have low-end needs for end-point database applications.
We downloaded and installed DB2 Express-C (version 9.7.2, which was launched earlier this year) onto a PC built with a quad-core AMD Phenom at 2.20 GHz, and 4 GB of RAM, running Windows 7 Professional. Mercifully, IBM has streamlined its download process; the entire process of getting the application installed and running took about 20 minutes. The application provides multiple consoles for controlling and integrating data, and provides an event monitor console, activity monitor and a Health Center, which manages a variety of alerts within an instance of a database being run on the client.
We found everything from its Application Center to Replication Center to be straightforward, accessible and helpful. But even though DB2 Express-C 9.7.2 is free, it's not really plug-and-play.
Integration with data and other applications is where the VAR and solution provider provides the value layer, and where IBM has set out an upgrade and add-on road map of applications and tools. Database event monitoring, health monitoring, replication and more will all most likely require significant VAR engagement. But we do like the power that DB2 Express-C can provide, for example, in a Lotus Foundations Start deployment -- a combination that we believe provides an opportunity to deliver low-cost IT solutions ranging from e-mail and Webmail to VPN, and file and print capability.
Lotus Foundations has its own set of system requirements, with a sweet spot of small offices and branch offices that need minimal IT engagement on a day-to-day basis. (Think "set-it-and-forget-it" capabilities.)
For now, we believe that IBM DB2 Express-C combines a low-cost but robust database foundation with strong support for upstream applications as an enterprise grows. It's at least as strong an option as MySQL, and keeps IBM in the game against Oracle from one end of the database space to the next. With Windows 7 support in DB2 Express-C 9.7.2, it's a solution VARs will want to consider when migrating enterprises from Windows XP.
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