Database Engine Is 'Pervasive' In Everyway

database

Pervasive does not offer parallel-server processing typically available in enterprise database servers, but rather has created a database that completely embeds inside an OEM application and is essentially invisible to end users. As installs are concerned, end users are often unaware that software such as Peachtree Accounting uses Pervasive.SQL as its back-end database or that WebMD uses it to track all of the prescriptions used by the military.

The product is primarily used by ISVs and OEMs in data-intensive software. Many companies are using it in point-of-sale, back-office accounting and health-care applications. The latest update includes security enhancements that comply with HIPAA standards, offering many opportunities to solution providers writing applications for the health-care industry. GE Medical, for instance, has developed a heart-monitoring system that uses V8. Solution providers are now deploying it in practice management, document management, patient/ record management and medical-transcript applications.

Almost 60 percent of automatic checkout counters in major retail stores use V8, according to the company. In addition to the database engine, Pervasive offers a set of vertical solutions that work as stand-alone products or with its database engine, including a data exchange/replication tool and a business intelligence/data-mining tool.

Pervasive.SQL does not require indexing or recompressing. What's more, Pervasive.SQL now includes a tuning interface where applications can access internal configuration settings such as open connections and server handles.

Traditional database engines such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle9i by their nature execute every SQL call through multiple layers. Because of their rigid designs, an insert into a row, even when optimized, will still have a large overhead due to all of the steps required to parse a statement,including identifying the table a statement is referring to, entering the data and re-establishing its internal data pointers.

This is not the case with Pervasive.SQL. The database uses a modular architecture stemming from Btrieve that exposes two core components,a micro kernel and Pervasive services,to run its data-access logic. The architecture offers developers low-level direct access to data that simply cannot be done with other relational database engines. By exposing some of the function calls that access data directly via a Btrieve API, Pervasive provides the highest possible data-handling performance an application can have.

At a higher level, a relational core exposes data via ODBC, JDBC, ADO and OLEDB. Pervasive.SQL connects natively to Delphi and C++ Builder applications that work with the Borland database engine and use PDAC. Pervasive's database engine also integrates with most development environments and languages from Borland, Microsoft and IBM. The current version will work with ODBC.Net in .Net's native environment. Legacy systems that use a variety of COBOL environments can also incorporate Pervasive's relational database engine to add transactional capabilities. The company recently added a couple of open-source development tools and languages that can work with the environment.

One of the new version's strengths is its memory caching. V8 has built-in dynamic caching that will automatically allocate memory and siphon off hard-drive I/Os as needed. That feature is especially useful in embedded applications where no maintenance is available and performance is critical. Oracle and Microsoft cannot compete in memory utilization without having to depend heavily on administrators.

Server connectivity puts this product in a category of its own. The database engine will wait up to 65,000 seconds to connect to a client. The feature makes Pervasive.SQL ideal for construction sites, franchises or just about any remote location where the communication connectivity is poor or unpredictable. Solution providers will find the database engine ideal for applications that manage materials and personnel on construction sites, for example.

CHANNEL PROGRAM SNAPSHOTS
>PERVASIVE.SQL
PRICE: $1,195
CO-OP FUNDS: Yes
SPIFFS: No
DISTRIBUTORS: Ingram Micro, Insight, SHI, Software Spectrum
TECH RATING:

CHANNEL RATING:

CHANNEL OVERVIEW: Austin, Texas-based Pervasive Software launched its channel program in the past few weeks and is formalizing the program's specifics. Pervasive provides online technical training and certification in addition to on-site or online sales training. Marketing resources, product information and other materials will be available at Pervasive's solution provider Web site, and access to the Pervasive online developer forum will be provided.

Note: Vendors can earn up to five stars for technical merit and five for their channel program. If the average of these two scores is four stars or greater, the product earns CRN Test Center Recommended status.