Tuesday, April 1, 2014

DB2: First enterprise-ready wearable database system


This Tuesday IBM is going to formally announce a new version of DB2, the first enterprise-ready wearable database system (wDBMS, "DB2 Wearable" or "DB2W"). With mobile and wearable technology on the rise and wearable computers getting more powerful, IBM is creating the enterprise market for wearable database systems. The first version, which will be called DB2 Wearable Workgroup Edition (WWE), is aimed at departmental deployment. A DB2 Wearable Enterprise Edition and advanced editions of both products are planned for 2015. An open beta is planned to start thissecond quarter of 2014.
Wearable Computers, Wikipedia

The DB2 Wearable Workgroup Edition enables small to mid-sized groups or departments to efficiently manage their data on the go, embedded in fashionable housing. It is a new form of fabric with mesh networking and storage. As enterprise-ready dbms, a focus is on high-availability and performance. All wearers of DB2 can be active, allowing a high degree of productivity. If someone has to step out for a break, even ower longer periods, other members of the availability group can take over the workload. Proven algorithms taken from advanced DB2 pureScale features have been employed.

Inter-node communication and transfer rates have been a concern with early prototypes. Hence IBM Research developed new prefetching and communication protocols. The so-called “transparent early access method” (TEAM) has been an astonishing breakthrough. With this TEAM communication in place an increase in transfer rates by 20x and access rates by 80 percent has been observed. To improve transfer rates with DB2 group members in short range, data can be transmitted by simple handshake via RDMA 2.1.3 (really direct manual attention). Based on experience from first customer tests, it is advised to wash hands regularly to reduce transmission-related failures.

It is planned to improve energy consumption of DB2 Wearable over the next months (read: fixpack 1). Research is ongoing regarding nutrition of DB2 group members. Generally, users of DB2 Wearable are advised to focus on a healthy diet. Depending on the type of breakfast, different endurance rates have been observed. Studies in a lab environment show performance boosts after certain CAC (candy and coffee) feeds. A best practices paper is in the final stages and will provide details on right CAC mixes depending on group size, type of workload, and office conditions.

Be sure to sign up for the DB2 Technology Preview once it becomes available this week. Your feedback on this new and exciting technology is important. I will keep you posted on new details when they emerge. Let me know if you have questions.