On August 22nd, 2019, IDUG (International Db2 User Group) hosted a joint conference with IIUG (International Informix User Group) in Mexico City at the Hilton Mexico City Reforma to discuss the latest news in the world of hybrid data management.
Les King – IBM Director of Hybrid Data Management Solutions – was on hand to discuss news about Db2 11.5 and the greater Db2 roadmap for the future. Overall, there is a huge focus on AI in the marketplace today, and information architecture is key to having a successful AI architecture – or as Les put it, “No AI without an IA.” As Db2 is focused on the collect rung of the AI ladder, the focus in 11.5 is to ensure maximum success in the collect phase while allowing for the covering of all types of workloads including OTLP, OLAP, BIG and EVENT. Additionally, IBM has invested heavily in developing a Common SQL Engine, to ensure that SQL and non-SQL applications work seamlessly together. Ultimately, 11.5 will follow a very similar continuous delivery paradigm as displayed with 11.1, with a steady release of function through GA and subsequent modification updates. Even with the release of 11.5, support for 11.1 will continue on for the foreseeable future, with support for 10.5 ending on April 30th, 2020.
Mike Springgay – IBM STSM Db2 Warehouse Common Engine Architect – was also present to present on what new can be expected in 11.5. Mike highlighted that because there is no one dominant SQL dialect, it makes it harder for customers to move from one dialect to another effectively and efficiently. Ultimately, the goal of 11.5 is to embrace these syntax differences and to make life easier for the user through syntax toleration. The Database Conversion Workbench helps with the upfront evaluation and basic conversion capabilities needed to make this happen and is available as an offline syntax tool to decipher whether a given syntax should be compatible with Db2. The Database Conversion Workbench is available in two different offerings: the IBM Database Harmony Profiler (a lightweight GUI for easy up-front evaluation) and IBM Database Conversion Workbench (an Eclipse-based IDE best suited for conversions requiring manual modifications and database access).
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