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-------------Forwarded Message----------------- Read this guys. We are starting to make an impact. Look NO "Legacy" references John Carr http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?980825.ecas400.htm IBM revs up performance of new AS/400 servers By Ted Smalley Bowen InfoWorld Electric Posted at 1:28 PM PT, Aug 25, 1998 NEW YORK -- IBM on Tuesday announced the next generation of AS/400 systems, due to ship next month, and provided a glimpse of future chip technology slated to further boost the server's performance by late next year or early 2000. IBM officials here released a torrent of details on the Sept. 11 release of the new versions of models 170, S40, and 650 servers, which benefit from the company's fourth-generation 64-bit processor, code-named Northstar, as well as Version 4, Release 3 of OS/400, the operating system required to support the new processor. "We're in our fourth generation after coming up with a 64-bit solution, when our key competitors are only just getting there," said Drew Flaada, IBM's AS/400 project manager, referring to other Unix system vendors' 64-bit development as well as Intel's now-delayed Merced chip running on Windows NT. The upgrades also include disk compression and hierarchical storage management features. AS/400 models S40 and 650 boast a near-twofold performance improvement, the doubling of memory capacity to 40GB, and a 40 percent increase in Direct Access Storage Device (DASD) storage capacity to 2.1 terabytes; Model 170 has received a 140 percent performance improvement, top memory capacity of 3.58GB and maximum DASD storage of 175GB, according to IBM. As part of its Internet-commerce lineup, IBM later this year will release a Payment Server for AS/400 that supports the SET protocol for credit card transactions. The AS/400 platform's Java support has also been updated, with the addition of Enterprise JavaBeans support, support for Java Development Kit 1.1.6, and support for Version 1.2 of IBM's San Francisco Java application frameworks. The platform's database support has been improved with the use of IBM's encoded vector indexes, patented database technology that applies a vectoring approach for searching large bit-mapped indexes to improve query times. The technology will also be added to IBM's universal database standard. The upgrades also sport ease-of-use improvements, expanded systems and network management capabilities, better Windows support, database performance boosts, broader application development options, and Java and Web-specific improvements. Pricing for the new systems will be announced next week. In the future, AS/400 performance will be increased further by recently announced IBM chip advances, including copper interconnects for silicon wafers and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technologies, according to Jim Pertzborn, vice president of server and workstation development. The forthcoming Northstar chip and OS/400 Version 4, Release 3-based server boasts significantly faster query performance and data load rates for data warehousing than earlier systems, according to Pertzborn, who cited IBM benchmarks of 35 seconds to query 225GB of data and 18 hours to load a 1 terabyte data warehouse. IBM Corp., in Armonk, N.Y., can be reached at http://www.ibm.com. Ted Smalley Bowen is InfoWorld's Boston bureau chief. ted_bowen@infoworld.com -=------------------------------------------------------------------ Just when you think things couldn't get Better they do. Do we ever have problems with DB integrity ? John Carr --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,25671,00.html?st.ne.fd.gif.d Microsoft database loses records By Mike Ricciuti Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM August 25, 1998, 1:10 p.m. PT Developers are furious over a flaw discovered in Microsoft's Access database that could cause a loss of data and scrambled records. The problem, discovered by a developer last week and since reproduced by many users, affects the way Access handles changes to database records. The flaw is particularly thorny because it can corrupt database records without users realizing that anything wrong has happened. Developers fear that the bug could require reprogramming to applications already in use and that existing databases could be corrupted. Even worse, the problem could result in improper billing, diagnoses, or other potentially disastrous legal issues, according to developers. A Microsoft executive today confirmed the existence of the bug and said the company has devised a temporary solution while it determines whether the problem affects multiple versions of the popular database program. The company will also post a bulletin, referred to by Microsoft as a "Knowledge Base article," to its Web site later today detailing the bug. Newsgroup postings indicate that the bug causes edits made on one Access database record to be saved to another. In other words, in a typical business application, the bug could cause information associated with a particular customer or medical patient to be attached to the wrong account. Access is used as the underlying database in many business applications and is particularly popular with consultants and systems integrators building applications for small businesses, such as doctors' offices and insurance agencies. The Access bug has been the subject of more than 100 postings to the "comp.databases.ms-access" Internet newsgroup since last Wednesday. Opinions on the bug's potential effects vary widely in those postings. "This is by far the most heinous and destructive bug I have ever seen," a developer said one posting. Others warned that the flaw may easily go undetected in many applications and have openly questioned whether Access should be use used for commercial applications until it is repaired. "Can you afford to trust your data to it [Access], if the wrong client gets your address, your donation, your invoice, your order, your merge letter?" one developer asked rhetorically. The problem can be easily re-created, according to one Access developer who has posted step-by-step instructions to demonstrate the problem. John Duncan, a Microsoft Office product manager, said the company became aware of the problem several days ago and has come up with a work-around. The company is also considering issuing a patch to Access 97, but no final decision has been made. Users report that the bug affects Access versions 2.0, 95, and 97. However, Duncan said Microsoft has been able to reproduce the bug only in Access 97. He also declined to say how many Access users have contacted the company to report the flaw. Duncan said the problem occurs under a specific scenario. First, a person must be working with a long set of records in an Access form. Users report that the flaw affects forms displaying more than 200 records. Duncan would not confirm the exact number of records. For the flaw to occur, users must delete a record from the record set, use Access's Combo Box (a feature intended to ease access to database records) to edit another record, and then save the changes. Access applies the changes to the record just before the intended target of the change, Duncan said. "If a user were to delete a record at the beginning of a record set and then edit a later record without using the Combo Box, the error probably will not occur," Duncan said. He said the workaround is a simple process. First, users need to go into Access's Design View and right-click on Combo Box, which displays a dialog box. Then, users need to type one line (me.requery) into the dialog box and save it. Access 97 is sold as part of Microsoft's Office 97 desktop application package, and is used by millions of people worldwide. Overall, Office Professional 97, of which Access is a component, is the third best-selling software title in the United States, according to market researcher PC Data. +--- | This is the Midrange System Mailing List! | To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com. | To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com. | To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com. | Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com +---
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