IBM has announced a new software technology called DB2 pureScale, running on IBM Power Systems, that helps clients increase their database transaction capacity while reducing the risk and cost of growing their IT systems.

Jointly developed by the IBM Toronto Software Lab and Power Systems Lab in Austin, TX, the new DB2 feature delivers the continuous availability and virtually unlimited computing power required to meet growing business demands. The design of pureScale, based on the architecture and 15 years of proven experience of DB2 on System z, reflects the strengths of IBM software technology optimized for Power Systems.

As the amount of data continues to grow, industry segments are poised to take advantage of IBM's economical and efficient approach to scaling capacity -- without forcing customers to overspend on excess hardware and software. With pureScale, companies can now buy only what they need to handle increasing amounts of data by simply adding servers to their DB2 pureScale systems. DB2 also offers the flexibility of adding and removing capacity with the option of paying for only the days clients need the additional software to handle peak workloads.

Industries Generating New Levels of Intelligence Require More Capacity

An explosion of data in almost every industry is making it more challenging than ever for customers to handle large volume of transactions. In the energy industry, for example, utility companies are equipping homes and businesses with smart meters to read how much power is being used, while food retailers are tagging food items with radio-frequency ID chips to more efficiently manage inventory control. In addition, electronic medical records for healthcare are requiring entirely new levels of transaction processing, with federal laws specifying ever-more-stringent security; while telecommunications firms are providing composite and consolidated content to their customers' mobile devices.

In a system performance test with more than 100 Power servers, DB2 pureScale achieved a total system productivity of more than 80%. In comparison, competitive offerings have only demonstrated 60% system productivity with less than half the number of servers. In fact, with 64 servers, DB2 pureScale generated a system productivity of more than 90%. These scaling results set the bar for economical database system growth.

By incorporating new PowerHA pureScale technology, DB2 pureScale dramatically reduces the amount of communications required within the system - resulting in significantly less computing power wasted on overhead.

"Clients are constantly fighting a battle of IT economics and increasingly choosing DB2 and Power to help reduce the costs of managing their growing business data," said Arvind Krishna, general manager, IBM Information Management. "DB2 pureScale on Power Systems helps clients grow their IT infrastructure more reliably and economically than ever before to meet today's business needs. This addition to the IBM portfolio complements DB2 on System z, the only platform that provides greater scalability and availability and which remains the undisputed leader in database systems."

"Businesses today place their trust in an underlying IT infrastructure to reliably run their applications," said Ross Mauri, general manager, IBM Power Systems. "DB2 on Power Systems delivers proven technology that provides scalable, predictable and consistent performance for our clients. The PowerHA pureScale technology enhances this capability to deliver continuous availability and exceptional horizontal scalability to DB2 pureScale."

Capacity growth achieved with DB2 pureScale does not require changes to applications or database tuning. This application transparency reduces risk and cost as clients grow computing power without service interruption. It also complements the capability delivered in DB2 9.7, which enables applications originally written for other database software, such as Oracle Database, to enjoy the benefits of DB2 with little or no changes.

DB2 pureScale will initially be available on Power 550 Express and Power 595 systems in December.