DB2 Express-C Team Blog

What's new in DB2 9.7

2009-06-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

Raul Chong just posted an excellent overview of what's new in DB2 Express-C 9.7:

1) Locking enhancements
With the new Currently Committed (CC) semantics of the CS isolation level, writers (i.e: UPDATE) will not block readers (i.e SELECT). Readers will read the currently committed value prior to the update operation. This will improve concurrency and reduce deadlocks.

For example, say you have a table T1 with the following contents:

FIRSTNAME LASTNAME Raul Chong Jin Xie

Now say an application AppA issues this statement, but does not commit:
update T1 set lastname = 'Smith' where firstname = 'Raul'

Next, application AppB issues this statement:
select lastname from T1 where firstname = 'Raul' with CS

Prior to DB2 9.7, this last statement would hang because it would wait for the exclusive lock held by the update statement of AppA (the writer) to be released. With DB2 9.7 and currently committed enabled (the default for new databases), the statement would return the currently committed value which was Chong.

2) Performance enhancements
For dynamic SQL, DB2 9.7 introduces the 'statement concentrator' feature, which should improve the performance of programs developed in languages such as Ruby and PHP. As its name suggests, the statement concentrator will look for SQL statements that look exactly the same but where the parameter value is different, and will 'concentrate' those statements into one. For example:

SELECT name FROM employee WHERE empid = 10 SELECT name FROM employee WHERE empid = 20 SELECT name FROM employee WHERE empid = 30

will be concentrated into:
SELECT name FROM employee WHERE empid = ?

The question mark (?) represents a parameter marker. At runtime, DB2 will supply the value of 10, 20 and 30 for this particular example. This will provide a huge performance boost. In prior releases, DB2 would treat each statement as unique, and would compile and execute each statement separately. However, the access plan for all these statement was likely the same, so it was a waste of resources to calculate it over and over again. With statement concentrator DB2 will compile the statement only once to obtain the access plan for the statement, and then it will reuse it.

Other performance improvements is the ability to store small LOBs inlined with the data rows. This improves performance for these LOBs as they can be access through the bufferpool.

3) Application development enhancements
A large number of improvements is now available to application developers:

a)
Triggers and UDFs now have enhanced SQL PL support. Before DB2 9.7 they only supported inline SQL PL which is a small subset of SQL PL.

b)
For SQL PL stored procedures, default parameter values and assignment of parameter values by name have been included. In addition, new Boolean, cursor, row and array data types are now supported.

c)
ROWNUM and ROWID are supported

d)
DB2 9.7 now supports the concept of a module (similar to the concept of 'Package' in Oracle). A module can bundle related database object definitions

e)
Implicit casting between data types is now allowed. This will be useful for dynamic languages like PHP and Ruby. For example, this is now allowed:

create table t1 (col1 int) select * from t1 where col1 = '42'

In the example, the string '42' can now be compared to the integer column col1.

f)
There are many new functions for string, date manipulation and so on.

g)
DB2 now supports Create Global Temporary Tables (CGTTs). These are temporary tables where the data is only available during the session. The difference between CGTTs and Declared Global Temporary Tables (DGTTs) is that in the case of CGTTs, the table definition is persisted in the DB2 catalog tables. So once a CGTT is created, it can be used by any session without having to create it again. The rows will be independent per session though.

g)
Public aliases (a.k.a Public synonyms) for global object referencing have been added. Prior to DB2 9.7 all DB2 objects had a unique two-part name. The first part was the schema name, and the second part was the object name. By creating public synonyms, you can reference to objects without the schema name regardless of the user ID connected to the database. For example:

connect to sample user arfchong using mypsw create public synonym raul for table arfchong.staff select * from raul ## works OK select * from arfchong.raul ## Error connect to sample user db2admin using psw select * from raul ## works OK

h)
DB2 9.7 has relaxed its object dependency rules to allow for more flexible schema evolution. For example say you had this dependency:

View2 --> View1 --> Table1

If you wanted to change View1, you first had to drop View2 because it was dependant on View1. Now this is not required. DB2 will perform the revalidation of View2 automatically for you either immediately or when the view is used again. This can certainly help developers when testing their applications, and when they need to add columns, or make other changes to the database schema.

Other improvements in the schema evolution area are: Columns can be renamed, the REPLACE option has been added to several CREATE statements so there is no need to issue a drop statement therefore all privileges on the object remain. ALTER COLUMN can now use SET DATA TYPE for all types.

i)
The Visual Studio add-ins have been enhanced

j)
There have been JDBC and SQLJ enhancements to support some of the things mentioned earlier

k)
The TRUNCATE SQL statement is now supported for fast deletes

l)
New data types such as NUMBER, VARCHAR2, TIMESTAMP with a precision are now supported

m)
Better support for Python-DB2 applications

n)
pureXML enhancements such a support for Declared Global Temporary Tables is now available

4) Storage enhancements
Every time I teach DB2, I often get the question about "how much can DB2 store?". And almost on every release, I'm surprised about how our developers at the lab keep pushing the limits. For DB2 9.7, the size of large and temporary table spaces limits have been increased fourfold. For example, a 32k page large table space can now store 64TB. Previously it could 'only' store 16TB.

5) Security enhancements
In the past I used to compare SYSADM with 'God' because he could pretty much have access to everything in DB2. With DB2 9.7 the security model has been enhanced to allow for separation of duties. This minimizes the risk of data exposure and helps with government compliance requirements. There are several new authorities including DATAACCESS and ACCESSCTRL. These authorities can be given to users to access data, and grant access to data respectively. What this means is that a security administrator (SECADM) could revoke SYSADM or a DBADM these authorities, and therefore they would not be allowed to access any data!

6) Manageability enhancements
Now you have the ability to move tables online to a different table space. This means that while users are accessing a table, you can change where the table storage resides.

7) Installation enhancements
Now you can use the db2val command to verify if your DB2 installation is OK.

More details are available in the Information Center.

Regards,

Leons Petrazickis
DB2 Express-C Community Team

DB2 Express-C 9.7 available for download

2009-06-19T08:26:00.000-07:00

DB2 9.7 is out, and with it DB2 Express-C 9.7:

DB2 Express-C for Windows

DB2 Express-C for Windows x64

DB2 Express-C for Linux

DB2 Express-C for Linux x86-64

DB2 Express-C for Linux on POWER

DB2 Express-C for Solaris x86-64

In addition to performance improvements, there are new features:
- New data types such as NUMBER, VARCHAR2, etc.
- Easier casting between data types
- Default parameter values and assignment by name
- Boolean, cursor, row and array data type support in procedures
- ROWNUM() and ROWID()
- Improved locking for better concurrency
- Ability to recompile statements without parameter markers
- Ability to re-use old access plans across fixpack updates
- More functions for string and date manipulation
- Better Python support for DB2

Cheers,

Leons Petrazickis
DB2 Express-C Community Team

Video of the DB2 9.7 Overview chat

2009-06-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

A video of the webcast overview of DB2 9.7 is now available on ChannelDB2. In it, Sal Vella (VP of Development) and Tim Vincent (Chief DB2 LUW Architect) discuss new features such as deep compression and answer audience questions.

DB2 9.7 will be released in the near future.

Cheers,

Leons Petrazickis
DB2 Express-C Team

COUNT(column) is fast in DB2

2009-06-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

Antonio Cangiano just set up a simple benchmark comparing COUNT(column) performance between untweaked DB2 Express-C and MySQL.

The results:

Monitor DB2 with the Technology Explorer

2009-05-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

Technology Explorer for IBM DB2 is a nifty and light-weight monitoring console written in PHP. It's a fast and modern way to take a look at a database's internals and get a very specific idea of how things are. For example, it presents tablespace details in an accessible way.

It includes wizards and tutorials that simplify common tasks. At 1.7MB, it has a lot of value and power.

You'll need Apache and PHP with the ibm_db2 extension. A simple way to get all of the above is to install Zend Core 2.5.

Cheers,

Leons Petrazickis
DB2 Express-C Team

What are you working on with DB2?

2009-05-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

I just created an informal round-robin forum thread to see what everyone is working on with DB2 Express-C. It's an exercise in community participation, if you will. Myself, I put together... ah, but you have to read the thread.;-)

Cheers,

Leons Petrazickis
DB2 Express-C Team

DB2 9.7 Overview - Chat with the Lab

2009-04-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

New event coming up:

DB2 Chat with the Lab
Wednesday May 6, 2009,
11:30 AM Eastern / 10:30 AM Central / 8:30 AM Pacific /
4:30 PM London / 5:30 PM Munich

DB2 9.7 Overview

IBM recently announced that DB2 9.7, the next release of DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows, will be available in June 2009. This release of DB2 contains new features to:
- Reduce storage-related costs for data
- Improve database administrator productivity
- Improve developer productivity, and accelerate application development
- Improve business decision making with simplified analytics and end-to-end support for XML documents
- Reduce the expense of deploying and supporting departmental warehousing and analytic solutions

Join, Sal Vella, VP of Development, and Tim Vincent, Chief DB2 LUW Architect, to learn more about what's new in DB2 9.7, and get your questions answered.

To attend this session and receive the call-in telephone numbers and further instructions, kindly RSVP using the link below:
http://tinyurl.com/DB297overview

Cheers,

Leons Petrazickis
DB2 Express-C Team

DB2 9.7 announced, set for June release

2009-04-22T09:25:00.000-07:00

IBM just announced DB2 9.7, filled with oodles of great new features. It is set to become generally available in June. There's an overview site, which largely focuses on the many cost savings in self-optimization, self-healing, compression, development, and performance.

Naturally, there are also many new developer and DBA focused features such as:
- Improved locking for better concurrency
- Ability to recompile statements without parameter markers
- Ability to re-use old access plans across fixpack updates
- More functions for string and date manipulation
- New data types such as NUMBER, VARCHAR2, etc.
- Easier casting between data types
- Default parameter values and assignment of parameter values by name
- Boolean, cursor, row and array data type support in procedures
- ROWNUM and ROWID
- Better Python support for DB2

There will be a DB2 9.7 Overview webcast in the Chat with the Lab series on May 6, 11:30 AM EST. It's a great opportunity to ask questions and find out the technical nitty-gritty.

Cheers,

Leons Petrazickis
DB2 Express-C Team

DB2 sets industry performance record on an x86-64 server

2009-04-22T08:47:00.001-07:00

DB2 9.5 just set a new industry record on the TPC-C benchmark of online transaction processing (OLTP) performance, running on an IBM server powered by standard x86-64 Intel Xeon processors. This is the first time that a database running on an Intel or AMD x86-64 system has ever broken the 1 million tpmC barrier. DB2 has exceeded that barrier by over 20%.

DB2 also broke new ground in the price/performance category, being the first database software to come in lower than $2 USD/tpmC.

The free DB2 Express-C database is built on the same codebase as this record-breaking edition of DB2.

Cheers,

Leons Petrazickis
DB2 Express-C Team

DB2 features - Overview pages

2009-04-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

Hello,

We have just put up some DB2 features overview pages:

- DB2 Autonomics
- DB2 Security
- DB2 Compression

For those who are still using DB2 8.2, it's time to upgrade!. The end of support for DB2 8.2 is April 30, 2009. Visit this page for details!

Raul.

Upgrade fix for Express-C on Linux

2009-04-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

We just released a small refresh of the DB2 Express-C 9.5.2 images for Linux 32-bit and Linux 64-bit. If you encountered any difficulties upgrading to v9.5.2 on Linux, you may want to download the latest:

These resolve a few things that cropped up around the upgrade process from v9.5 to v9.5.2 on Linux. Everything else is the same as in the initial v9.5.2 release, and the other platforms are unchanged.

Cheers,

Leons Petrazickis
DB2 Express-C Team

Free book, Getting Started with DB2 Express-C, now in Portuguese

2009-04-02T14:51:00.000-07:00

Since its release in 2007, Getting Started with DB2 Express-C has been a fantastically popular book. It has been freely downloaded over 35,000 times, and it's been translated by volunteers into nine world languages.

The second Portuguese translation is now available.

The book is ideal for developers, consultants, ISVs, DBAs, students, or anyone else who wants to get started with DB2. While this book is focused on DB2 Express-C, the no-charge edition of DB2, the concepts and content are equally applicable to other DB2 editions on Linux, UNIX, and Windows.

Translations of Getting Started with DB2 Express-C are available in Chinese, German, English, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Cheers,

Leons Petrazickis
DB2 Express-C Team

DB2 Express-C Download Experience Survey

2009-03-13T12:55:00.000-07:00

We are planning some improvements for the next release of DB2 Express-C, and we've created a quick survey to help us gauge how people feel about the current Express-C download.

Take the Survey

It should only take a minute to complete.:-)

Cheers,

Leons Petrazickis
DB2 Express-C Team

Common issue when installing on Mac OS X

2009-03-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

Starting with 9.5.2, DB2 Express-C runs on Mac OS X. Antonio Cangiano wrote a quick install guide on his blog, and there's also a detailed PDF guide available with the download.

One common issue people have is the lack of otool, which is used during DB2 installation. It's included in the XCode for Mac Development download. Please grab Apple's developer tools package before installing DB2.

Feel free to ask any questions in our community support forum.

Cheers,

Leons Petrazickis
DB2 Express-C Team

Express-C 9.5.2 GA

2009-03-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

In February, we officially released the DB2 Express-C 9.5.2. This is the first version to include the new DB2 Text Search feature. It is also the first release to run on Mac OS X!

As always, DB2 Express-C is a free download.

Cheers,

Leons Petrazickis
DB2 Express-C Team

DB2 on Campus has its own blog...

2008-09-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

Hello,

We have created a blog specifically for DB2 on Campus. It's here:
http://blog-db2oncampus.blogspot.com/

Cheers, Raul.

FREE DB2 Express-C book updated to 9.5

2008-04-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

The book "Getting Started with DB2 Express-C" has been updated to cover DB2 Express-C 9.5. You can get this new version here.

The book is also being translated by the community to several languages!. By mid-May, we should have translations ready for these languages:

- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Vietnamese
- German
- Simplified Chinese

Translation to other languages such as Spanish, Italian, and Bulgarian are on the works. If you would like to participate, please reply to this blog. We'll try to do our best to recognize your efforts!

The contents of the book match closely to the video presentations in http://www.channelDB2.com/oncampus. The lab exercises are also the same.

Cheers, Raul.

DB2 Express-C and Canonical team up for a new offering!

2008-03-24T14:45:00.000-07:00

I don't know how this slipped through the blog cracks, but this announcement should definitely have popped up here:

We're proud to bring you some exciting news about something new from DB2 Express-C, Ubuntu & Canonical.

We've teamed up to bring you a solution that provides:

* a very simple way for Ubuntu users to install & setup DB2 Express-C from the Ubuntu repositories for free
* a great deal on support & additional features for DB2 Express-C
* an easy-to-embed database ideal for redistribution, partners, etc

The press is already talking about it: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/02/prweb712964.htm

Ubuntu 7.10 users can try it out today, and everyone can read more about it at http://www.ubuntu.com/ibm/db2

And you can get the great deal on support + more features at the Canonical web store:

One of our valued community members has already posted some how-to information here.

And one of the many blog posts about this offering can be found here (feel free to post others that you find).

Thanks to all the people that teamed up to make this happen.

Solaris 10 beta released!

2008-03-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

This month's release of the DB2 Express-C 9.5 beta for 64-bit Solaris 10 ('x64') is another milestone accomplishment in the lifecycle of DB2 Express-C.

For the first time, we have ported Express-C to a platform outside of the Windows/Linux arena. The goal of this beta port is to widen the scope of Express-C and provide a means for industry customers with Sun installations to evaluate and develop on DB2 for free.

Check it out here: DB2 Express-C for Solaris 10 (beta)

As always, sound off on the DB2 Express-C forum about your experiences, problems, or feedback.

DB2 on Campus Lectures and speeches on VIDEO!

2008-02-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

The DB2 on Campus lectures and speeches are now on video!. The presentations used in the videos are closely linked to the contents of the FREE online book "Getting Started with DB2 Express-C"

Here is the link to the videos:
www.channelDB2.com/oncampus

And here is the list of videos:

* 1. Speech 1: Overview of DB2 on Campus program
* 2. Speech 2: Part 1 - The role of DB2 in Web 2.0 and IOD world
* 3. Speech 2: Part 2 - The role of DB2 in Web 2.0 and IOD world
* 4. Speech 3: Your Opportunity: Ten steps to career success
* 5. Lesson 0: Getting Started with the DB2 on Campus Lecture Series
* 6. Lesson 1: Installation and DB2 editions
* 7. Lesson 2: Part 1 - The DB2 Environment
* 8. Lesson 2: Part 2 - The DB2 Environment
* 9. Lesson 3: Part 1 - Tools & scripting
* 10. Lesson 3: Part 2 - Tools & scripting
* 11. Lesson 4: The DB2 architecture
* 12. Lesson 5: Client connectivity
* 13. Lesson 6: Working with data objects
* 14. Lesson 7: Data movement
* 15. Lesson 8: Security
* 16. Lesson 9: Backup & recovery
* 17. Lesson 10: Maintenance
* 18. Lesson 11: Concurrency & locking
* 19. Lesson 12: SQL PL stored procedures
* 20. Lesson 13: User-defined functions
* 21. Lesson 14: Triggers
* 22. Lesson 15: PureXML: SQL/XML & XQuery
* 23. Lesson 16: Java, Ruby on Rails, PHP
* 24. Lesson 17: Troubleshooting

Cheers!

Raul.

2007 DB2 on Campus tour results

2008-02-20T10:56:00.000-08:00

In 2007, the DB2 on Campus Program reached more than 10,000 students and teachers during approximately 100 university visits worldwide. It is one of the most important campus activities in the recent two years in China, and grew considerably in the south of Brazil, where two courses have been created, one at the post-graduate level and one as an extension course. In Malaysia and Vietnam, the local IBM teams replicated the program, reaching more than 1,900 students.In Singapore, a DB2 Certification program has started at Nanyang Polytechnic. Fifty students recently wrote DB2 Certification Exam 730, and the program plans to increase this number yearly. In Korea, many students have been trained on DB2 since April of 2007, thanks to this initiative. In Italy, two universities switched to DB2 from another vendor for their courses. There are plans to offer DB2 certification to all Italian universities. In Mexico, the DB2 user groups created in 2006 are now training students from other universities who will be forming their own DB2 user groups. In Portugal, DB2 on Campus Program speeches were successfully replicated, and a very active DB2 user group, which is now reaching other universities to promote the program, was created. In Belgium, the local team is organizing a local DB2 on Campus Program for 2008. In Russia, the local team used the DB2 on Campus materials in several universities to promote DB2 and pureXML.

We look forward to a successful DB2 on Campus Program in 2008!

Raul.

Lunch with DB2 launched

2007-11-16T16:22:00.001-08:00

I am both happy and proud to announce that our latest DB2 education effort -- "Lunch with DB2" -- has been launched today.

The "Lunch with DB2" series is an ongoing series of recorded screencasts that walk you through some of the fundamental aspects of DB2 setup, administration, maintenance, and application development. The series title "Lunch with DB2" springs from our idea that you can watch the screencast and replicate the lesson over a single lunch break.

The first episode is available (all episodes will be free of charge, of course!) from http://www.channeldb2.com. They are best watched using the "full screen" option, so that you get the entire 1024x768 resolution.

This first episode walks you a typical local installation of DB2 Express-C 9.5, explaining each of the panels as you go through the setup process.

In the coming weeks, we'll cover topics like:

Getting to know the Control Center
Exploring the Health Monitor
Learning the DB2 command line processor
Importing and exporting data
Running a backup and restore operation
Learn about DB2 pureXML

Our goal is to deliver at one episode per week, and feedback is always welcome! Send your comments to db2x@ca.ibm.com, or post them on the DB2 Express-C forum.

New DB2 Express-C 9.5 downloads are now available!

2007-10-31T15:09:00.000-07:00

DB2 Express-C 9.5 (formerly known as Viper2) is now available!

This is the next major release of DB2 and delivers new functionality as well as significant improvements from DB2 9.1.

You can download the new DB2 Express-C 9.5 images for free from the following links:

DB2 Express-C data server for Linux

DB2 Express-C data server for Windows

IBM Data Studio (new development and administration tooling for DB2 9.5)

DB2 9.5 Information Center online

DB2 9.5 Information Center local install image

DB2 9.5 Net Search Extender

DB2 9.5 National Language Package

DB2 9.5 Spatial Extender

If you are looking for more information to help you get started with DB2 9.5, here are some links to get you started:

Home page for DB2 9.5 Information Center

Get started doc in DB2 9.5 Information Center

And of course, we invite you to download DB2 Express-C 9.5 for free, try it out, and post your questions, comments, feedback, usage experience, etc. in the DB2 Express-C forum.

The DB2 Express-C download page will be updated in the next 2 days as we replace the DB2 9.1 downloads with the DB2 9.5 downloads, but you can access all the links in this post now to get the latest and greatest DB2 downloads.

Coming soon!: The DB2 on Campus Exam

2007-09-04T08:51:00.000-07:00

For many students, it is important to receive a certificate after attending a course, speech or event. With this in mind,we are working on a DB2 on Campus exam, where students can obtain a DB2 on Campus certificate after passing the exam. To prepare for the exam, students can attend one of the workshops offered as part of the DB2 on Campus program; they can also read a free online DB2 Express-C book (coming soon!). With this completion certificate, students will feel more confident to add "DB2" in their resumes.

In addition, a system is being developed to deliver this exam. The project name is OSOTS (Open Source Online Testing System), and has been approved as an open source project in Soureforge.net. Members of the DB2 community (from Argentina and Brazil) are working on the analysis and design phase, and we expect their design to be completed by October. The design will then be made available to anyone interested in developing the system. Some will develop it on PHP, others in Java, others in .NET, and so on. Once the system is developed it would be used as well to showcase a DB2 application!. In addition, the students and teachers participating in this project will be invited to write articles about the system and the different implementations. To participate in this (an other) projects, sign up to facebook.com, and take a look at this entry:

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=3000790461&topic=2753

The DB2 Express-C team will be feeding the system with questions, but in the future, this project may be extended so the system generates the questions by itself... but let's do this one step at a time!

Cheers! Raul.

DB2 on Campus update: Facebook.com & Latin american tour

2007-09-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

After a few weeks of vacation, I'm back with an update aboutDB2 Express-C and the DB2 on Campus program. First of all, if you have not seen it, check out how DB2 Express-C saves the world!:

http://www.devx.com/ibm/Article/34860
http://www.devx.com/ibm/Door/6836

We have also started a few months ago an online community for the DB2 on Campus program using facebook.com. Facebook.com is a social network popular amongst many universities worldwide. If you would like to join, follow these instructions:

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/dw_thread.jsp?forum=805&thread=165580&cat=19&message=13960847&treeDisplayType=threadModel#13960847

Through facebook.com I'm keeping the DB2 on Campus community informed about news and events. Students and teachers from each of the universities visited are invited to join. As of today there are 165 members who have signed up. Through facebook.com, I've posted a few projects where members can contribute on a voluntary basis. The most important one of these projects is the Online Exam System. I will post more information about it on a separate blog.

I also started in July a Latin American university tour reaching approximately 1200 students in 5 countries: Mexico, Peru,Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia.

In Mexico, I'm glad to report a good number of the students who are members of the DB2 user groups at UNITEC and UNAM passed their DB2 Certification Exam 730!. More information can be found here:
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/db2/express/students_news.html#8

In Peru I delivered a speech about DB2 at the IEEE Intercon 2007 conference in the city of Piura and provided a DB2 workshop. I also served as judge for one of their project competitions. In Lima I visited the University of Lima where students from several universities in Peru gathered to know more about DB2. I was pleased to hear after the speech and courses, that many students were motivated about trying out the product, and it is likely I will return for a course and other speeches early in December. The day of my speech at the Universityof Lima, a 7.9 earthquake hit several cities in Peru, and lasted more than 2 minutes. This was a very frightening experience, especially because it lasted for a very long time. I was told there were actually two or three big earthquakes one after the other, and that is why it looked like a never ending earthquake. Fortunately, the speech was over by the time the earthquake happened. The following days, there were many aftershocks of smaller magnitude. Two days after the earthquake, I travelled to several cities/universities in Brazil: Curitiba, Sao Carlos, Rio Claro, Campinas. It was a hectic tour with several speeches/courses per day and travel by car to the different cities. Overall it was a good Latin American tour, and I hope it repeats in the future.

Cheers, Raul.

P.S: I will be posting most of the university tour pictures in facebook.com