Technology Undressed

Like a glass of fine Wine.....

2010-05-13T15:42:00.015-04:00

Or is it "like a fine glass of wine?" Either way the result should be well worth the wait(ahhh, the aging process.) As Joe Kozak fine tunes the debut of ANTs' "Big Brother" version of ACS, I find myself mesmerized as if watching a polished musician tuning his Stradivari. Each string is precisely tightened to perfection and then the next and the next.........Finally, when everything pleases the Maestro's ear the concert begins.

I have listened for years as the strings were adjusted. Sometimes the sound was anything but sweet as sharps and flats were blended into perfect harmony. But, as the concert approaches, restlessness is in the air. Will this be a solo performance?? Or will the tune be so sweet that a larger orchestra is compelled to add it to their venue?? I guess only time will be the discloser of that information.

In the mean time the tech merger market is heating up. This couldn't be evidenced any clearer than the announcement yesterday of SAP purchasing Sybase....for cash. With large cash positions on their books and huge egos in their personalities, CEOs of the major players are beginning to aim their sites on the future of data usage. Seldom do they exhibit a sense of "how can I keep up?", but a teeth clinching "how do I kill the competition?" That is the major motivation these powerful executives live and die by.

This excitement in the tech industry plays right into the above mentioned "debut" of ANTs' newest ACS product. Listen to the replay of the shareholders webcast of March 17th to understand Joe Kozak's excitement over what the coming months have to offer. The list of participants in this presentation is impressive as they explain the need for and availability of the next ACS product. Never have I felt better about the timing of database consolidation and the tools to implement the ability for one database to communicate with another.

It has been a long wait, but you know.....

I think I'll "stay tuned"!

~~David~~

Slowly, just like a tsunami

2010-03-24T15:55:00.010-04:00

Sometimes you just don't see it coming!!!

I haven't posted on this blog in a long, long time. Probably just lazy, but I could come up with some really good excuses if I was pushed. In our little ANTs Software community things have been happening at a pace that is more than frustrating to watch. We hear about a "Big Brother", but we can't meantion names. We hear about roll outs, but we can't say when or what. We see trading volume increase many fold, but see no movement (up or down) of any significance in the stock price. I have considered pounding my head against a wall to see if that would help, but it might wake me up and then what?

Well....Thank you Joe and company!!! For the announcement of a major funding investment by Fletcher Asset Management, Inc. And for a very informative presentation last week about the coming events that may, and I stress may, just help get ANTs over the proverbial hump.

My hope is that the high praise ANTs ACS received during the presentation from the two IBM Fellows present, Don Haderle (aka the father of DB2) and Curt Cotner (CTO of DB2 Product Family, IBM Corporation), turns out to be a modest representation of reality. Being in the right place at the right time is the dream of every small business.

Is ANTs there???

As I quote from Joe Kozak , "Stay tuned."

I think it's time to like what I am now seeing.

If you haven't viewed the presentation, you need to......

~~~~~GO ANTS!!~~~~~

~~David~~

It's spring and I am growing mossy......

2009-03-26T11:42:00.004-04:00

Well, I think I am finally getting over the winter blues or is it blahs. The moss is starting to grow again and I think life must ultimately get better. With the venture capitalists hanging on to their money, like everyone else, I guess the small start-up companies will have to grow by themselves for a while. It will be interesting to see the impact all this gloom and doom will have on technological advancements. My fear is that innovation will suffer because only the big players will have the financial clout to fund meaningful(whatever that means) research. True innovation most often comes from the most ridiculous sounding ideas. It takes a dreamer, an out of the box thinker to produce the aberrant seeds necessary for true innovation. But alas, they are usually not wealthy(only dream of wealth) and leave the finances to others(often to their detriment.)

I was speaking with a friend of mine a few days ago, who (along with a cohort) is in the process of developing an innovative electronic circuit to control an electronic process. I was astounded when told the cost to produce a trial circuit board just to demonstrate that the product works. Then if the circuit needs minor tweaking, here you go again. The average guy is at a terrific disadvantage because of these costs to production, ignoring the cost of production.They are forced to go to companies that have the resources to develop the process, fearful of having their idea stolen or worst yet ignored. So as money tightens, innovation I'm afraid will suffer.

But....... it's spring and time for things to flourish. There are many technology conferences and workshops either ongoing or scheduled. Time for all of us to get out, explore and smell the roses. I would love to have the time to go to some of these far away places and participate in the technology introductions that occur, but the reality of it is that I wouldn't understand most of what I saw or heard anyway. So if I could just see a few good posts about innovative ideas that are relevant to the tech industry I would consider this post a success. Maybe even some financing solutions for small companies or individual inventors. Remember, a tree begins as just a seed. (And so does my moss.)

~~david~~

Under the ANTs Hill

2008-11-14T15:07:00.004-05:00

This market has sure taken the wind out of my sail. With all the gloom and doom I find myself just sit around wondering, "What is going on here??" Then something brings me back to reality and I have to go back to work. That is when I realize that life is still progressing, regardless of what the pundits on TV are espousing. So I guess the technology industry must be doing the same. Technology goes on too.

It brings back memories of accidentally stepping on ant hill as a child. The hill looked so calm on top with only a few of the little critters moving around. There it stood, just a small pile of dirt not hurting anyone. Then something just doesn't feel right. There is a creepy crawling on your leg, then the stinging and you look down to discover that you have stepped into the middle of that CALM hill. Underneath that calm facade is found a fury of work and excitement. Every critter has a job and is busy doing what they know to do even if you couldn't see them working before the interruption.

Wish I could undress our little ANTs Hill and see them working. Sure has me wondering.

~~David~~

The Big Bailout - Here's an Idea

2008-10-01T15:15:00.001-04:00

Munch on this idea for fun--and forward to your representatives:

TechKnowBabble: The Big Bailout - Here's an Idea

Heaven forbid that the government should give up control of $85 billion....

--Roberta

Smart Objects

2008-09-21T22:17:00.002-04:00

Another step in connecting objects, Cisco is forming an alliance that will connect objects to the Internet. Called the "net of objects", this step will create a smart environment. Let's hope the efficiency of this smart environment doesn't come with too big of a price.

Bob

IMB Breakthrough on Cost for Cloud Computing

2008-09-16T22:15:00.004-04:00

IBM continues to try to promote the Cloud Computing concept by lowering the cost of storage for VM. The Virtual Desktop moves closer to being economical. However, security in storage of information remains a sticking point before wide spread adoption of the technology.

Sybase, Crybase-- or Crybaby?

2008-09-09T15:41:00.008-04:00

What does the playgound bully do when some little kid walks away with marbles fairly won?

Kick sand.

What does a big database company (think Sybase) do when some whizbang technology company (ANTs Software) has a proprietary compatibility server that can, say, easily roll the data marbles from Sybase to Oracle?

Or from Sybase to another database competitor?

Do they try to work with ANTS to develop a Sybase to Oracle or Sybase to IBM marble shooter?

Nah!

They would rather kick up some legal sand, perhaps hoping it might distract ANTS, the marble mover. The lawsuit whines about former ANTS employees who went over to Sybase and were subsequently offered higher compensation by another employer.

If you would like a copy of the lawsuit, just email me @ Roberta (at) SanDiegoPreviews.com

And for additional juicy reading about the database company that is losing its marbles, read David Ott's:

Whodo-Voodoo

--Roberta Murphy

Nothing Going On But Work Stuff....

2008-09-05T09:13:00.003-04:00

And that keeps going on and on and on.....Waiting on the hurricanes to get out of town and cooler weather to give me a little more time. Then I hope to undress some more technology. I welcome others to help with the undressing though. If you have something that fascinates you and you are willing to share it with us, just let me know.

~~David~~

May I have this dance?

2008-08-15T08:13:00.011-04:00

Looks as if there's a new partner in town. I see that ANTS Software is now listed on the MySQL website as a gold partner. The listing may have been there for a while, but I just noticed it today.

A quote from this ANTs listing, "ACS accelerates database migration to MySQL while enabling portability for legacy application", sounds as if the migration to MySQL is as easy as the migration from Sybase to Oracle. Let's see now, that's Sybase to Oracle, Oracle to MySQL, MySQL to IBM, IBM to ...... I believe the dance floor is getting a bit crowded. Brings to mind the lyrics of an old song I used to like, "save the last dance for me."

One other tidbit that makes me go hummmm. This posting, also from the ANTs listing at MySQL,

Products for MySQL from ANTs Software

ANTs Compatibility Server
The ANTs Compatibility Server is a middleware solution which allows server side code (queries, functions, and stored procedures) from legacy databases to run natively and transparently against the MySQL database with little-to-no application rewrite.

reads "products." Are there currently "products" from ***** to MySQL? (Use the database of your choice.)

Reading about this MySQL /ANTs partnership just makes the musings in my prior post all the more interesting and plausible.

ANTs in an open source format dancing with MySQL.

And the beat goes on!

~~David~~

Thousands (or Millions) of Programmers Needed!!!

2008-08-12T14:24:00.012-04:00

I wonder if this ad could possibly be in the future for ANTs.

After reading the Sun Micro press release regarding their purchase of MySQL, I can't help but ponder the idea of an Open Source business model for ANTs. I must admit that I don't understand the intricacies of the open source income engine, giving away your product to make money, but I have been trying to get up to speed on how that might be profitable for ANTs.

One thing I do understand about Open Source is that Marten Mickos, CEO of MySQL has made a ton of money giving away MySQL . According to the Sun Micro press release at the time of their purchasing MySQL, "More than 100 million copies of MySQL's high-performance open source database software have been downloaded and distributed and an additional 50,000 copies are downloaded daily." I suspect that being given away is not the "big secret" in the MySQL story, but its success was a result of being a product in great demand with superior support. That, in turn, lead to widespread acceptability and use in the open source community. The new and disruptive characteristics of the ACS would surely attract the curiosity of the open source community as well. Then, with stellar support from ANTs, added functionality provided by this hoard of zealous developers and sufficient demand by large enterprise users the open source business model could be put to the test yet again.

In a MIT Sloan Management Review article that I found very interesting, Mr Mickos gives insight into how the open source model has worked for MySQL . Part of the secret is to have 12 Million programmers that require no salaries, no benefits, no work spaces and no tax liabilities.... All working on YOUR product and bragging about it.. What an employers Nirvana.

And as if the success of MySQL wasn't enough, Mr Mickos has now orchestrated the sale of his $50 million per year open source company for almost $1 Billion. My bet is that with the ACS in it's quiver, MySQL would have one heck of a value proposition to offer the 100's of thousands of existing applications sitting on proprietary databases costing customers millions in support each year. Seems to me that Sun Micro will certainly recognize the fit that the ACS has with MySQL in accelerating this migration of there competitor's databases onto MySQL. Oracle certainly has recognized the speed, ease and reliability of the ACS in moving Sybase applications to Oracle. So?? Open source or not....

Maybe Marten Mickos can give ANTs a hint at how the ACS can be given away and money be made in the process. But then again, maybe Oracle doesn't want that to happen. Either way, I will enjoy being part of a win win combination.

Enough babbling from me, tell me where I'm wrong.......if I'm wrong.

~~David~~

AT&T, IBM speed-up the move to Cloud Computing

2008-08-06T19:43:00.003-04:00

Cloud computing has not yet been fully defined (though Dell has tried to trademark the phrase). However, by moving information from a data center into a "cloud" from where you draw the info and programs you want continues to move ahead. Though, with the economy soft, some might delay this move, it does appear that more companies will move to the "software on demand" structure.

Verizon to Thunder on i-Phone's Parade?

2008-08-06T09:52:00.004-04:00

I recently attended Inman Connect in San Francisco. One of the speakers onstage at the Palace Hotel tried to pull something up on his new 3G Apple i-Phone, but had no service.

Frustrated, he lamented AT&T's poor service and compared the i-Phone to a Lambborghini running on a VW engine--and I joined the audience applause.

Why Apple tied its flagship phone to a carrier with such spotty coverage (unless you are traveling abroad) escapes me. I can't even reach a close friend just 3 miles away in Carlsbad, CA on her AT&T cell because it is outside its coverage area.

I love Apple and its products. This article is being written on an i-Mac and I lust after the 3G i-Phone, but stick with Verizon for cell service because of its unbeatable coverage. Being out of range for calls just doesn't work well for a San Diego Realtor.

It's a painful choice: Go with Apple and suffer AT&T's spotty coverage areas, or stick with Verizon and my trusted Blackberry and not have to worry about lack of service?

For professional reasons, there is no alternative but to stay with Verizon--but there may be hope on the horizon--or at least by the third quarter of this year. Research in Motion (RIMM) is coming out with the new Thunder Blackberry that will be carried exclusively by Verizon and Vodaphone.

With just four clicking keys, this black beauty will run on 3G EV-DO Rev. C as well as GSM HSPA for international use. This will apparently allow the Blackberry Thunder to operate in any country with 3G or better internet access. There are rumors that the Thunder may even be faster than the i-Phone for downloads.

Where there's thunder, there's lightning--and there may be some fireworks in the telecom biz to watch at year's end. If Research in Motion's Blackberry Thunder is as slick as I think it is, we'll probably contract with Verizon for another two years.

--Roberta Murphy

Google isn't Cuil.....

2008-07-28T15:23:00.004-04:00

"Anna Patterson's last Internet search engine was so impressive that industry leader Google Inc. bought the technology in 2004 to upgrade its own system.

She believes her latest invention is even more valuable — only this time it's not for sale.

Ms. Patterson instead intends to upstage Google, which she quit in 2006 to develop a more comprehensive and efficient way to scour the Internet."

Looks as if the only thing that stays the same these days is change. But this may be a "CUIL" change. I sure like the name of the search engine better than some of the other "dogdroppings" that are out there. $33 Million from the Venture Capitalists is a nice pile of chips to have at your disposal also. I wonder what it will take to get ANTs listed on their first page??

Well, looks like another challenge for recognition in the undressing of the internet.

~David~

Big Dog at Work

2008-07-28T00:04:00.003-04:00

Boston Dynamics has developed a quadruped robot that can walk, run, climb steep terrain, plod through deep snow and handle the most slippery conditions.

It can also carry about a 340-pound payload.

When I watched the video, I wasn't sure whether I was viewing a buzzing insect, a long-legged and faceless critter--or perhaps a couple of human contortionists in robot drag.

Watch this video and decide for yourself!

--Roberta Murphy

Thanks....

2008-07-22T10:12:00.002-04:00

Thanks Bob, Spiderman and Roberta for the interesting posts. I have been very busy with life stuff and my real job of late, but I have a thought I am working on. I will try to get it in writing and posted soon. In the mean time keep up the good work. I appreciate it.

~David~

Nano Data Boxes (Peer to Peer to the Rescue?)

2008-07-16T21:02:00.004-04:00

The internet was created for a limited use which then became commercial. As the original structure has become over burdened, ways are being reviewed to create a more robost environment. One such review is being taken by the Europeans using Peer to Peer boxes rather than a centralized system.

From the acticle:

" The NADA project is convincing enough to have attracted some of Europe's largest telecommunications companies. Set top box manufacturer, Thomson SA, and European ISP, Telefonica, are among nine contributing partners to the NADA project.
"Telefonica is a key partner and they are running a trial video service to deliver TV, educational videos etc with a Peer-to-Peer client from inside their cloud, and it's been very successful. And we have Thomson SA, one of the largest set top box manufacturers in the world, so they can clearly see the benefits," Dr Ott said. "

But Copyright holders may have something to say about a system that has no central location to determine if the information being passed is being passed legally.

Database Technology Biz and Buzz

2008-07-15T23:54:00.006-04:00

As a San Diego Realtor I follow real estate market conditions closely, cringe at the IndyMac closure, growl at Countrywide and Angelo Mozillo's excesses, and bitch incessantly about my own database compatibility problems.

But that is all mostly beside the point.

Stumbling around blogs and net bits this evening, I discovered an interesting read by Craig S. Mullins with a yawningly boring title: The Database Report – July 2008. (Those who consider me an interesting person might begin to re-evaluate that assessment for even tripping across something with a title like that.)

Buried within, though, are some interesting tidbits unearthed by author Craig Mullins:

1. The Most Influential People in IT?

In early April, eWeek Magazine published a list of the 100 people with the most influence on IT. At the top of that list was Oracle’s savvy CEO, Larry Ellison. He was slotted in at number one for his “plans to roll up the enterprise applications space” and for managing “to cement (Oracle’s) status as one of the world’s most important applications and middleware vendors.”

The only other interesting person on the list from the perspective of the database industry was at number twenty five, Henning Kagermann, Co-CEO of SAP.

2. MySQL Causing a Commotion in the Open Source Community (uh oh)

MySQL’s plans to provide certain features only to paying customers caused somewhat of a dustup in the open source community.

In early April, officials at Sun Microsystems (which acquired MySQL last quarter), confirmed that new online backup capabilities will be offered only to MySQL Enterprise customers. Predictably, this set the open source community and blogosphere on fire with anger and speculation. This is interesting news for the open source community because it makes it appear that MySQL is moving away from a true open source model to a proprietary model.

3. Our local favorite (at least until some other tech-savvy bloggers chime in;-). is ANTS Software, which Mullins noted as being in acquisition mode when it acquired
Inventa Technologies and sold its ANTS data server to Four J's (this under the helm of ANTS CEO Joe Kozak, below).

According to Mullins:

So ANTs is now out of the database server business, and Four J’s is in. So what does that mean for ANTs? ANTs will focus on its ANTs Compatibility Server. The ANTs Compatibility Server allows application code – queries, stored procedures and functions – from legacy databases to run natively and transparently against a new database with minimal or no modification or rewriting required. The acquisition of Inventa brings additional experienced professional services to the fold to deploy its Compatibility Server offerings.

--Roberta Murphy

Patchwork

2008-07-13T11:13:00.004-04:00

An accidental finding forces the internet giants to a large scale patch. It may be time to work on Internet 2.0 before Web 2.0.

Bob

Texas Tea Sippers or All-Electric

2008-07-12T14:43:00.006-04:00

I'll take either, how about you?

We can send people to space and have them live in space stations for months, build robotic picture takers that land on Mars millions of miles away, but we can't find alternative energy solutions other than than the black gold or Texas Tea.

Who's kidding whom on this one? The Tesla looks like a green dream.

--Spiderman

Does The Holy Grail of Database Consolidation Really Exist?

2008-07-12T07:52:00.011-04:00

Joshua Greenbaum asks: Should You Consolidate Your Database? According to Mr. Greenbaum's recent article he notes: "Or, you can try to actually do a business-level consolidation, which up until recently would have involved a massive, brute-force effort to reconcile an enormous set of complexities that typically exist between different database instances. That brute force effort is so brutal, and requires so much force, that – guess what – virtually no one has ever tried it. "

"I say virtually because I leave open the possibility that it has been done on a small scale, or in some benighted corner of the IT universe. But I’ve been looking for an example of this kind of deep business-level consolidation, and every time I’ve scratched the surface of a database consolidation project what I’ve come up with is something far short of “far enough.”

Maybe Mr. Joshua Greenbuam should contact Joe Kozak and the staff at ANTs Software and ask them if the Holy Grail for database consolidation really does exist?

Here's the bio on Joshua Greenbaum: http://www.eaconsult.com/bio.html

Joshua Greenbaum has over 25 years of experience in the industry as a computer programmer, systems analyst, author, consultant, and industry analyst. He spent three years in Europe as an industry analyst and as European correspondent for Information Week and other industry publications. In his role as an industry analyst, Josh regularly consults with leading public and private enterprise software, database, and infrastructure companies, and advises end-users on technology infrastructure and applications selection, development, and implementation issues.
An award-winning columnist, Josh is widely quoted in the trade and business press, blogs on ZDNet, and is a regular columnist for Managing Automation, Datamation.com, NetWeaver Magazine, and Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

"Unchain My Database"

2008-07-11T08:31:00.007-04:00

If I was an ad executive which I'm not and ANTs Software approached me to write an ad. It would go like this:

"Unchain my Database"

Are you tired of the handcuffs and shackles that confine your DB environment? Is your IT budget bursting at the seems and costing your company millions of dollars in additional license and maintenance fees year after year? Wouldn't you like to consolidate your data and reduce the complexity and dependency from the companies who seem to be holding you hostage? Do you dream of an easier and painless way to migrate and consolidate your data while saving millions of dollars in the process? Look no further, The ANTs Compatibility Server is a middleware solution which allows server side code (queries, functions, and stored procedures) from legacy databases to run natively and transparently against the Oracle database with little-to-no application rewrite. Deploy the ANTs Compatibility Server today and achieve Database Independence tomorrow. Remember ACS = DBI

A Free MIT Education?

2008-07-11T00:19:00.005-04:00

This tidbit of information is too rich not to share: A Free MIT Education--and is a tip that I believe originally came from our soon-to-emerge technology blogger Bob Nagel.

Thanks to a web-based electronic publishing initiative, a rich opportunity from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is being generously funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and MIT with support of the Ab Initio software firm.

It is an educational opportunity-of-a-lifetime for self-learners and those gifted with spare time and curiosity. There are currently something like 1500 courses available, ranging from engineering (of course) to foreign languages, philosophy, history, urban and women studies--and special offerings from the Sloan School of Management.

How does it work?

It is a publication of MIT course materials that do not require any registration, attendance or homework. You're on your own and work at your own pace. No degrees or certifications are granted, nor is there access to the MIT faculty.

The cost? Free.

The benefit? Priceless.

From: Luxury Home Digest

--Roberta Murphy

Whodo ......Voodoo?

2008-07-09T20:18:00.018-04:00

I bet if John Chen at Sybase thought it would help, he would buy a CD of eerie music and a voodoo doll with Joe Kozak's name on it. Then every few hours he could crank up the music and stick a few pins in the doll in hopes of transferring some of the pain he is feeling from the ACS, Sybase to Oracle, database compatibility server. Soon though, there may be even more pain as ANTs Software works on a Sybase to IBM version. Sybase has at least had the foresight to partner with ANTs on a Microsoft to Sybase server, but how far off is the request from Old Softy for a Sybase to Microsoft killer punch. Sounds like everyone may be picking on the little kid on the block.

Now if I remember correctly, Bill Gates was not the starting linebacker on his college football team. Like many success stories in the business world , if not most of the success stories, brains more often that not outperform brawn . There may be a few exceptions, but my bet is that in the computer industry those exceptions are rare indeed. So what does little Sybase do in the face of these behemoths who are trying to kick sand in their face?

SIMPLY PUT, they have to out think and out react them.

Since I am not employed by any of these companies, just a very interested bystander, I really don't have enough information to do anything but speculate on any viable solutions for Sybase's pickle. A few solutions that might be considered are for Sybase to:

Buy ANTs and take the threatening servers off the market. To work this needs to be done quickly before there are multiple contracts already in place that must be honored. Also, this strategy may result in a bidding war.

Get to work post haste on "whoever" to Sybase servers. Then out maneuver and under price the big guys. The big guys may have clout and might, but they are slow and inflexible.

Allow ANTs to acquire them (Sybase) and then ANTs can have meaningful discussion with SAP or one of the "other" suitors that would follow. Makes me drool to think about it.

Get out of the database business. I don't think this is a realistic solution, but it may be the only one left if Sybase is too slow getting to the dance floor.

What would Yoodoo if it was your decision?? Comments welcomed......

~David Ott~

Sounds Like Greek to Me... Translator Please~~~~~~~

2008-07-08T16:06:00.013-04:00

Does anyone speak MY language??

One of the most difficult obstacles in database consolidation is getting the opposing cultures to recognize each others languages and customs. Not only do the databases have nuances, but the companies that design and produce them are cultural misfits to each other. Oracle is different vs Sybase is different vs IBM is different vs Microsoft is different vs etc......You get my drift.

Now, if one's responsibility was to deal with a multilingual, multicultural group in an environment that is mistake intolerant; the second best solution (the best solution would be to personally speak the language and practice the customs of each group to perfection) would be having available a single entity who could perform all of those needs for you and immediately communicate back to you. In the personal arena I guess that entity would be referred to as a translator or multiple translators in most cases...

In the database arena that entity would be referred to as ANTs Software and the middleware would be referred to as database consolidation software. As large enterprizes seek cost reductions in their data handling structure, database consolidation is the one of the promising areas that will immediately impact the bottom line, with the added advantage of helping to alleviate the database cultural shock quandry faced by many conglomerates due to the merger and aquisition era.

It still sounds like Greek to me, but at least I now have a great database translator...........

David Ott