New DB2 Aims To Manage Data Across A BusinessNew DB2 Aims To Manage Data Across A Business

Data management is no longer simply a case of managing information in a centralized database. This week, IBM is releasing for testing its DB2 Information Integrator software, which provides access to data scattered across disparate sources throughout a company. The software is expected to be generally available around midyear.

"We believe the next battleground between the data-management [software] vendors is going to be around this notion of managing across an enterprise," says Nelson Mattos, IBM's information integration director.

Users increasingly need to access data and other content such as documents and images stored in multiple heterogeneous sources. DB2 Information Integrator provides users with a consolidated view of that scattered information or collects the data and puts it in a single data store--all in real time, according to IBM. The product can even retrieve data from competing databases from Oracle and Microsoft using XML, Web services, and other industry-standard interfaces.

IBM sees DB2 Information Integrator as the third generation of its data-integration products that include Data Joiner (1995), for linking relational data, and Enterprise Information Portal (1998), which gives users access to data and unstructured content. The new software will round out IBM's DB2 line, which includes the database and IBM Content Manager.