The Fix Is Built InThe Fix Is Built In

IBM has begun shipping a new release of its DB2 database and will ship an upgrade of its WebSphere application server this week. DB2 version 8 offers new federated data-management and autonomic computing capabilities, including a configuration adviser and tools that monitor a database's performance and give advice when problems develop.

Clarity Payment Solutions Inc., which provides debit card-processing services, has been testing DB2 version 8 and plans to upgrade to it in a few weeks. Management capabilities in the release let information systems director Tim Kuchlein change parameters, such as memory allocation, without shutting down the system. "For any 24-by-7 shop like us, being able to change things on the fly is good," he says.

DB2 Enterprise Server Edition is priced at $25,000 per CPU. A workgroup version is priced at $7,500 per CPU or $999 per server plus $249 per user.

WebSphere version 5 also has new autonomic computing features and supports the latest Java standards and Web services. It uses the same code base to run on multiple operating systems, including AIX, OS/390, and Solaris. WebSphere starts at $8,000.