Datasheet

with Windows NT. It took a couple of years before SQL Server really became a viable product. The SQL

Server team went to work to create a brand new database engine using the Sybase code as a model. They

eventually rewrote the product from scratch.

When SQL Server 7.0 was released in late 1998, it was a major departure from the previous version,

SQL Server 6.5. SQL Server 7.0 contained very little Sybase code with the exception of the core database

engine technology, which was still under license from Sybase. SQL Server 2000 was released in 2000

with many useful new features, but was essentially just an incremental upgrade of the 7.0 product. SQL

Server 2005, however, is a major upgrade and, some say, the very first completely Microsoft product.

Any vestiges of Sybase are long gone. The storage and retrieval engine has been completely rewritten,

the .NET Framework has been incorporated, and the product has significantly risen in both power and

scalability.

Oracle

Oracle is probably the most recognizable enterprise-class database product in the industry. After IBM’s

E.F. Codd published his original papers on the fundamental principles of relational data storage and

design in 1970, Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, went to work to build a product to apply those princi-

ples. Oracle has had a dominant place in the database market for quite some time with a comprehensive

suite of database tools and related solutions. Versions of Oracle run on UNIX, Linux, and Windows

Servers.

The query language of Oracle is known as Procedure Language/Structured Query Language (PL/SQL).

Indeed, many aspects of PL/SQL resemble a C-like procedural programming language. This is evidenced

by syntax such as command-line termination using semicolons. Unlike Transact-SQL, statements are not

actually executed until an explicit run command is issued (preceded with a single line containing a

period.) PL/SQL is particular about using data types and includes expressions for assigning values to

compatible column types.

IBM DB2

This is really where it all began. Relational databases and the SQL language were first conceptualized

and then implemented in IBM’s research department. Although IBM’s database products have been

around for a very long time, Oracle (then Relational Software) actually beat them to market. DB2

database professionals perceive the form of SQL used in this product to be purely ANSI SQL and other

dialects such as Microsoft’s T-SQL and Oracle’s PL-SQL to be more proprietary. Although DB2 has a long

history of running on System 390 mainframes and the AS/400, it is not just a legacy product. IBM has

effectively continued to breathe life into DB2 and it remains a viable database for modern business solu-

tions. DB2 runs on a variety of operating systems today including Windows, UNIX, and Linux.

Informix

This product had been a relatively strong force in the client/server database community, but its popular-

ity waned in the late 1990s. Originally designed for the UNIX platform, Informix is a serious enterprise

database. Popularity slipped over the past few years, as many applications built on Informix had to be

upgraded to contend with year 2000 compatibility issues. Some organizations moving to other platforms

(such as Linux and Windows) have also switched products. The 2001 acquisition of Informix nudged

Introducing Transact-SQL and Data Management Systems

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