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Conference ulysse::rdb_vms_competition

Title:DEC Rdb against the World
Moderator:HERON::GODFRIND
Created:Fri Jun 12 1987
Last Modified:Thu Feb 23 1995
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1348
Total number of notes:5438

1020.0. "MEIKO Hot Box" by MALLET::MATTHEWS () Tue Oct 29 1991 19:09

 Hi,

 I am currently trying to sell a couple of VAX 6410 to 6510 upgrades
 to a customer over here in the UK. The main application revolves
 around an Oracle database. The customer is keen to upgrade but
 has been put off by the increased license costs that Oracle are
 going to charge. The cost for upgrading the two systems is roughly
 150 k sterling.

 Understandably the customer is looking at cheaper alternative solutions.
 He has acome across a product called the Meiko Relational Datacache
 VAX Accelerator. To summarise the product :-

 BI Hardware attachment
 SPARC Based
 Transparency - No need for code change or recompilation
 Scalable
 Upgradable
 Managed from the VAX
 Unix migration path.

 Some of the above comments are from the literature that I have about the
 product.

 Has anyone come accross the product before ?? Does anyone have any good
 knock off points against it, other than the normal FUD ones. One
 point I would look at is the BI as a bottle neck.. I am really looking
 for some good technical knock offs.

 One important point about this product is that it is cheaper in terms
 of Oracle licensing. The hardware costs roughly 50k sterling.


 Thanks and Regards.

 Kevin Matthews
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1020.133018::KOCHIt never hurts to ask...Thu Oct 31 1991 23:595
    There have been many notes regarding ORACLE to Rdb conversion. Is it
    possible to convince the customer to bite the bullet and convert? The
    TRIM tools will give his programmers an ORACLE-like development
    environment and the benefits of the free Rdb Run-time license...
    
1020.2If only .....MALLET::MATTHEWSFri Nov 01 1991 15:1615
 Well,

 Unfotunately its easier said than done. The customer I am talking
 about is an electricity utility . About 12-18 months ago the electricity
 industry was privatised by the government. As part of the privatisation
 process, new applications were created to allow for the new working
 environment. The major application is based on Oracle and a VAX,
 DECnet environment. All of the electricity companies in the UK
 use this package, so as you can see it would be very difficult for
 one company to declare UDI and do his own thing.


 Sooo anyone come accross this MEIKO product before ?? 

 Kevin
1020.3Q: Computing-plane architecture with SPARC?JENEVR::RLEEWed Nov 06 1991 15:4628
    I'm curious too...

    MEIKO used to produce an accelerator for graphics visualization based
    on the INMOS transputer.  If you get anymore competitive mktg data -
    please post it in a reply to your note.

    Rough guess is that it might be a parallel processor architecture based
    on their "computing plane" algorithms - but using SPARC processors
    instead.

    Generally, such an architecture is really fast at Content Based
    Retrieval - as opposed to relational database data caching.  The
    software would produce a single query - farm it out to all of the slave
    processors - and wait for the first one to reply with a match - where
    each processor either owns a patch of memory mapped to disk or memory
    mapped to main processor memory.

    A possible counter-bid from us would be the MASPAR/DECstation 5000
    combo - DECmpp 12000 series - using custom ULTRIX software from Third
    Eye Software, Inc, Menlo Park, CA.  Downside - it isn't VMS.

    Either way - I doubt that Rdb/VMS can interface directly with such a
    device without substantial DBS engineering involvement.  What they
    might be planning on doing is using the Oracle parallel processing
    server code developed for the nCube machine test to drive their
    parallel processing engine.

    My 2 cents worth ... /bob lee/
1020.4I can see them from here...FILTON::BIRCHHas anyone seen the goalposts....?Thu Nov 07 1991 14:4217
    Kevin,
    
    Meiko are based in Bristol just across the road from the DEC office.
    The CSO group in Bristol used to look after them; try giving their
    manager Steve Davies (who now manages both Basingstoke and Bristol) a
    call to see if he can put you in touch with the account manager.
    
    The only contact I have had with this device is that a big VAX/Oracle
    user in Swindon looked at it briefly and decided against it in favour
    of a client server Sequent VAX approach. they couldn'\t make that work
    so they  so they stuck with VAX, which, given ourrecent announcements,
    looks to have been a smart move.
    
    HTH
    Cheers
    
    PDB