©Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2001. All Rights Reserved.
Curt Cotner
DB2DD:
Curt, you are known as one of the leading architects for IBM DB2(r)
on z/OS(r) and OS/390(r). How did you get started?
Cotner:
I started in the IBM DB2 for OS/390 area as a developer for the
network component of the DB2 product. I worked on the Virtual
Telecommunications Access Method (VTAM(r)) network interface, the
network message formats and protocols that we use to flow SQL over
the network, and the DB2 server threading model that we use to
support requests from remote SQL clients. That assignment
eventually grew into a broader role involving the design and
implementation of all areas of the product that deal with
client/server and network computing. My responsibilities
included:
- Implementing TCP/IP inside the DB2 product
- Developing distributed 2-phase commit protocols
- Improving transaction pooling to support large numbers of remote SQL users with the smallest possible footprint
- Helping to drive the evolution of our client APIs for ODBC
- Driving the implementation of our support for Java" technology (JDBC, SQLJ, tight integration with WebSphere(r)).
DB2DD:
And what areas are you focusing on
today?
Cotner:
I'm currently the lead architect for the DB2 for
z/OS product, where I have two main focus areas: developing overall
DB2 for z/OS product plan and strategy, and driving the evolution
of our network computing strategy.
The DB2 for z/OS product is unique compared to a lot of other IBM software products. The technicians in DB2 for z/OS are responsible for establishing the DB2 product content and schedule for each new release of DB2. That makes the job very exciting for our designers and developers, because we have the opportunity to work closely with our leading customers and business partners to understand their top requirements and the way they see their businesses evolving. Once we have a picture of what’s needed, we lay out a technology roadmap that will satisfy those requirements.
Our main focus with respect to the network computing strategy is to make sure that DB2 for z/OS is a strong player in the Java space for J2EE transaction managers like WebSphere.
DB2DD:
It seems you are sharply focused on ensuring that DB2 on z/OS and
OS/390 continues to evolve with changing technology. Can you tell
us a bit about why customers are demanding that?
Cotner:
Certainly the Internet has had a profound influence. The Web is the
main driving force behind all the recent changes in customer
application development strategy.
During the client/server days, customers wrote applications that ran on the client system using tools like VisualBasic and PowerBuilder. It was costly to maintain these applications, because you ended up with application binaries that had to be deployed on each employee's PC. Most large organizations had a wide variety of client systems and client software configurations. It was very costly to manage all the permutations efficiently. And, every time an end user installed a new tool on their PC, there was the potential for conflict with existing client/server applications that were already installed on the machine.
With the Web as the central source, an application runs on a server and the client simply has to have a Web browser to access the application. This simplifies the application management problem for the customer enormously, since it frees the application from having to be tightly integrated with the client software configuration. The Web also makes it possible to execute applications from a much wider range of client hardware devices – laptops, PDAs, cell phones, etc.
DB2DD:
Curt, how is all this changing the way people work?
Cotner:
That’s one of the really exciting developments, and perhaps most
important of all. The Web makes it possible for the end user to run
an application without tying up valuable people and resources in a
customer's enterprise. This can significantly reduce the cost of
running business transactions. It's a major differentiator compared
to the old-style client/server applications. The client/server
applications were rarely executed by the end user. Instead, the
individual user had to call an 800 number to talk to somebody who
ran the client/server application on their behalf. Or, perhaps they
could access a voice/response unit to run the application. Today,
the Web allows our customers to eliminate this cost from their
business operations equation.
Added to this, we’ve seen the emergence of Java as a server side programming language. This is a very significant development. Java allows the user to write applications that are fully portable across both hardware platforms and operating systems. It gives the user tremendous flexibility in the selection of server hardware and software.
All these factors are causing enterprises all over the globe to consider reengineering significant portions of their core business applications. Some are rewriting entire core business systems in Java. The rest are building Java layers that interface to the existing core business systems. Virtually every customer I talk to is now engaged in one of these two activities.
DB2DD:
How significant is the combination of the Web and Java? And from
your vantage point, what are IBM’s initiatives in this
area?
Cotner:
The move to the Web and Java is a major paradigm shift. And its
significance cannot be overestimated. In the database world, the
vendor that does the best job of riding this wave will emerge as
the winner. In IBM, we're heavily engaged and sharply focused on
this task in the DB2 for z/OS product. We've got a number of
hardware and software initiatives that are aimed at trying to offer
a better solution for Java than the competition. Let me give you
some examples:
- We've invested a considerable amount of work in our Java
Virtual Machine (JVM) and Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler to optimize
the database column/variable processing so that we have minimal
path length moving data between DB2 and Java.
For example, our JIT is now able to recognize data conversion operations that are performed by our JDBC and SQLJ interfaces, and replace these conversion calls with inline assembly language instructions. We're seeing data conversion costs improve by up to 20 times with this approach. - We've hooked the SQLJ interface in Java directly into our static SQL package model so that Java users can have access to the same static SQL execution environment that we've used for CICS and IMS users for the past 20 years. This allows us to fully exploit our cost-based optimization technology during the application development stage, and then use the resulting DB2 package to minimize SQL execution costs during runtime.
- We're also coming out with hardware support in the 390 instruction set to minimize the cost of converting data between Unicode and ASCII or EBCDIC. This is one of the most expensive aspects of today's Java runtime, so hardware assists in this area will provide DB2 for z/OS with significant performance advantages compared to other solutions on the market.
Each of those initiatives will drive down the cost of processing Java transactions, which in turn improves the overall system throughput and scalability. Customers are going to need the same level of scalability and availability in these next-generation Java applications that they demanded in their existing core business systems. This is an area where zSeries and DB2 for z/OS traditionally has had an edge over other solutions. We intend to leverage our lead in scalability and availability to provide a best-of-breed Java transaction environment.
DB2DD:
DB2 has come a long way since you began your work. What changes
have you seen? Has anything about its evolution surprised
you?
Cotner:
I started working on DB2 in 1988. That was a point in DB2's history
where relational databases were primarily used for decision support
applications, since at that time they didn't have the performance
or scalability to meet the needs of very high volume On-Line
Transaction Processing (OLTP) applications.
I continue to be amazed by the increases in system performance that
DB2 has delivered since 1988. Workloads that two or three years ago
were considered to be pushing the limits of technology are easily
achievable today. I expect to be just as amazed with what the
improvements and enhancements to DB2 will enable us to accomplish
in the future.
DB2DD:
Is there one thing about DB2 for z/OS and OS/390 that you wish
everyone knew?
Cotner:
That's an easy one. I continue to come across people from time to
time who don't know that DB2 for z/OS is a great database server
for UNIX and Windows applications. For some reason, they seem to
think DB2 is only appropriate in scenarios where the application
program runs on z/OS or OS/390. Fortunately, there are not many
people who suffer from this misconception. We have a lot of
satisfied customers who use DB2 for z/OS to run UNIX and Windows
applications from leading ISV vendors like PeopleSoft, SAP, and
Siebel. And many of our WebSphere customers run their Java
workloads with WebSphere on UNIX or Windows using DB2 for z/OS as
the backend database server.
DB2DD:
Any closing thoughts on where you see the database industry
headed?
Cotner:
In my view, it’s pretty clear that the trends in XML and federated
data are going to have a major impact on the future direction of
the database industry. For example, we know customers are going to
use XML to knit all their data stores and transactions together.
That way business transactions can not only flow across their
enterprise but across boundaries to other enterprises. Also,
database products are going to start offering XML functionality
that is pushed down into to the database engine. Additionally, you
will see the database engines using federated database technology
to expose other data sources to this new XML functionality.
We also can expect to see continued effort to tightly integrate the
database managers with the J2EE transaction managers. We've done a
lot of work in this area already, but I think you'll see a number
of new initiatives in this area to further improve performance and
make the interface more robust.
DB2, IBM, OS/390, WebSphere and z/OS are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
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