• Book Review: The New Data Imperative: Managing Real-Time Risk In Capital Markets (Preview here)
  A Preview of "The New Data Imperative: Managing Real-Time Risk In Capital Markets"

  ISUG Technical Journal takes a look at a new book by Dr. Raj Nathan, Irfan Khan & Sinan Baskan published by Easton Studio Press. This 128 page volume has been well received by industry pundits and press alike and is available now. The following pages features abstracts, extracts and external reviews of this already very successful book.

  Sybase's Ubiquity In Financial Markets
  Anyone who had any exposure to the digitization of the dealing room that took place in the early to mid-1990s will know that whatever data distribution was implemented, the ubiquitous Sybase database was almost certain to make an appearance somewhere in the set-up. Indeed, broader IT industry commentators have often marvelled at the way Sybase seemed to 'own' the financial real-time database environment, while other industries came down in favour of arch-rival Oracle and upstarts like SQL Server.

  Sybase's financial markets ubiquity may have faded somewhat since those heady days. But this new book from a team of Sybase executives outlines a blueprint for how it aims to resurrect that ubiquity in the area of enterprise risk management. The authors argue that a holistic view of risk data will be required as the financial marketplace comes under increased regulatory scrutiny and that a proactive approach to data management is the only way of achieving that holistic view of all risk types across the enterprise.

  The New Data Imperative explores many of the themes that the authors discussed in a recent white paper. It points out that the traditional silobased approach to managing trading and investment businesses have translated into silo-based approaches to data management, which in turn tripped up many major firms as they attempted to gauge their risk exposures. It argues that risk managers of the future will need access to real-time views of risk if they are to succeed in truly managing rather than merely measuring the post-event of the firmâs risk situation. It provides some suggestions on how to conquer the risk data challenge without completely rewriting the book, as it were, on legacy systems.

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• Bill Grant: The Issues With Running Databases In A Virtualized Environment (Preview here)
  A Preview of "The Issues With Running Databases In A Virtualized Environment"

  SELECT RANDOM (STUFF) FROM SYBASE

  Bill Grant is the Founder and Principal of Nautilus Consulting Group, a consultancy devoted to Business Intelligence and Data Architecture. He has been a Sybase devotee for over 15 years.

  Traditionally, database servers for significant applications have been given dedicated machines with configurations aimed at supporting the database. Compromises in configuration are generally those surrounding enterprise storage and the associated disaster recovery schemes. More recently, significant moves toward virtualization in the data center are occurring. The goals of reducing Size, Weight and Power (SWAP) are part of both "green" and cost reduction initiatives. There are also potential savings to be made in system administration. Finally, virtualization can be a great enabler for disaster recovery and bare metal restore.

  While large, mission critical databases (e.g. large corporate OLTP and near real time applications) are still given dedicated machines, increasingly, database servers are being asked to live in the virtualized world. The balance of this article is devoted to examining some of the issues and potential pitfalls that can present themselves in these scenarios.

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• Paul Vero: An ASE ODBC Driver On Linux (Preview here)
  A Preview of "An ASE ODBC Driver On Linux"

  Sybase beta released its first ASE ODBC Driver in 2003, on the Windows platform. Then in early 2004 a beta was released on the Linux platform, specifically for Red Hat (AS/WS 2.1, 3.0 and Red Hat Linux 7.1). I've supported ASE connectivity products for Sybase for over 10 years and when the Windows driver was released I was psyched. To see the Linux driver release, I was amazed!

  Now I'm mainly a Windows kind of guy, so Linux is a relatively new operating system for me to work with. I've had some UNIX experience, mainly with Solaris, so getting to work with Linux was exciting for me. For one thing, it means I donât always have to bow to the Windows mantra.

  Why a Linux driver then? It boils down to the use of the ODBC API. ODBC enables the ability to write portable code to access various databases and, if the driver is available, to execute that code on different platforms. In this case, you can write C/C++ ODBC code in a generic fashion, run it on your Windows machine and if the need arises, port the code to Linux. Nothing prevents you from using the same code to access another vendor's database. In fact, ODBC gives you the power to access all of your data. If you love writing code that accesses and manipulates data, you're in the right place.

  With the advent of Linux popularity and the ability to use an API that can access an assortment of database management systems, the ASE ODBC driver arguably fits pretty well into the paradigm. The first beta program for Linux was released in January 2004 as version 12.5.1 and the GA version was released in the SDK 12.5.1 ESD#4 in August 2004, version 12.5.1.333. The 64-bit version was released in 2006 in the Linux SDK 15.0; this was a nice opportunity for C/C++ writers to have a go with this technology and play with some ODBC code programming.

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• Oscar Tobar: PowerBuilder en el Campus Party Colombia 2009 (Preview here)
  A Preview of "PowerBuilder en el Campus Party Colombia 2009"

  Primero que todo quiero contar que es el campus party para todos aquellos que no lo han vivido. El campus es un evento donde se reúnen en tres grandes hangares miles de personas interesadas en tecnología (mooding, programación, gamers, software libre, astronomia, mac, diseño, etc) allí a todos los asistentes nos garantizan un puesto de trabajo con conexión eléctrica y una super conexión a internet, para que cada uno lleve su computador y se conecte con los demás!

  Yo particularmente iba a encontrarme con mas programadores de powerbuilder, para intercambiar código, y experiencias, y encontré adicionalmente mucha mas información de otras áreas. Todos los días (el Campus dura 5 días) habían conferencias programadas durante todo el día, y muchas veces después de las conferencias oficiales (después de las 10pm) habían voluntarios que dictaban conferencias, en la madrugada. Olvidaba decir que dentro del campus es posible alojarse en camping dentro de unos hangares especiales, acondicionados con baños y duchas para los asistentes que desean quedarse durante los 5 días, además por un pago adicional tienen derecho a desayuno, almuerzo y comida.

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• Review: Essential PowerBuilder Series: Online Training For Sybase PowerBuilder 11.5
• Jeff Garbus: Planning Your Migration To ASE 15 – Tips And Tricks (Preview here)
  A Preview of "Planning Your Migration To ASE 15 – Tips And Tricks"

  The sun is setting on Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) 12.5. By the end of 2009, if you call Sybase technical support on an ASE 12.5.x issue, they're going to laugh at you. Well, not really. But you'll certainly get a lecture about keeping your software up to date.

  There are many great reasons to go to ASE 15 sooner rather than later (a rewritten optimizer and semantic partitioning to mention just two), so here weâre going to talk about how to get there from 12.5.x as the sun set on prior releases some time ago. To put it simply, I have only two tips:

  Tip 1: Plan everything.
  Tip 2: Test everything.

  Fortunately, these tips come in many digestible parts. If you have a good plan (as evidenced by successful testing!), you'll get there and be successful.

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• User Group Report: The Ottawa Sybase User Group (Preview here)
  A Preview of "The Ottawa Sybase User Group"

  A Mountie Always Gets His Database

  The Ottawa Sybase User Group (OSUG) has been in existence since 1993 and was formerly known as the Ottawa PowerBuilder User Group until its name change in 2003. OSUG's mission is to create a Sybase community in the national capital of Canada where users can share knowledge, experiences, and best practices on various Sybase products. The group is composed of over 600 members that represent the Database, Design, Architecture, Application Server, Mobility and Development Tool product lines. The strongest representation currently is in the PowerBuilder area as there are over 4,000 licenses of the product alone in the Canadian Federal Government.

  PowerBuilder's Tour Of Duty
  The Ottawa Sybase User Groupâs most recent meeting was held on May 6, 2009. This was an all day event that spanned two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The morning session included a technical presentation on features of the newly released PowerBuilder 11.5.1 and a complete detailed in-depth tour of the new PowerBuilder 12 classic and PowerBuilder 12.NET versions. The afternoon's agenda was devoted to a “hands-on” training session with the new PowerBuilder 12.NET IDE and its main features.

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• John Thorp: Delivering On the Promise Of IT (Preview here)
  A Preview of "Delivering On the Promise Of IT"

  Eliminating Sub-Prime IT Investments And Toxic Technology

  To set the scene for this feature, we'll start with a few quotes to help contextualize the technology propositions and scenarios facing us in the current climate.

  “The failed promises of the Information Age add up to the longest-running disappointment in business history. On the other hand, information technology has produced an enormous transition, something that companies should be grappling with and studying every day.” — Jack Welch, Former Chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001

  “Implementation of IT systems has resulted in delay, confusion and inconvenience to the citizen and, in many cases poor value for money to the taxpayer.” — UK, Public Accounts Committee

  “30-40% of systems to support business change deliver no benefits whasoever.” — UK, Office of Government Commerce

  Although the current economic downturn may have some temporary impact, information technology (IT) spending is still estimated to have been more than $US3.4 trillion worldwide in 2008 (Source: Gartner – note that Eliminating Sub-Prime IT Investments And Toxic Technology this is external spend only, it does not include internal spending on IT and business resources required to implement, operate and use the technology), and it is reasonable to expect that enterprises will continue to make increasingly significant and complex investments in information technology with high expectations of value. As illustrated by our opening quotes, in far too many cases, this value is not realised – over many years, survey after survey has revealed that 20 to 70 per cent of large-scale investments in IT are wasted, challenged or fail to bring a return to their enterprise.

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• Chris Pollach: More Than Just “Maintenance” — A Short Tour Of PowerBuilder Version 11.5.1 (Preview here)
  A Preview of "More Than Just 'Maintenance' — A Short Tour Of PowerBuilder Version 11.5.1"

  Sybase's Latest Development Tool Release Packs Some Compelling New Features And Functions

  On May 15, 2009 Sybase released a new version of its premier Win32 and .NET development tool – PowerBuilder version 11.5.1. This version was originally scheduled as a full maintenance release (MR) only. Normally an MR is a fully quality assurance tested release rolling up all the Emergency Bug Fixes (EBF) for the given period. However, this point release also included some new features as well. So I thought that you might like to know about these new features.

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