(Willie Favero) Our first HIPER addresses an issue with RANK and DENSE-RANK and character data type returning an incorrect output. If you use either of these DB2 9 delivered functions, you will at a minimum want to check out APAR PM88703’s cover.

(Mandy de Belin and Stephen Rea) You can subscribe to objects in WebSphere Service Registry and Repository (WSRR) and be notified when these objects change. WSRR releases have added power and flexibility to the subscription and notification framework, both in the scope of objects you can subscribe t

(Bill Cole) I love new features. We breathlessly announce a myriad of new features and I see eyes glaze over around the world. Hey, your database and your application are working just fine now, right? So the new features just get you a lunch when the IBM sales team comes by for the quarterly meet

(Dave Beulke) When developing any new IT initiative, estimating a good return on investment is paramount for getting upper management support and funding. With all the buzz about Big Data hitting every magazine and financial TV show, the budget process may be a little easier, but not by much.

(Sherif Sakr) Learn about InfoSphere Streams, part of the IBM big data platform. InfoSphere Streams addresses a crucial emerging need for platforms and architectures that can process vast amounts of generated streaming data in real time. Find out what the product is designed to do, when it can be us

(Ember Crooks) Generating an Explain Plan is easy… Properly reading an Explain Plan is harder… Taking appropriate action is harder still.

(Craig S. Mullins) Unless you plan for, and issue regular COMMITs in your DB2 application programs, you will be causing locking problems. It is important for every programmer to issue COMMIT statements in all application programs where data is modified (INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE).

(Samuel Wong, Jantz Tran and Pin Lp Lv) With the continuous growth of processing power and the increasing number of processor cores in servers, virtualization has become very attractive for many companies. As more and more IBM InfoSphere Information Server customers begin to adopt virtualization tec

(Troy Coleman) Numerous options are available for implementing encryption in DB2 for z/OS environments. However, each one has its restrictions and limitations. The encryption solution you choose (column, row, built in functions, edit procs,) comes down to what it is you’re trying to accomplish.

(Art Kagel) Lester is loafing off the coast of a South Sea island, so he asked me to write the column for this issue.