IMS DATABASES IMPROVE EFFICIENCIES OF DATA QUERIES.

Xbridge Host Data Connect(tm) from Xbridge Systems, Los Gatos, Calif., now supports secondary indexes in Information Management System (IMS) databases, helping improve the efficiency of data queries by enabling users to create different paths or custom paths through the data.

Xbridge Host Data Connect enables Windows(r), Web and mobile applications to quickly and securely access virtually all OS/390(r) and z/OS(tm) mainframe data including Virtual Storage Access Method (VSAM), Queued Sequential Access Method (QSAM), DataBase 2 (DB2) and IMS DB, and to see the data in the format of the requesting application (e.g., Excel), all in real time and without programming.

"This new capability enables users to develop more efficient and precise queries, so that they pull only the information needed when they need it," explained Jim Sagawa, Xbridge director of OS/390 development. Sagawa, who joined Xbridge in March 2003, was part of the original IMS development team and has almost 40 years experience in software engineering and research for companies such as IBM, DHL and Claris in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Using IMS in a Relational World

IMS is the most widely deployed hierarchical Database Management System (DBMS) for IBM mainframes. The user license base for IMS continues to grow and a great deal of mission-critical data is in this format.

The difficulty is that IMS data is usually highly performance optimized, making it difficult for non-programmers to use. Xbridge Host Data Connect flattens the data and presents it in a relational structure, so that non-programmers can use it (often with other relational data) in a decision-support application.

Host Data Connect already supported the main IMS database organizations - HISAM (Hierarchical Indexed Sequential Access Method), HIDAM (Hierarchical Indexed Direct Access Method), HDAM (Hierarchical Direct Access Method), SHISAM (Simple Hierarchical Indexed Sequential Access Method), HSAM (Hierarchical Sequential Access Method) and SHSAM (Simple Hierarchical Sequential Access Method). This new support for secondary indexes on HISAM, HIDAM and HDAM extends and enhances those capabilities.

Pricing and Availability

Purchase options for Xbridge Host Data Connect begin at $20,000 for a single-seat, single-system environment. Annual licensing options are available for approximately one-third the one-time charge. The IMS option is available now for $10,000 or for lease at $3,500 annually.

About Xbridge Systems

Xbridge Systems develops and markets high-performance software that enables critical corporate data to be shared instantaneously between OS/390 and z/OS mainframes and desktop open-systems environments.

For more information, call 866/356-1515 or visit http://www.xbridgesystems.com.