Features - Storage Innovations:

CA'S UNICENTER DBASE MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS REDUCE ADMIN COSTS

Computer Associates International Inc (CA) has announced the latest releases of its Unicenter Database Management solutions for DB2 for z/OS and OS/390. The new releases deliver significant functionality and enhanced integration across all 33 solutions in the Unicenter Database Management for DB2 portfolio -- enabling corporate IT teams to proactively manage database performance, ensure continuous availability, and reduce the cost of administrating large DB2 databases running on z/OS and OS/390 systems.

The new releases also include the CA Value Pack for DB2, a no-charge bundle of software utilities that enables easy customization of the DB2 environment.

As IT budgets face ongoing constraints, the streamlining of IT resources has become a top-of-mind issue for companies in all market segments. CA's newly enhanced Unicenter Database Management solutions address this issue by ensuring the operational efficiency of business-critical systems.

"CA is offering a compelling value proposition to the DB2 market by bundling its solutions into a variety of attractive packages and providing additional flexibility in how customers can structure their purchases," said Melanie Gilbert, senior research analyst at the Branham Group Inc, an international consultancy headquartered in Canada. "Total Cost of Ownership is further reduced with CA's newly released and free CA Value Pack for DB2."

CA offers the following suites that reduce the cost of managing DB2 for z/OS and OS/390. Individual solutions can be licensed separately.

• Unicenter Database Performance Management provides integrated products that monitor and analyze subsystem, application and SQL performance. These solutions can recommend changes to SQL statements and index strategies, and provide insight into required database maintenance for enhanced performance. They drill down and analyze statistical information to uncover the root cause of performance problems, and allow corrective actions to be taken proactively. Enhancements include upgrades to Unicenter Rapid Reorg, which now provides online reorganization capabilities that eliminate the need to license a separate online reorganization tool.
• Unicenter Database Administration provides advanced solutions that intelligently automate routine tasks while giving DBAs complete control of the database environment. These solutions offer enterprise-wide database and object administration that allows users to efficiently execute migrations, accommodate database alterations and automate repetitive tasks. Enhancements enable DBAs to scale maintenance to very large environments, automate data extraction and archiving, and further automate building, migrating and managing DB2 databases.
• Unicenter Database Backup and Recovery solutions address three critical areas of a successful backup and recovery strategy: creating secure backups, establishing recovery procedures, and executing a rapid and accurate recovery. These solutions enable an enterprise to minimize downtime, ensure data integrity and coordinate sophisticated recoveries. Enhancements improve the ability to copy mixed and multiple objects, leverage snapshot capabilities, and further optimize the recovery process to decrease recovery times.

"CA's integration of its Subsystem Analyzer, Detector and Index Expert -- with its new intelligent index suite recommendations -- represents a significant breakthrough in automated performance analysis for DB2," said Sheryl Larsen, an internationally recognized researcher, consultant and lecturer, specializing in DB2. "This automated performance analysis, combined with CA's all-in-one Rapid Reorg, offers IT managers a compelling end-to-end solution for DB2 performance management."

The CA Value Pack, available with each of the 33 products, streamlines and automates critical database tasks. It provides advanced capabilities to manage referential integrity, change ZPARMS (system parameters), terminate threads, process scripts and DB2 commands, and establish alternate catalogs.

"Unicenter Database Management for DB2 for z/OS and OS/390 provides the most advanced and tightly integrated set of performance management, database administration and backup and recovery tools available in the industry," said Richard Bolesta, CA brand manager for database management. "While other vendors are segmenting their products into discrete components, CA is delivering even greater functionality through our free CA Value Pack for DB2."

About Computer Associates

Computer Associates International Inc delivers The Software That Manages eBusiness. CA's world-class solutions address all aspects of eBusiness management through industry-leading brands: Unicenter for infrastructure management, eTrust for security management, BrightStor for storage management, CleverPath for portal and business intelligence, AllFusion for application life cycle management, Advantage for data management and application development, and Jasmine for object-oriented database technology. Founded in 1976, CA serves organizations in more than 100 countries, including 99 percent of the Fortune 500 companies. For more information, visit ca.com.

Contact: Rita O'Brien of Computer Associates International Inc, 631-342-6687, rita.obrien@ca.com.