CCA, Computer Corporation of America, has released its first piece of application software based on the Model 204 database management system. Marketpulse, launched in the US in January, consists of a series of modules which manage a direct response database for organisations looking to exploit direct mail marketing. The modules include mail planning and segmentation; data extraction and promotion tracking; cross tab analysis; report writing language; and a graphics interface. The two main modules are mail planning and tracking and analysis. The first automates the mailing list selection and preparation, and the second analyses promotion and response history for mailings by linking the data with customer files. This file can be broken into segments for more detailed analysis. Access to Marketpulse is via a personal computer or PS/2 connected to the IBM or plug-compatible mainframe. Computer Corp says that the Model 204 database management system incorporates some relational rules, but says that it is not fully relational in order to preserve performance. It cites IBM’s intention to confine DB2 to Enterprise Systems Architecture after the next release as tacit acknowledgement that fully relational models lose performance. The price of Marketpulse is dependent on configuration, but is expected to come in between UKP50,000 and UKP500,000. – Janice McGinn
