Although it has sold off Paradox and looks set to offload dBase (CI No 3027), Borland International Inc has launched the latest version of its InterBase SQL database server, which it says is absolutely integral to the company’s strategy. Borland says its direction now is to focus on the Internet and client-server systems, and claims InterBase is an efficient, flexible server, ideal for such applications. InterBase 4.2 has a new internal architecture which enables internal multithreading, making it faster and more efficient for multi-user applications. Bernard Wheeler, Borland client-server consultant, says tests within the company found version 4.2 offered twice the performance of 4.0 or 4.1 when tested with 60 concurrent users. It also uses a multi- versioning engine, which prevents record locking and enables users to view a record while it is being updated. There are ODBC 2.5 drivers for Windows 95 and NT and thread-safe 32-bit client libraries. Wheeler says the NT server is resource efficient, coming on only two floppy disks, and requires low andministration overhead. He claims it is a flexible alternative to Microsoft Corp’s SQL Server. The InterBase Server for Windows 95 is designed for small teams that require no more than four concurrent users, and is compatible with both Windows 95 and Windows NT. The NT version can handle larger client-server systems, such as departmental or enterprise applications and is certified for use with symmetric multiprocessing servers. Anyone buying a copy of Borland’s Delphi development tools, will get a version of local InterBase for NT or Windows 95 included, and Delphi client-server comes with a two-user development license. InterBase can also be used with applications written in C, C++, Fortran, and several 4GL’s. Cognos Software Inc has been reselling InterBase since it was owned – like dBase – by Ashton- Tate Corp, so it’s compatible with applications written in Cognos’ Powerplay. InterBase 4.2, available now, costs $250 for the single user Local InterBase, $600 for Interbase Server for Windows 95 up to four concurrent users, and $850 for Windows NT including 5 user licenses. Borland offers discounts for current users who upgrade before November 30.
