InterSystems Corporation announced that Matthew Stern , president of Comprehensive Computer Services, Inc . (CCS), has successfully completed all of the requirements for recognition as a CACHÉ Certified Expert. Stern is the first person from the MultiValue (MV) community to achieve the CACHÉ Certified Expert designation.

InterSystems is a leading provider of innovative database and integration software. Its product line includes the InterSystems CACHÉ ® high-performance object database, InterSystems Ensemble® rapid integration platform, and InterSystems HealthShareT platform for regional and national electronic health records. CCS in Commack, N.Y., specializes in leveraging innovative technologies to provide IT systems and solutions that provide the highest possible return on the client's technology investment.

Expert certification requires achieving and demonstrating comprehensive technological knowledge of CACHÉ, participation in multiple in-depth courses and labs and a final formal assessment designed to ensure candidates have achieved the knowledge and expertise needed for this designation. "CACHÉ Certified Experts are, without exception, at the top-most tier of developers working with our database technology," said John Paladino, InterSystems Vice President of Client Services. "We are extremely pleased to recognize Matthew Stern as a member of this elite developer group. I truly enjoy working with Matt and I am confident in his excellent service and technical skills."

"It was interesting and intellectually satisfying to work at completing the requirements for the CACHÉ Certified Expert designation," Stern said. "I'm looking forward to putting the knowledge I've gained along the way to work for all of our clients."

Consultants and developers who are interested in becoming CACHÉ Certified Experts can find details about enrolling in the certification program at www.InterSystems.com/certification .

Northgate Information Solutions and the Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM) announces the successful migration of NFM 's retail applications to Reality, a MultiValue relational data management system provided by Northgate . The migration, which took only 12 months to complete, went without a hitch. During that period, Northgate assisted NFM in migrating nearly a billion data records together with the suite of sophisticated in-house retail applications used by NFM, the largest furniture retail outlet in the U.S.

"Going live was a non-event," says David Ragan, NFM 's Senior Database Administrator. "We came in at 6.00am the morning of the cutover expecting a flood of panic calls, but the phones never rang. When we asked people how they were getting on with the new system, they replied 'What new system?' They had no clue we'd switched products overnight."

An even tougher test of Reality's resilience came on Black Friday, when sales volumes are ten times greater than on any other day of the year, and peak-time crowds can reach 3,000 in a single store.

As David explains: "We sailed through with only a handful of issues. The fact that senior management had no concerns with doing this upgrade just a few weeks before Black Friday and heading into the busy holiday season demonstrates the faith we had in Reality."

In the beginning, however, Reality was not even a contender for NFM 's database upgrade. NFM sent an RFI to Northgate 'as a courtesy'. But the NFM team soon noticed that Reality had a lot to offer and their staff showed a unique readiness to adapt to NFM 's requirements. By the end of the first-round of evaluations, Northgate was on a shortlist of two. Feedback from existing users helped with the selection process.

"Everyone we spoke to was thrilled with the performance of their database," says David. "It was only when we delved deeper that differences emerged. Users of other MultiValue products seemed satisfied that crashes were as infrequent as one a month; Reality users couldn't remember the last time their system crashed."

NFM saved time and money on the upgrade process. David believes that it would have taken two years to get where they are now if they had chosen another database provider.

He adds: "We saved on staff resources too. We thought we would have to throw the entire IT team into this project. In the end, a large portion of the work was done by just two people. Other than a couple of months of intense testing, the majority of the team was able to continue with their normal day-to-day business tasks."

When NFM first chose Northgate , many industry observers thought the retailer was making a mistake. Some were skeptical that Reality could even scale to the size that NFM needed. David himself admits he had some reservations. At every stage in the process, however, Northgate proved their worth. One of their earliest successes was to identify and resolve an NFM system hardware issue. The problem was so well hidden, NFM was not even aware of it themselves.

Northgate engineers also speeded up the data change-over process. They pioneered a new technique that took completed transactions from the live mvEnterprise system and dropped them into the waiting Reality database. The result was a ready-made, near-real-time copy of the live database. It cut switchover down-time from over 24 hours to less than an hour.

John Seaman, Reality Sales Director, was aware that Northgate was the underdog in the race to secure the NFM contract. "That kind of challenge doesn't worry us," he says. "Over the years, we've upgraded dozens of MultiValue database sites of all flavors and sizes. We never say that the upgrade path will be painless, but we can say that no customer who has gone down that route has ever regretted their choice."

Execu-Sys

Growing electronics Manufacturer in Orange County, CA is looking for Sr Level Developer experienced with Epicor's DATAFLO or MANFACT; client is open to either direct hire or contract to hire-need is immediate. Local candidates highly preferred-relocation will not be paid and telecommuting is NOT an option. Salary 80-95K.

For additional information contact mh@eslny.com

Starcrest Products of California, Inc. located in Perris, California has an immediate opening for a salaried, in-house programmer. We are a growing mail order company. We are looking for an individual with Unidata or Universe programming skills to accomplish various internal business objectives. Prefer 3+ years of experience. While the position is the standard full-time Monday - Friday assignment, the individual must be willing to work occasional weekends and be accessible day or night (if and when the demands of the project dictate). The individual will join a support team which handles applications in Accounting, Human Resources, Shipping, Ordering (Mail and Telephone), Receiving, and all facets of Warehousing and Inventory Management. Medical, dental, vision and life insurance is offered as well as vacation, paid holidays and more.

For additional information contact : at 951-940-1413 or getajob@starcalif.com

Colorado MultiValue Users Group (CMUG)
Date: Tuesday, May 13th
Time: 5:30pm - 8:30pm
RSVP: mailto:dlschmitt@gmail.com  or 720-203-4864
Location: Wellpoint (Bolo), 12596 West Bayaud Avenue Suite 400, Lakewood

Texas Multi-Value User Group Meeting
http://www.texmug.org/
Date: Jun 19th
Time: 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
RSVP: Baker Hughes
Location: TBD

Seattle Area Pick User Group (SAPUG)
http://www.sapug.org
Date: Apr 17th
Time: 5:30pm - 8:30pm
RSVP: William Timbrook at mailto:williamt@gmnameplate.com
Location: The Coast Hotel

Looking for MultiValue contract work? Looking for new MultiValue employees?

Join us at the International Spectrum 2008 Conference and Exhibition and post your job opening or offers in the MultiValue Job Pavilion. Gain access to a large amount of MultiValue professionals offering services or looking for new positions. Find companies that are looking for your services and expertise.

It is not too late, Register Now, and get into the exhibition for FREE.
/conference/2008/

I often want to know how long a program runs. Some of the programs run over night and I came up with a neat calculation for determining elapsed time of a program.

U2 Code:

R83 Code:

This will take into consideration the change in date for overnight runs. It uses the @-variables @DATE and @TIME to give the program execution starting date and time. The DATE() and TIME() functions return the current date and time information. Lastly the number of days is multiplied by 86400 which is the number of seconds in a 24-hour period.

Jon A. Kristofferson