MITS, developer of Advanced Reporting and Business Intelligence software for the MultiValue database market, introduces impressive enhancements in the latest version of its MITS Discover OLAP Business Intelligence system.

The MITS Discover 6.0.1 release concentrates on stability and speed improvements, made in response to customer requests. Topping the list of improvements are substantial increases in Hypercube build speeds and query speeds, helping both business users and IT staff be more productive.

Accelerated Hypercube Build Speeds
MITS Discover 6.0.1 provides significantly faster Hypercube build speeds, which means your data is available much faster than before. “The build speed improvement is striking,” Fred Owen, president of MITS affirms, “with benchmark tests showing speeds up to seven times faster than in the earlier versions of MITS Discover.”

Faster Query Speeds
In MITS Discover 6.0.1, query speeds have also been increased considerably. Now when a user assembles a report, the results come back up to 10 times faster than previously possible in former MITS Discover releases.

Drill-Down Path Usage Logging
MITS Discover users can now keep a log of the drill-down paths accessed by users in Hypercubes. Drill-down paths not used regularly can be removed, thereby improving build speeds and decreasing disk space requirements.

Column Description Capability
In MITS Discover 6.0.1 a Hypercube designer can add a description to a column template giving users more details about how the information in each column was derived. These column descriptions can also be attached to single columns using the Column Maintenance feature in MitsWeb and MitsView.
 

Raining Data is pleased to announce the general availability of D3 NT 7.5.0. This version of D3 is the result of a collaborative effort between our SMA customers and Raining Data’s Product Development, Customer Service and Quality Assurance teams. After extensive testing by our customers with real live applications, you will be pleased to learn that D3 NT 7.5.0 contains significant enhancements and product fixes making this release the most robust and scalable D3 database product on the Windows platform.

D3 NT 7.5 offers overall improvements in performance and functionality to its prior releases. Key areas positively impacted with this release include:

Database Management: Important enhancements in Overflow Management: (1) VME size up to 4 GB, (2) FSI resizing to release overflow, (3) significant increase in speed for creation of large files, (4) Access select processor utilizes existing indexes when using multiple AND operators.

Memory Management: A tightly controlled and more efficient memory manager maximizes performance while minimizing Windows Virtual Memory usage for database intensive I/O and Basic operations.

64-Bit Extended Operating System Support: This latest version of D3 NT will run as a 32-bit application on 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows 2003. Support for these operating systems includes versions running on Intel’s EM64T and Advanced Micro’s AMD64 processors, with the exception being the Itanium processor. Target directory and registry tree redirection is automatically handled by the operating system providing a seamless installation. A version of the D3 ODBC driver that installs on 64-bit operating systems is also available.

Code and Error Detection Management: "OnNetError" is a globally cataloged subroutine that may be called when network errors occur during FlashBASIC File I/O. Programs can now be cataloged with full file pathing with a new f-option on the catalog verb. BASIC and FlashBASIC debuggers have been extended for improved program troubleshooting. Error tracking for out of license conditions is now logged into the Windows Application event log, allowing system administrators to more effectively and proactively manage the D3 user license pool.

Interoperability and Middleware: ODBC and VME services have been merged into a single service. Tracing (TraceOption, TraceFile, and TraceFlushPeriod) and timeout (InactivityTimeout) registry settings allow improved troubleshooting and recovery of ODBC enabled applications. Merged class library (RPC and ODBC class libraries) have resulted in a more efficient VB layer. The list-users verb has been enhanced to show OSFI users on remote machines. In addition, a more efficient item lock structure has been implemented and a new verb, osfi-server-prot, has been added to allow multi-hop server hops.

Multi-Lingual Support and General Maintenance: Dates can now be customized by port. Currency decimal/thousand delimiters can be inherited from Windows. Translation of Days/Month names in Spanish and French is supported. The account-restore process has a new option to disable the rebuilding of indexes. The “Poke” verb has now been implemented. The Delete-Account verb checks SQL tables and removes redundant definitions when appropriate.

For more product information, please refer to the product and technical documentation pages on our Web site.

Product Update
The D3 NT 7.5 product update is available at no charge for existing D3 NT licenses covered under a SMA. To order your update media or purchase new licenses, fax your purchase order to 949-474-6940 or e-mail orders@rainingdata.com (shipping charges may apply).

Raining Data’s Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) is much more than product support. It allows us to serve you better and carry on our commitment to enhance and maintain the database and connectivity products we develop. With many new products soon to be released, this valuable program allows you to take advantage of our latest technologies at reduced costs.

Customers participating in Raining Data’s SMA program are reaping the benefits of responsive service, via phone, Web or e-mail and substantial cost savings on products and services. In summary, the benefits of Raining Data’s Software Maintenance Agreements are significant:

• Priority phone, Web or e-mail customer support — no charge
• Patch and Minor Releases — no charge
• Product activations — no charge
• Media replacements — no charge
• Re-licensing and Re-hosting at 15% of list price
• Major Releases at 50% of the current list price (restrictions apply)

If you have any questions regarding this announcement or need further assistance, please phone us at 949-442-4400 or e-mail sales@rainingdata.com.

• Cincinnati, OH Sept 25-26
• Seattle, WA Oct 11-12
• Iselin, NJ Nov 14-15
• Sydney, AUS Nov 1-2

Get 2 value-packed and informative days that include the following:

• Learn from the MultiValue Premier Consultants at your choice of 6 two-three hour in-depth educational sessions.
• Learn about the new products, tools, and features available to the MultiValue community.
• Meet International Spectrum’s new owner, Nathan Rector, and see his plans for the future.
• Enjoy included lunches and breakfasts.
• Network with others in your area who use the MultiValue databases
• Attend the MultiValue User Group Meetings and dinner in Cincinnati, Seattle, and New Jersey

Raining Data is pleased to announce the general availability of Pick Data Provider for .NET version 3.1 and Pick Reporting Services Connector 3.1, ready for distribution today. Raining Data continues to partner with Microsoft to offer .NET connectivity to our database products. Based on specific requests from our customers, we have incorporated support for our mvBase database platform into these product releases.

New 3.1 Features and Enhancements
Overall, version 3.1 offers improved performance and functionality to prior releases. A full list of enhancements and resolutions appear in the files supplied with each of these product releases as well as the product documentation located on our Web site. Key areas of enhancement include:

• Availability for the mvBase 2.0 database platform
• Passwords on accounts can now exceed 6 characters
• Expanded the Formula field in the PDP Administration program
• More than 500 files can now be enabled in a single account
• Better memory management

In addition, there is major performance improvement in Pick Reporting Services Connector 3.1 when generating reports.

Product Availability
Pick Data Provider for .NET 3.1 and Pick Reporting Services Connector 3.1 both leverage native data access to Pick D3, mvBase, IBM UniVerse and IBM UniData databases through Microsoft Visual Studio .NET technology. This combined strength offers developers a comprehensive integrated development environment in which to build scalable and high performance Microsoft .NET Framework-based applications, leveraging the intrinsic capabilities of the Pick data model without explicit normalization requirements.

Pick Data Provider for .NET 3.1 and Pick Reporting Services Connector 3.1 have been certified on the following database platforms. Product activation is available on the Raining Data Web site.

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