Oracle to Datacom

Press, 1 December 1987, Page 53

Oracle to Datacom

Datacom Systems has been appointed the New Zealand distributor of Oracle, the relational detabase management system and its associated products, incuding its SQL language. The national’s marketing manager, Mr Graham Hendry, says Oracle can be used in a wide range of environments, including IBM, Digital, Unix, and many others. It enables an organisation to integrate its resources into one corporate information resource using one standard software product. Oracle was developed in California in 1979 by the Oracle Corporation which also pioneered the SQL

language which Oracle uses. SQL is an English-like language consisting of layers of increasing complexity, which is now generally accepted as the international relation database-management language standard. It is the same language used with IBM’s SQL/Ds and DB2. Oracle runs on a variety of machines of all sizes, incuding Digital, IBM, and others across the range from mainframes to personal computers. Datacom Systems has promoted Oracle in New Zealand for a number of years and it has proved particularly successful in the dairy industry.

If this was all there was to V 3, I would fall on it with cries of glee. But there is more, a lot more. First of all the programme works superbly with Viatel, Videotex — all of the videotext services that are now assuming a larger role in the provision of information to business. This means your personal computer will work in exactly the same way as a dedicated Videotex terminal like the Sony KI-102. This, in itself, represents a largish saving. There is also built in a set of terminal emulations, and any new terminal emulations that come along in the future should be easy to add in. There is a complete macro function so that you can set up 40 different keys to give you 40 different functions when pressed. These are great for writing standard paragraphs that you can call up when transmission is proceeding — which saves a lot of time, money and typing. There is a split screen so that if you are carrying on an electronic conversation — generally known as chat mode — you can see it coming and going. Finally, this lovely, lovely programme supports all the protocols that bulletin board maniacs use for

down-loading and transferring files, programs and information. There is XModem, YModem, Sea Link and ZModem all of which allow you to zap compressed files down the wire with minimum error rate at the highest possible speed. ZModem is the current hottest, fastest protocol and its inclusion brings joy to the hearts of hackers This programme is, according to all the hackers who have seen it and used it, simply the best telecommunications program in the world. V 3, when it is ready for formal launch sometime around Christmas, will be included free with all Netcomm modems. These range from a highly portable, cigarette packet sized, battery operated delight which I used on my last trip, to the ultra fast Trailßlazer which I am carrying on this. This copy is being typed in a hotel in Singapore on a portable NEC 8201 A — the journalists’ friend. When it is finished it will be transferred over to a President portable 386 computer using a null modem (effectively a cable going from the RS232C port of one machine to the RS232C port of the other).

When it is the President it will be spell-checked and sent to Australia via the Trailßlazer modem using V 3. This modem is truly amazing. With it, working from a hotel bedroom, I can transmit copy to Australia at an effective rate of about 400 words a second because of the speed of the modem and the use of text compression and decompression programs at both ends. This is ultra-quick and saves a large amount of money in telephone bills. This modem and this new program show the way that telecommunications are going: ultra fast connections achieved in the simplest possible manner. Any business in Australia which has a branch office overseas; any executive who has to travel overseas and wants to remain in contact; any company that needs access to electronic information should immediately and urgently investigate current communications capabilities. They have changed beyond recognition in the past few years. If, as well, you use V 3, you can forget all about the complexities and problems that have traditionally been associated with communications. Just let your mouse do the walking.