Ingres cracks champagne on Project Icebreaker
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(InfoWorld) - Open-source database vendor Ingres is hoping that its newly released Icebreaker database and Linux combination will help it win new customers and enter fresh markets. Formerly known asÂ Project Icebreaker, Ingres Icebreaker became generally available Tuesday and is the first new product from Ingres since itsÂ spin-off from CAÂ as an independent company in 2005. Icebreaker is a veryÂ tight coupling of the Ingres 2006 database with rPath's Linux distribution. The software includes only those components of rPath Linux needed to run the database, around 15 percent to 20 percent of the operating system, according to Emma McGrattan, senior vice president of engineering at Ingres. The aim of the offering is to make it easier to install and manage the database and Linux combination as well as substantially cut maintenance and support costs, she said. Ingres will deliver patches and updates for both the database and OS in a single maintenance stream. Icebreaker includes support for virtualization technologies from the likes of VMware and XenSource, McGrattan added. "Icebreaker will take us into new markets and new use of the [Ingres] database," McGrattan said. In its first year as an independent company, Ingres focused on its existing customer base and ensuring their needs were being met, but the vendor's now ready to aggressively go after new business opportunities. Ingres is hoping that third parties will want to build applications on top of Icebreaker. Initially, those efforts will be around business intelligence (BI) and live reporting, McGrattan said, with the vendor in discussions with both open-source and closed-source BI players. As for other areas where Icebreaker might fit, McGrattan sees the combination as useful for companies moving to the SOA (service-oriented architecture) development model as well as in the on-demand market. "We think Icebreaker is also the perfect platform for SaaS [software-as-a-service] vendors," she said. At present, Ingres has no specific partners to name in that area. A natural ally could be Salesforce.comÂ since Ingres uses the vendor's hosted CRM (customer relationship management) internally. Ingres plans to build out a series of other appliances on top of Icebreaker, McGrattan said, with details to come later this year. A previous attempt in the industry to launch a database appliance, Oracle's Raw Iron project, sunk without a trace after a trumpeted November 2000 launch at the Comdex computer show where the database vendor touted a partnership with hardware vendor Compaq. The operating system for Raw Iron was a mixture of Linux and Sun Microsystems' Solaris Unix OS. By contrast, Ingres is positioning Icebreaker as unfettered to any particular hardware, leaving the choice of server up to the user, McGrattan said. Licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2, Icebreaker runs on any x86-compatible Linux server. Over time, it's possible Icebreaker may be offered pre-installed on specific servers, but Ingres isn't currently in talks with any hardware providers, she added. Icebreaker is available free under the GPL or users can purchase a maintenance and support subscription for the combination at the same price as paid maintenance and support for the Ingres 2006 database, McGrattan said. Â
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The provision made for a white knight offer in the irrevocable undertaking given by Russia&#39;s Norilsk Nickel to Harmony Gold, which is attempting to swallow its larger local rival
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(InfoWorld) - Open-source database vendor Ingres Corp. Wednesday named Infor Global Solutions as its first ERP (enterprise resource planning) partner since Ingres spun off from CA Inc. more than a year ago. Roger Burkhardt, president and chief operating officer at Ingres, positioned the move as signaling "the first step" in what he said will be a burgeoning relationship with Infor. The partnership is not exclusive and he also expects Ingres to strike similar relationships with other enterprise applications players, with a particular focus on meeting the needs of different vertical industries. Ingres represents an alternative to other databases in the market, including those from proprietary relational players Oracle Corp. and Microsoft Corp., which also have their own applications businesses. Open-source vendor Ingres has no intention of buying an ERP company and so doesn't present a competitive threat to potential applications partners, Burkhardt said. Ingres and Infor are collaborating on developing open-source software to run on the Ingres 2006 open-source database and Ingres Enterprise Access middleware, which is currently a proprietary-source product. Infor is in the process of certifying its Adage ERP software, targeted at process manufacturers to run on both Ingres' database and middleware. Ingres has a long-standing relationship with Infor and the previous owner of Adage, SCT, according to Burkhardt. Initially known as Agilysis, Infor came into being in June 2002 when its private equity backer Golden Gate Capital bought SCT's processing manufacturing and distribution division. In other company news, Ingres is close to releasing its first new product as an independent company. Currently known asÂ Project Icebreaker, the new product is a combination of the Ingres database with a version ofÂ rPath's distribution of the Linux operating system. The software's aim is to decrease the amount of time users have to spend on IT maintenance work by delivering patches and updates for both the database and OS in a single maintenance stream. "Project Icebreaker is on target," Burkhardt said. "We're getting good feedback from our beta testers." He expects Project Icebreaker to become generally available early in 2007, he added. Though still in beta testing, the new offering has already led Ingres into new customer opportunities, Burkhardt said. The vendor's hearing a lot of interest from companies keen to build additional functionality on top of Project Icebreaker and the concept is also getting plenty of play with SAAS (software-as-a-service) providers, he added. Burkhardt joined Ingres in July from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) where he spent six years as chief technology officer. He has welcomed the freedom of working at a privately funded company unfettered by government regulations. By contrast, at the NYSE, "We couldn't even dismantle a product that had failed without a sign-off from Washington," he quipped. Â
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It was left to Johan Inger, whose âDream Playâ completed the program, to celebrate the distinctions of the companyâs young dancers.
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As global warming melts the Arctic ice, dreams of a short sea passage to Asia - and riches beneath the surface - have been revived. But who will win the world's new Great Game?
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InfoWorld - Ingres will take different approaches to supporting soft appliances that combine its database with applications from JasperSoft and Alfresco Software.
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The sale of Perrier is a "project that will be examined along with others," Nestle Waters France said in a statement.
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InfoWorld - Ingres began offering a software bundle on Wednesday&#160;to make it easier for developers to build Eclipse-based applications on top of the Ingres 2006 open-source database.
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Drinks giant Allied Domecq was today toasting the success of spirits such as Ballantineâs whisky and Malibu rum as it issued an upbeat trading statement.
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It wasn&#39;ta gift-filled sleigh departing the North Pole, but the Russian supply capsule launched from frigid Kazakhstan late Thursday carried just as much anticipation as Santa Claus.
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(InfoWorld) - Ingres Corp. Monday announced a global sales and marketing alliance with leading Indian consultancy and IT services company Satyam Computer Services Ltd. to attract more customers for its open-source database. Under the terms of the joint sales and marketing agreement, Satyam will establish an Ingres practice initially focused on meeting the systems integration needs of government, retail and pharmaceutical customers around the world. The two companies will also look for ways to appeal to more Indian users as open-source technologies become more popular in that country. Ingres officiallyÂ opened operations in India in October, appointing Vivek Bhatnagar, formerly with data integration software vendor Informatica Corp., as country director. TheÂ open-source database company had previously set up partnerships with other services providers with operations in India including Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. and netCustomer Inc. The alliance with Satyam is part ofÂ Ingres' bid to grow its number of partners around the world, particularly in the systems integrator space, with more such SI partnerships on the cards in future. Ingres has pockets of customers, particularly in Australia and the U.K., dating back to its origins as a proprietary relational database player, then as part of the ASK Group, and later as part of CA Inc. AfterÂ becoming an independent entity in November 2005, Ingres has looked to grow its customer base globally especially in emerging markets like India, Brazil and Eastern Europe. Â
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A relatively new genre of Champagne, made by independent grower-producers, has been quietly gaining a foothold.
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The first tests on hi-tech equipment that will be used to provide data on the current state of Arctic ice are successful.
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PARIS -- Holiday on ice takes on new meaning high above the rooftops of Paris doing figure eights inside the Eiffel Tower.
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Company competes in Baja 1000 as a way to build its name and test its technology.
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Winning skipper Ludde Ingvall has described the conditions he and the crew of Nicorette endured during the 60th Sydney to Hobart as the worst he has experienced.
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The largest polar research programme for half a century, lasting two years,  is launched on Thursday in Paris.