Tell me more about Cheetah...

Submitted by eherber on Sun, 2006-10-29 10:30

Update 2008-01-16 - Cheetah 2 Open Beta started

IDS 11.5 (Cheetah 2) Open Beta started

Update 2008-01-16 - IDS Cheetah 2 Mac Port

Cheetah meets Leopard

Update 2007-26-10 - Free IDS Developer Edition

At the IOD 2007 conference IBM has announced a free IDS Developer Edition. Read more about this interesting offer here:

Free IDS Developer Version - A nightmare for other data servers ?.

Update 2007-04-09 - Cheetah Resource Outline

Please visit the Cheetah Resource Outline. Here you will find an overview about all public available information regarding the Cheetah release.

Update 2007-03-21 - Upcoming Cheetah Trainings

IBM will provide free web based trainings covering dedicated Cheetah topics:

Update - 2007-03-20 - Next Open Beta software drop

The next drop of the Open Beta software is available at:

http://www.ibm.com/informix/new

It contains the following new features:

  • Web Feature Service for Spatial Data - Delivers spatial information as a web service for your Service Oriented Architecture
  • Label Based Access Control (LBAC) - Provides precise access to rows and columns of data using security labels
  • Continuous Availability with multiple HDR remote secondary servers is now available

The new IDS Admin tool is also available for download at the above mentioned Cheetah Open Beta download site.

Update - 2007-16-02 - Open Beta started

The open beta program has been started by IBM. Everybody is now able to download and test IBM's next generation data server. The start of the open beta and a new cooperation with AMD and Novell (Suse Linux) has been covered in several press articles. More information can be found here:

Animals and Data Servers

You might already heard the word Cheetah in conjunction with Informix.

But how do they relate ?
What is the idea behind the term Cheetah ?

As everybody knows Cheetah is the name of an animal, a fast animal, to be more precisely it is the fastest animal running on earth.
Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) is the name of a database, a powerful and extremly fast database, probably the most powerful database available today.

Cheetah is the codename of the next generation of IBM's flagship data server IDS - a perfect match.

The closed beta program for Cheetah has already started. According to the Executive Roundtable webcast an open beta is planned for the first quarter of the next year. This means everybody can download the Cheetah beta code and test the phenomenal new features of the upcoming IDS release. The final version is planned to be released in the middle of 2007.

Cheetah - Enhance and strenghten IDS capabilities

IBM will deliver some phenomenal new features in the Cheetah release which is planned to be released in the middle of 2007. Those features will further enhance and strenghten the outstanding capabilities of IDS:

  • Scalability
  • Reliability
  • Availability
  • Ease of Use

Many companies from different industries rely on IDS for their critical business systems since several years. IDS delivers them a real business advantage and with the upcoming Cheetah release IDS positions itself (once again) as probably the only real alternative to old bull Oracle.

Cheetah - Early Feature Summary

I'm currently involved in the closed beta program and I can tell you:

Cheetah looks promising, very very promising !!

Due to a non-disclosure agreement I'm not allowed to publish any details about Cheetah as long as the open beta has not been started. However IBM has already published some of the (possible) upcoming features. Here is a short overview about the features IBM already talked about:

  • Source: IBM to unleash Cheetah
    • Label Based Access Control (LBAC)
    • Meeting federal security certifications including the Evaluation Assurance Levels 3 and 4
  • Source: IBM previews IDS Cheetah Data Server
    • Unprecedented capabilities in spatial and temporal data management
  • Source: Run, Cheetah, Run
    • Encryption for disk data at rest and for data backup and greater coverage of data encryption with encryption key management
  • Source: IDS Now, Cheetah and Beyond
    • Web Services for Spatial applications
    • Performance and High Availability Features
    • Security enhancements meets Common Criteria specifications
    • Significantly improved administration functions
    • Enhanced support for unstructured data
    • Customizable footprint on installation
    • HDR Evolution
    • And much more...
  • Source: Informix Infobahn 2006
    • Policy driven Checkpoint
    • Encrypted HDR Communication
    • ER Performance & Administration
    • XML Publishing
    • I-Star for Extended Datatypes
    • Enhanced System Availability
    • Enhanced Backup/Restore
    • Automatic Update Statistics
    • Performance Enhancements

Fernando Nunes did an interesting sum up about three possible Cheetah features in his blog, please read Here comes the Cheetah.

It is important to note that all the features listed are subject to change.

Cheetah - Press Releases

Looking for official information from IBM about Cheetah ? Take this link:

A Compilation of Cheetah Press Releases...

Cheetah - Video

Watch this interesting video about the hunter and the prey:

IDS Cheetah, Stay tuned

Cheetah - Chat with the Lab

Jerry Keesee, Director of the Informix Lab, gave an introduction to Cheetah in the famous Chat with the Lab webcast series:

Cheetah - Introduction and Roadmap

Cheetah - Spread the word

Talk with your management and your colleagues about Cheetah. Show them that the future of IDS looks brighter than ever with the promising Cheetah release. Tell them that IDS is a strategic key product for IBM and show them The Informix Zone.

Please also read the article 2007 - The comeback of a cult database.

Thank you.