Q1'2008 Newsletter from The CoSort Company
Innovative Routines International, Inc. (IRI)


CoSort Updated

Current Release Now 9.1.2

Enhancement areas since v 9.1.1:
  • Aggregation Performance
  • Memory Management
  • Compressed File Handling
  • MVS2SCL Functionality
  • COB2DDF Copybook Conversions
  • ISO Timestamp Data Formatting
  • Numeric Data Conversion Speed
  • Multi-Byte Character Encryption
  • Data Standardization
If you would like access to the CoSort release notes for 9.1.2, or have additional questions about this release, please email support@iri.com with your contact details and sortcl /v display.

Using an Older CoSort Version?

Official Support Stop Dates

Product technical support is phased out on old releases. Consistent with IRI's announcements in its Q1'2004 and Q1'2006 CoSort Journal newsletters:

Support to 7.1.x
First released between 1985 and 1999, CoSort versions 1.0.x through 7.1.3 for Unix, including 4.5.x and 6.2.x for Windows, are no longer shipped or officially supported.

Support for v7.5.x
First released in April, 2001, CoSort versions 7.5.1 through 7.5.8 stopped shipping after 31 December 2006 and official support ended 31 December 2007.

Support for v8.1.x
First released in December, 2002, CoSort versions 8.1.1 through 8.1.3 stopped shipping after 31 December 2007 and will not be officially supported after 31 December 2008.

Support for v8.2.x
First released in August, 2004, CoSort versions 8.2.1 through 8.2.3 will no longer ship after 31 December 2009 and will not be officially supported after 31 December 2010.

"No longer officially supported" means that these versions will no longer ship and that, while IRI may sometimes provide a solution or workaround to a problem, no code modifications to those releases will be possible. IRI recommends that you keep maintenance current, and upgrade on a regular basis.

RowGen Now at V2

A Complete Test Data Solution

IRI is pleased to announce the general release of RowGen Version 2.1. RowGen benefits DBAs, ETL architects, application developers, compliance officers, and other data processing professionals by creating safe, intelligent test data in both structurally and referentially correct formats for database tables, flat files, and custom reports.

RowGen uses your data models to build test data with the same layouts and relationships of your tables in Oracle, Sybase, SQL Server, Teradata, DB2 UDB, Informatica, and other packaged apps. For test files in mainframe, text, LDIF, XML and other flat formats, RowGen leverages metadata conversion tools. To accommodate special business rules, value ranges and target formats, RowGen includes the same data transformation and reformatting technologies available to CoSort users.

For more information on RowGen version 2, download this:
http://www.cosort.com/pdf/RowGenv2-Brochure.pdf
For benefits and case studies, download this:
http://www.cosort.com/pdf/RowGen2-WhitePaper.pdf
For specific job samples and a GUI screen shot, see:
http://www.cosort.com/_newsletter/Q42007.htm

If you have any questions, or would like a free trial of RowGen, please email info@iri.com.

New UK Representation

SICL Specializes in Oracle Solutions

IRI is pleased to announce a new reseller for CoSort, FACT, and RowGen in the United Kingdom that specializes in Oracle solutions:

Systems Integration Consultancy Limited
8 The Square
Stockley Park
Uxbridge UB11 1FW
Phone 44 (0) 870 432 4402
E-mail info@sis-ltd.co.uk

Systems Integration Consultancy Limited (SICL) is an Oracle Partner and consultancy which addresses and adds value to the Oracle eco-systems across all markets in the UK, and Europe. As an Oracle Partner, SICL is able to advise and provide Oracle licenses, consultancy and implementation services, systems integration services, and support. Their logical addition of IRI products to their portfolio will help their clients accelerate high-volume operations:

1) Fast Extract (FACT) rapidly unloads large Oracle tables to flat files
2) CoSort can transform, pre-sort (for loads), report from, capture changes, protect (through field-level functions like encryption), and otherwise scrub and convert the extract files for various purposes
3) RowGen uses Oracle data models to produce safe, referentially correct test-table data for Oracle databases and packaged applications

Got Different Data Models?

Illustrate, Consolidate, and Use Them!

IRI can now provide data architects with cutting-edge technology to manage the complexity of multiple data models. The Rapid Architectural Consolidation Engine (RapidACE) is a uniquely powerful application for the visualization, integration, and utilization of disparate data models across an enterprise.

Think of RapidACE as an ETL tool for data models, as you watch its 3D-visual ability to generate new models based on changes in your source systems. New business requirements ripple through the tool effortlessly, allowing for unprecedented response times in prototyping, what-if analyses, model analyses, project audit and review, and data integration project scope and feasibility analyses.

In fact, RapidACE can create a single, compliant enterprise-wide data model in less than a day, improving the predictability and adaptability of your data warehouse. And from that common data model, RapidACE can also build the ETL, ELT, and test data routines for popular tools like Informatica, Pentaho, and RowGen.

For more information on RapidACE, visit
http://www.cosort.com/products/RapidACE
and download this:
http://www.cosort.com/pdf/RapidAce-Brochure.pdf

To arrange for a free trial of RapidACE in your environment, please email info@iri.com.

New Technology Partners

Ciphersoft and Dimensional Insight

IRI is pleased to announce alliances with two more leading technology vendors:

CipherSoft provides products and services like Exodus™ to help companies migrate their applications and databases to the latest version of Oracle 10g and 11g technology. IRI's FACT and CoSort can enhance CipherSoft solutions by speeding large Oracle database migrations.

The Dimensional Insight (DI) "Diver Solution” enables decision makers across the organization to identify new opportunities, improve business operations, control costs, and increase performance. IRI's CoSort plays a preparatory role for DI's BI users by staging and integrating massive volumes of operational data in the file system.

Links to partner web sites and more information are at:
http://www.cosort.com/partners/alliances

Tech Tip - Calling CoSort from C#

Managed App Invocations Possible

It is possible to call functions in unmanaged code, such as the SortCL API, from within a C# application. This allows the software developer to leverage the speed, power, and efficiency of the CoSort data manipulation engine.

Click here to see a sample invocation of the sortcl_routine() from C#:
http://www.cosort.com/clientarea/2008/03/24/calling-cosort-from-c/

If you do not have access to the IRI web support site, please email support@iri.com. An example project using this class is also available with CoSort v9.1.2.

For details on SortCL's combinable transformation, conversion, protection and reporting functionality see:
http://www.cosort.com/products/CoSort/SortCL

The practical applications of SortCL are described in these web categories:
http://www.cosort.com/solutions

If you are interested in using or integrating CoSort's SortCL engine in your development environment, email info@iri.com.

IRI, The CoSort Company, Turning 30!

Did you know that our company was founded in the second quarter of 1978? Stay tuned for some interesting insights on the past and future in the next newsletter.

 

Copyright 2008, Innovative Routines International (IRI), Inc., The CoSort Company