More Adapters on the Way
In addition to the DBKit adapters bundled in NEXTSTEP or currently shipping from third parties (see the sidebar, "Vying for Pole Position"), developers are opening the door to other leading database systems. If you need to connect with a database that is not listed, you can contact NeXT and request its monthly publication, the NeXT Database Kit Adapter Availability Guide, which is a current list of all known adapters available and under development.
If you cannot get an adapter for a database that's currently in use, you have two choices: develop your own (or pay for a third party to develop an adapter for you), or migrate to another database.
ADABAS RDBMS
A DBKit adapter is under development for use with Software AG's mainframe ADABAS data server, which is used for applications requiring high transaction volumes and ad hoc queries of large volumes of data.
Proxima, 1000 Wilson Blvd. #2403, Rosslyn, VA 22209.
AS/400 DB Manager
A DBKit adapter is under development for use with IBM's AS/400 DB Manager
data server.
Xexos Computing, 1 New Concordia Wharf, Mill St., London SE1 2BA United Kingdom.
44/71/237-4535; mark@xexos.com.
Cincom Systems Supra
A DBKit adapter is under development for this RDBMS for production-oriented
transaction processing.
Cincom Systems, 4605 Duke Dr. #800. Mason, OH 45040.
513/573-3434.
dBase and Paradox
A DBKit adapter for dBase and Borland Paradox files, popular on PC platforms, is under development.
Ronald C. Anton, ABComputers, 306 Thayer St. #123, Providence, RI 02906.
Faircom DB
A DBKit adapter for the Faircom DB system, popular on PC platforms, is under development by Anderson Financial Systems.
Anderson Financial Systems, 909 Sumneytown Pike #207, Springhouse, PA 19477.
215/653-0911, 800/237-8723; greg@afs.com.
Flat-file data
A DBKit adapter in beta allows developers to access rows and columns in ordinary text files.
Harvard Toolworks, 91 Ann Lee Rd., Harvard, MA 01451.
508/772-4420; whs@magdalen.dmc.com.
IXadapter
IXadapter is a DBKit adapter in development that allows developers to access files managed by NEXTSTEP's Indexing Kit.
VNP Software, 10 Gardner Rd., Ste. A, Cambridge, MA 02139.
617/661-4292; ixadapter_info@vnp.com
Informix-SE
According to research firm Dataquest, Informix followed Sybase, Ingres, and Oracle, the leaders in the RDBMS market, with 12 percent of all licensing revenue in 1992. A DBKit adapter has been developed by Informix Germany, but plans for marketing the adapter have not yet formalized between NeXT and Informix U.S.
Informix Software GmbH, Oskar Messter Str. 25, 85737 Ismaning, Germany.
49/89/96.09.80; alexk@infmuc.informix.com.
Itasca ODBMS
A DBKit adapter is now in beta for this popular object-oriented database-management system.
Itasca Corporation, 7850 Metro Pkwy., Minneapolis, MN 55425.
612/851-3155; miezwa@itasca.com.
ODBC
A DBKit adapter for ODBC-compliant data servers, including Oracle, Sybase, Ingres, and Informix, is under development.
NeXT, 900 Chesapeake Dr., Redwood City, CA 94063.
415/780-3999; felix_lin@ next.com.
UniData RDBMS
A DBKit adapter is under development for use with the UniData RDBMS running on hardware platforms from nearly 30 different system manufacturers. The UniData RDBMS uses a unique "nested" relational data structure that is said to improve database performance and allow use of multivalued attributes and storage of arrays.
Pencom Software, 9050 Capital of Texas Hwy. #300, Austin, TX 78759.
512/343-6666; sable@pencom.com.