Dr. Dobb's | Ken North

Measuring Performance for Analytics, Decision Support, and the Data Warehouse

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 17:03 EDT

The Transaction Processing Council (TPC) produces specifications for benchmarks to compare hardware and software configurations used for applications such as online transaction processing (OLTP) and decision support.

100 GB to 30,000 GB: Size, Speed, and Benchmarks

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 15:43 EDT

Performance, data integrity, and ease of use are key characteristics to look for when comparing database systems.

Information Storage and Retrieval: From MEDLARS to Twitter

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 23:00 EST

Each decade, technology breakthroughs update our lexicon with new words and phrases.

Supercomputing, The Cloud, Big Data, and NoSQL

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:54 EST

Sometimes technology that has become trendy is a branch on an evolutionary tree; other times it's a revolutionary departure from the long-established status quo.

NoSQL Speed Bumps

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 15:14 EDT

With cloud computing gaining momentum, there is continued interest in suitable databases for the cloud. Initially, advocates of the NoSQL movement touted the ability to scale out for large websites, but not all of the recent press about NoSQL databases has been positive

Growth of Web Servers in Ireland

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 13:48 EDT

Amazon is responsible for much growth in the number of web servers in Ireland

Cloud Computing Races On, But NoSQL Finds Bumps In The Road

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:47 EST

Highly publicized outages of sites using a NoSQL solution have raised the specter of stability problems. That's not atypical for new software and some big name NoSQL products are not an exception

A Tribute to Innovation: Ken Olsen

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 17:47 EST

Ken Olsen was a force in the industry and he helped shape the history of computing for several decades.

Cloud Computing: Data Services, NoSQL and SQL Databases

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 18:17 EST

The recent news on the NoSQL database front is that hackers are now looking into security vulnerabilities due to the architecture of NoSQL solutions. The best approach to security relies on multi-laye...

Legislation, Tracking Applications and XML Plumbing

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:30 EST

After the W3C published XML 1.0, there was a surge of interest in a new class of data stores commonly referred to as 'XML servers' and 'native XML databases' that stored an XML document as a unit. Am...

Peepers, Terrorists, Doctors and Data Threats - Oh My!

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:20 EST

Recently there's been more evidence of employees disregarding privacy rights because of curiosity, opportunities to sell information, and assisting criminals and even terrorists.

Computer Price Comparisons with the Mustang Index

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 15:59 EST

Over several decades, the price of computers has dropped dramatically - as the Mustang Index shows - and productivity of knowledge workers has risen. Of all of the things purchased or leased by organi...

Government Seeking Comments on Cloud Security Proposal

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:28 EST

The US government has established the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) to define the security environment in which those applications in the cloud must operate.

Rush to the Cloud

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 17:49 EST

The Kundra plan calls for each government agency to identify three services that must move to the cloud, enabling them to benefit from "commodity IT funding". There's an expectation that moving applic...

Part II: Specialty Hardware, Databases, Mainframes, and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:52 EST

Building new services and applications is one solution for surfacing information that currently resides in data silos, such as legacy data sources. So there's plenty of interest in tapping mainframe d...

Specialty Hardware, Databases, Mainframes, and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 14:01 EST

With our long history of enthusiasm for turbo-charging systems, it's no surprise today's system architects look to hardware solutions to streamline query execution, analytics, web services performance...

SQL Injection Attacks and Data Theft

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 02:14 EST

SQL databases are everywhere. Many are accessible from Internet connections, such as for use with web-facing applications. But even today not all database servers tied to the Internet are hardened and...

Misuse of Computers and Databases: The Bad Guys Get Smarter

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 23:00 EDT

The value of data is what makes cyber-crime via the Internet an attractive proposition. This type of crime has attracted a class of criminals who are more technically sophisticated than the carders with their encoding devices attached to PCs.

Misuse of Computers: Shadowcrew and soupnazi

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:48 EDT

Shadowcrew members used a combination of instant messaging, encryption, and anonymizers (virtual private networks, proxy servers, and rotating IP addresses) to hide their activity and they succeeded in operating for more than two years.

The Misuse of Computers: A Rogue's Gallery

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:25 EDT

Methods have changed over the decades but today's criminal is often seeking the same pot at the end of the rainbow as his counterpart 25 years - financial systems, often debit and credit card payment systems.

SQL, NoSQL or SomeSQL?

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:21 EDT

One might expect that using a NoSQL database means having no SQL capabilities, but a NoSQL database can be part of a SomeSQL application or service architecture.

Standards, Stacks and Mergers: The SQL Backstory

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:48 EDT

During the SQL life span of almost 30 years, we've seen the arrival of networks, proliferation of personal computers, emergence of open source software, and software industry expansion and consolidation. One reason for SQL's resilience is a commitment by database companies to standards.

Invitation from the Dead

Fri, 28 May 2010 23:43 EDT

How many organizations review the shelf life of event generators in applications and databases, such as automated scheduling functions?

The New SAP: Databases, BI and Mobile Computing

Wed, 19 May 2010 15:02 EDT

In acquiring Sybase, SAP has broadened its footprint as an enterprise software vendor with software at the front and back end of analytics and BI applications.

Stereotype-Defying Career Longevity

Sun, 09 May 2010 18:04 EDT

It's nice to know that people with a fire in their gut can defy stereotypes and contribute for a lengthy career, whether it's in entertainment, computing or other fields for which they have a passion.