Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!TRANSARC.COM!Jim_Troester From: Jim_Troester@TRANSARC.COM Newsgroups: comp.databases Subject: Re: Any TUXEDO users here? Message-ID: Date: 24 Jan 91 16:16:43 GMT References: <1991Jan23.235807.12928@indetech.com> Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Lines: 75 racle.com> <2374@edat.UUCP> <51164@sequent.UUCP> <1991Jan23.235807.12928@indetech.com> I've really enjoyed this thread; it seems to me that comp.databases is a reasonable home for oltp discussions. I just wanted to briefly share my view on the evolution of TP Monitors and the direction that they will take on Unix in the 90's. --------------------------------- _History_ TP Monitors grew out of a number of application projects in the late 1960's and early 1970's. A number of independent groups observed that there were common elements in all on-line systems. They culled out the APIs to those elements and the TP monitor was born. Much of the infrastructure that is commonplace in the nineties simply did not exist circa 1970. Layered communications architectures, standard data base APIs, and presentation services were at best research curiosities. Most of these early TP Monitors were products of hardware vendors simply because of economy of scale: all the related infrastructure had to be supplied with the monitor or taken from a proprietary OS and its tools. There was a strong predisposition to ``large'' centralized systems because communications were expensive and slow while the software infrastructure was nonexistent. The 1980s saw tremendous changes in the data processing industry that have set the stage for a revolution in distributed computing. Hardware advances, particularly in chip technology, have reduced expense and increased capacity by a factor of 20 in a decade. Additionally, communications costs have plummeted. The software infrastructure is now (mostly) in place. SNA, OSI, and TCP-IP all ease data communications. Relational databases accessed through SQL are mature. UNIX is quickly becoming the predominant operating environment for medium sized systems. Even proprietary operating systems typically provide POSIX interfaces, C, and the C libraries. The stage is now set for a new type of TP Monitor that integrates the changes of the eighties to provide a cost-effective distributed environment. _UNIX_Distributed_TP_Monitors_ The modern TP monitor must co-exist to be successful. All general purpose software built on top of "open systems" must be open. This means that interfaces must be published and care must be taken to allow the systems integrator to "plug in" components. The computing milieu of the 1990's is predisposed to heterogeneous distributed systems. Microprocessor technology, high speed communications, and the appropriate software infrastructure has shifted the economy of scale from large centralized systems to clusters of microprocessor based servers surrounded by large numbers of workstations or pcs. The challenge for the TP Monitor is to integrate de jure standards, de facto standards, and industry leading products. For the development environment, the TP Monitor provider must select a set of tools that complement each other and allow for the rapid building of applications. The Monitor must ensure that the execution environment contains the mix of features necessary for efficient and secure DTP. Further, it must provide a framework on which a seamless administration environment can be constructed. +------------------------------------------------------------------+ | James Troester troester@transarc.com (412) 338-4469 | | Transarc Corp., 707 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 | | All statements are mine and not Transarc's | +==================================================================+