Db2 goes 'cloud-first' as IBM struggles to lift database dinosaur

IBM plans to launch a database-as-a-service version of its Db2 database on hyperscaler clouds as it attempts to execute a "cloud-first" strategy with the relational behemoth. Speaking to the IDUG Db2 user group conference in Edinburgh this week, Michael Kwok, executive director for Db2 in IBM's Data and AI division, said his …

[GreenReaper]

Software support is lacking

I wanted to try to use IBM in Cloud's free 200MB Db2 instance for something, but nothing I care for seems to use it. I guess I'm not really their target customer anyway, but I think they have missed the boat with respect to application developer mindshare.

The same for Oracle and their two 20GB free cloud databases. MediaWiki used to support it and MS SQL, but hasn't since MW 1.34 - and not well before that: https://mediawiki.org/wiki/Core_Platform_Team/Decisions_Architecture_Research_Documentation/Dropping_Abstract_Schema_Support_For_Oracle_and_MSSQL

[Anonymous Coward]

>In recent years there has been a flurry of innovation with startups entering the database market – including MongoDB, MariaDB, Redis, Elastic Search, CockroachDB, Apache Cassandra, Splunk

It is impressive to list out quite so many data technologies and get such a poor hit rate for listing actual databases, doubly so that not one of them operates in Db2's market segment!

[bregister]

My hopes were up ...

when I thought it was DB2 for mainframe.

"Dinosaur" is shirley a bit strong, you mean its been around for more than 10 minutes and real businesses depend on it, right?

[John Smith 19]

you mean its been around for more than 10 minutes and real businesses depend on it, right?

Indeed, by several decades.

The trouble was it ran without drama, which made customers (or their PHB's) think that any database could manage this.

IRL quite a lot of them could not. Like for example how long it took some suppliers to manage to implement locking over single records, not sectors (or "clusters"). How f**kwitted did they look.

But by then the PHB's had bought A.N.Others products, given themselves a rise and moved on, leaving everyone else to sort out their s**t.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: My hopes were up ...

DB2 is a clear case of if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[spireite]

Late mover...

Honestly, I thought it was a dinosaur - spoken in the same way as Informix... as another IBM product.

Surely, by now, they've not just missed the boat - the harbour has since been destroyed by coastal erosion - and this is another death throe of a venerable platform.