San Francisco, CA -- September 7, 2003 -- CoSORT / Innovative Routines International (IRI), Inc. is introducing a high-performance data extraction solution for the Oracle RDBMS (v7-9.2) at OracleWorld 2003 in San Francisco and Paris. CoSORT's FAst extraCT (FACT) 1.1 for Oracle uses parallel unload technology to produce portable flat files and the optional metadata for CoSORT sort control language (SortCL) transformations and Oracle (SQL*Loader) reloads. In addition, FACT extracts, SortCL transformations, and Oracle loads can all be combined in a single command-line ETL operation.

"FACT and CoSORT make use of sequential file streams (flat records) for high-volume data warehouse staging ," according to IRI Business Development VP David Friedland. "FACT is a breakthrough for pulling table data into flat files -- not only for Oracle users, but for CoSORT users who relied on slower SQL SELECT statements or pricier third-party extraction tools." By combining extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) steps in single-pass flat-file operations, "DBAs and data warehouse architects using FACT and CoSORT will have a uniquely fast and affordable data staging solution for large volumes of Oracle data," he added (See About Flat Files, below).

At Korea's Nonghyup Bank, credit card billing department manager Sang-Kyu Park uses FACT to unload high volumes of transactional table data. "In developing our billing processes, we evaluated several unloading tools and methods. FACT's unload speed, ability to create files in multiple formats, and integration with CoSORT, combine to make our billing system successful, efficient, and cost-effective," Park reported.

FACT runs on the command line with an 'ini' file that defines qualified or unqualified table extractions. The ini file specifies the table and flat-file output format, and names optional destinations for SortCL data definition file (.ddf) and SQL*Loader Control File (.ctl) metadata. SortCL metadata lays out the format(s) of one (or more) input/source and/or output/target file(s). SortCL metadata can be used in SortCL job specification files (.scl) for simultaneous data transformations, including: conditional selection and filtering, sort/merge, match/join, data-type conversion, aggregation, cross-calculation, sequencing, and/or report (re)formatting. SortCL specifications use explicit, SQL-familiar syntax, and get run from the command line, batch scripts, cross-platform Java GUI, or API call. The SQL*Loader metadata similarly facilitates pre-CoSORTed, flat-file bulk re-loads into Oracle tables.

FACT can be licensed independently of CoSORT for pure extraction requirements. FACT's low 4-5 figure perpetual use license fees are based on hardware sizing and quantity, not Oracle usage or users. When bundled with CoSORT, an 'ultra-performing' ETL package for Oracle and flat-file data can be purchased between $15,000 and $45,000, depending on hardware.

 

About Flat Files
Data warehousing experts like Dr. Ralph Kimball support using sequential (flat) files to improve high-volume data warehouse performance. In DBMS magazine, Kimball concluded that "most data staging activities are sequential" and recommended that data staging be done in "flat files before loading it into a relational database." Moreover, according to Executive Information Systems' CEO and Chief Scientist Dr. Joseph Firestone, "since almost all processing in data staging is sorting and merging, it wastes time and resources to convert to another format [for] transformation." CoSORT's flat-file staging program, SortCL, is also far faster than SQL ORDER BY and JOIN commands, and per Oracle's Server Utilities Guide, "pre-sorting improves the performance of direct path loads and queries and minimizes the temporary storage requirements during the load." Oracle users speed their SQL*Loader operations up to 90% (10X) by pre-CoSORTing flat file(s) on their longest index (primary key) field for the incoming table.

About CoSORT / IRI, Inc.
CoSORT / IRI, Inc. is the world's leading provider of high-performance, high-volume data sorting and manipulation software on UNIX and Windows platforms and a member of the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). For 25 years, IRI has created and expanded 'open systems standards' for speed, ease, versatility and value with its flagship CoSORT solution set for data centers. CoSORT accelerates commercial and government data processing applications, including mainframe sort and data migration, database utility operations, data warehouse ETL, report generation, and many third-party software applications. For more information, visit www.cosort.com or call IRI at 800-333-SORT.

About Oracle Technology Network
The Oracle Technology Network (OTN) is the definitive source for building applications for the Oracle Internet Platform. Members are a part of an online community with access to free software, OTN-sponsored Internet developer conferences, and discussion groups on up-to-date Oracle technology. Membership has to nearly one million members. For more information, visit technet.oracle.com or call Oracle at 650-506-7000.

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CoSORT is a trademark of Innovative Routines International, Inc. FACT is a trademark of CoSORT Korea, Ltd. Oracle is a trademark of Oracle Corporation.

Editorial Contact:
Lisa Mangino, CoSORT / IRI, Inc. 321-777-8889, ext. 224, or lisam@iri.com