FEATURES

Sizing Up Parallel Architectures

GREG PFISTER No parallel implementation is ideal; SMP, NUMA, and clusters all have their tradeoffs with regards to scalability, availability, and management.

The Viper Strikes

TIM MATTHEWS Microsoft Transaction Server is the key element in Microsoft's vision of the middle tier. Here's how it works and the implications for database design and system architecture.

Compaq's New World: A Conversation with David Rodgers

JUSTIN KESTELYN In this exclusive interview, Compaq's database and business applications chief discusses his company's foray into the enterprise and quest toward "computing for the masses."

S P E C I A L F E A T U R E

Oracle View

The Oracle DBA's
Guide To NT

GUY HARRISON Any Oracle DBA worth his or her salt needs a firm grasp of NT Server's subtleties. Here are the salient differences between Unix and the contender.

Performance Monitoring's
Cutting Edge

HOWARD FOSDICK Understanding the latest innovations in performance monitoring can help your IT organization choose the right tools and approach for the job.

COLUMNS

DEPARTMENTS

EDITOR'S BUFFER
Justin Kestelyn Here comes the three-headed monster.

DATA ARCHITECT
Terry Moriarty Object-oriented business rules analysis.

VLDB VISION
Richard Winter The view from EMC.

WORKING WAREHOUSE
Alan Simon Digital: What went wrong?

ACCORDING TO DATE
C. J. Date Felonious SQL redundancies.

E-DATABASE
Pratik Patel JDBC meets middleware.

DECISION SUPPORT
Erik Thomsen How benchmarks uncover differences.

DATA-DRIVEN WORLD
Ian Shoales Something's missing.

ACCESS PATH
Answers for three-tier questions.

NEWS BROWSER
CA misfires in a bid to acquire services.

ADVERTISER INDEX
How to contact this month's advertisers.

PRODUCT NEWS
Cognos's PowerPlay Server Web Edition.

This Month Online:

MICHAEL LONIGRO explains why the surrogate primary key is a critical ingredient in stable, flexible, and high-performance enterprise databases.

Questions? Comments? We would love to hear from you!