Vision Updates Database Replication Solution

October 4, 2011 Alex Woodie

Vision Solutions yesterday unveiled Double-Take Share 5.0, a new version of the database replication that previously was known as Vision Replicate1. The release brings enhancements in the area of SQL Server support, enhanced flat file support, and expanded support for data types.

It has been some time since we’ve seen an enhancement to Double-Take Share, a database replication tool that supports all major databases, including DB2/400, DB2 LUW, DB2 for z/OS, IBM’s Informix, Oracle‘s eponymous database, Sybase ASE, and Teradata‘s database. Before Vision changed the name of the product to Double-Take Share following the completion of its $242 million acquisition of Double-Take Software in July 2010, it was known as Replicate1. The last publicized update to the product was Lakeview Technology’s version 4.03 release in 2004.

Version 5 brings three major updates. For starters Vision has bolstered its Microsoft SQL Server replication by using a new transaction log-based change data capture (CDC) method. Vision says this new CDC method delivers better replication performance and lower impact on the database than the old trigger-based method it previously used.

Vision’s executive vice president and chief technology officer Alan Arnold says Double-Take Share version 5 is a compelling solution “For organizations that want to use native SQL Server log-based change capture technology to replicate data to reporting servers for on-demand reports or business intelligence, for active-to-active bi-directional replication between servers, or for data migration to a new database, operating system or hardware platforms.”

Vision says it has expanded its support for data types and data properties on the target database by enabling support for expressions, which are a combination of identifiers, values, and operators. The software vendor says it has also extended the supported length of IBM i characters to 32 KB, the maximum length supported by DB2/400.

Vision says customers should find it easier to replicate flat files and engage in data interchange using flat files thanks to the product’s new capability to support multiple delimiters of up to 10 characters. For more information, see the company’s website at www.visionsolutions.com.