A powerful new facility for transferring databases and converting the data on HP e3000s is taking its place in the MB Foster suite of migration services, as the company rolls out its MBF-UDACentral tools for use by IT managers and database administrators.

“MBF-UDACentral accesses major corporate databases across multiple enterprise platforms, then delivers data to strategic destinations,” said MB Foster’s founder Birket Foster. “It gives migration projects the centralized switchyard for replacing data securely while preserving its integrity.”

Acting like a railway station for data, MBF-UDACentral is deployed by MB Foster’s Platinum Migration Partner experts working alongside a customer’s IT group. The software’s windowed interface, running on Windows, UNIX and Linux, or browser-based desktops, enables connectivity to databases for:

• Data exploration and cleanup

• Query building on either local or distributed databases

• Conversion of databases between Image/SQL, Allbase, and Oracle

• Attribute examination of JDBC drivers.

The new software tool builds on the decade of expertise in MB Foster’s labs from developing and maintaining ODBCLink/SE. the database link software that’s integrated into HP’s Image/SQL and Allbase databases. MBF-UDACentral connects to Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Allbase, Eloquence and Image databases on HP e3000s, UNIX, Linux, Sun Solaris and NT and Windows 2000 servers.

“This is the first tool that assists IT people who need to do cross-platform database access and exploring,” Foster said. “It has a major role in migrations, where companies will have to take a look at the data they have now, and where they want to move toward.”

The software, available to MB Foster’s clients during planning and migration engagements, lets data administrators point and click to generate DDL for new databases and build SQL queries. Data returned can be exported as CSV, XML, HTML and SQL formats, and can be delivered directly through methods like e-mail and FTP directly from MBF-UDACentral. The software exports the results of queries across multiple databases.

An SQL Wizard component of MBF-UDACentral previews the SQL which database administrators create through a graphical interface. DBAs can also directly enter SQL commands, and automated logging can be tuned to speed the creation of multiple versions of queries such as WHERE clauses for JOINs and conditions. Complex SQL statements for distributed databases can be captured and saved for reuse.

MBF-UDACentral’s Explorer features streamline the data maintenance essential to successful database transfer. “This helps people do cleanup of their data without having to write custom programs,” Foster said. “We used the data exchange power of UDALink and put it to work in handling a wide variety of data formats.”

MBF-UDACentral maintains the security levels offered through the facilities of enterprise databases. Oracle tables are created with the same security used by a customer’s database administrator. As part of a migration, MB Foster’s professional services organization will help a customer do an initial export of data, build a plan for cleanup, then do a final conversion.

“In its initial stages this is a big boost for people doing migrations,” said Foster, “but its scope goes well beyond that kind of project. As people grow to know MBF-UDACentral, they’ll take advantage of its other uses in database administration.”

About MB Foster

MB Foster, a provider of data access and delivery solutions to the Hewlett-Packard community for over 30 years, is a selected HP Platinum Migration Partner. The company provides migration planning, services and tools to assist HP e3000 customers in their move to other platforms, as well as proven data access solutions which drive mission-critical IT operations around the world. As a Certified Microsoft developer, an Oracle Partner, an IBM Business partner, and a Sun Development partner, MB Foster has a wealth of knowledge specifically focused on data – where all business logic and critical information resides.

The company is headquartered in Chesterville, Canada with offices in Texas, Washington, Ontario and British Columbia. For information on its distributors, products and services, visit www.mbfoster.com