Oracle cluster technology slammed

Oracle's much heralded clustering technology it claims makes Microsoft email "unbreakable" has come under fire from a rival software developer.

Simon Williams, CEO of database software developer Lazy Software, attacked Oracle's clustering technology by saying: "Relational databases are not made for clustering." As a result, he said, the development of such technologies has proved to be a very lengthy and complicated affair and is extremely expensive to boot.

Lazy Software claims that its own Associative Model database is better geared towards the clustering environment as its data is organised as a network rather than in tables.

Williams told silicon.com: "It's so difficult to do clustering on Oracle's database. This is why it's taken so long and why it is priced at such a premium."

Chris Ward, marketing manager for Oracle 9i, hit back and challenged Lazy to prove it can cluster. Ward said: "It sounds like marketing spout to be honest. The speed of development of clustering technologies has been in line with what customers have demanded."

And as for the claims that the technology is "hideously" priced, Ward said that Oracle prices were "commercially viable".

Lazy's technology has, however, some fans. Johnathan Steel, deputy chief executive of CoolCrypt consultancy, said: "Lazy's model is interesting and a really good idea but it's not going to do to relational databases what relational databases did to flat file."

Markus Siivola, technology analyst at Datamonitor, said: "I don't see Lazy posing a real threat because it's complicated to up-root databases that are already deeply embedded in the functioning of the company. There is also the political will power that will be required."

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