Hoping to convince Oracle database users to migrate to DB2, IBM will add range partitioning to the next version of its product, which is code-named “Viper” and is expected to enter beta testing in August or September.

The addition of this technology, already in Oracle’s database, serves to increase the performance of high-end applications. It also makes it easier for developers to create exploitive applications for Viper and for larger IT shops to manage their environment more adroitly.

Range partitioning maps data to partitions based on ranges of key values, which users establish for each partition. For instance, companies often prefer to divide sales data into monthly partitions.

“Range partitioning is about performance, but it also eases the design for massively parallel applications and helps streamline administration,” said Janet Perna, general manager of IBM’s software data management group. “If we want to continue to move Oracle users to DB2, this is a good thing for us to have.”

IBM said that when used in combination with Viper’s Multi-Dimensional Clustering (MDC) capabilities, range partitioning will enable the speedy retrieval of information from complex queries, by making data easier to locate.

Although MDC and range partitionaing aren’t as important as other XML capabilities going into Viper, some database developers see such performance enhancers and ease-of-use features as vital.

“The fact Viper will have native XML capabilities really opens it so it has much more strategic impact for ISVs, not to diminish the addition of range partitioning,” said Paul Chan, director of marketing for Puredge Solutions.

But the heavy infusion of XML technology is what Chan and other developers said is the more important breakthrough in Viper. They say Viper will help encourage the development and adoption of XML-based applications among many larger shops, many of which are just now evaluating it.

“This is a horse race between Oracle and IBM to come up with the best story around [XML],” said Dana Gardner, principal analyst at InterArbor Solutions. “But don’t forget that Microsoft will soon have another release of SQL Server, [which] they will say brings operational efficiencies and metadata benefits that will be run on lower-cost hardware.”

Microsoft last week said it will debut SQL Server 2005 on Nov. 7, along with Visual Studio 2005, and BizTalk Server 2006.

Although range partitioning only draws DB2 even with Oracle’s features, IBM officials said coupling range partitioning with MDC will give its database product a distinct advantage. “If companies are going to do analytics in real time,” Perna said, “they need a database platform that can ingest information at transaction speeds, so they can analyze the information and then carry out complex queries against that data.”

IBM also will be adding several other features and capabilities to Viper as the product goes through its beta cycle, including a number of autonomic — that is, self-healing and self-managing — capabilities, as well as beefed up security, Perna added.