But wait… is there more than one way to skin a cat? Kyle Hailey thinks so, and he’s not afraid to let Jonathan know it!
Kyle’s fancy footwork will include his own approach to Visual SQL Tuning (VST) with some ring side support from DB Optimizer XE. Hitting below the belt? You be the judge.

Live! June 10, 2010 at 11AM Pacific

About the Contenders:

Jonathan Lewis
Consultant, Speaker and Author

Jonathan Lewis has been working in the IT industry for nearly 25 years, and has been using the Oracle RDBMS for more than 20. For the last 16 years he has been working as a freelance consultant, often spending only one or two days at a time with any client to address critical performance problems. Jonathan is also renowned throughout the world (having visited 42 countries at the last count) for his tutorials and seminars. He was a founding member of the Oak Table network, and one of the first individuals to be contacted by Oracle University for their "Celebrity Seminar" events. He also writes regularly for the UKOUG magazine, and occasionally for other publications around the world. In the limited amount of time he has left over, Jonathan also publishes high-tech Oracle articles on his blog at jonathanlewis.wordpress.com.

Kyle Hailey
Program Manager, Database Performance and Optimization Products
Embarcadero Technologies

Kyle Hailey has been in the industry for a decade and a half and working with Oracle for over 13 years, having spent time in support, porting, benchmarking, and kernel development at Oracle. After creating tools to improve high-end performance monitoring such as direct SGA attach and interactive graphic displays of performance data, he recently redesigned the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g performance pages to be graphically oriented and wait-interface centric. He now works at Embarcadero on their suite of performance tuning and monitoring tools. He is a member of the Oak Table and co-author of Oracle insights: Tales of the Oak Table. He is also a regular speaker at Hotsos, NoCOUG, RMOUG, NYOUG, Oracle World and Dbforum and he teaches classes around the world on Oracle performance tuning.

With Rapid SQL you can:

• Create high-quality SQL code faster
• Develop SQL code for up to seven popular database platforms – from a single interface
• Improve team collaboration and resource sharing, including seamless integration with source control systems
• Accelerate application development cycles with code assist, quick fixes, and debugging and profiling tools
• Produce on-the-fly, platform-specific language conversions
• Extend SQL skills into unfamiliar databases while the entire development team standardizes on one solution

Rapid SQL XE includes an Eclipse-based SQL IDE with integrated Java to SQL round-trip debuggers.
Rapid SQL XE comes complete with support for all major databases including IBM® DB2® for LUW, DB2® for z/OS, Firebird, InterBase, Microsoft® SQL Server, MySQL®, Oracle®, and Sybase®.

What’s New in Rapid SQL XE (v7.7)

New Data Source and Object Filtering Features

Rapid SQL delivers three new filtering capabilities most requested by our customers. Simple, name-based filtering lets you filter data sources based on naming. When typing characters in the data source explorer and object list filter boxes the list is updated to show only matching objects. Complex, user-defined object name filtering lets you create your own custom filters at the data source level. And Node filtering lets you hide and show objects based on object type. These new filtering enhancements enable developers to better control the user interface and work more efficiently.

Enhanced ISQL Editor

The ISQL editor in Rapid SQL 7.7 has been enhanced to meet the challenging needs of the database developer. The ISQL editor now supports “on-the-fly” syntax checking of both your code as well as the object names. To further reduce the possibility of keying errors, Rapid SQL 7.7 introduces two other powerful functions; full object look-up throughout the SQL statement, and code complete. With code complete, Rapid SQL will dynamically walk you through statements, prompting you with dropdowns, to ensure proper syntax is used.

Data Source Management

New data source management features helps streamline workflow and simplifies data source management. Data source categorization lets you visually distinguish servers used for different purposes in your enterprise. And new import and export capabilities makes it easy to quickly export and import registered data source information so you can capture data source information for backup, migrate them to other machines, or share data source information with others in your organization.

Unicode Support

In today’s global environment, when data is passed over different continents and different languages, Unicode is the internationally recognized method to support global data. Rapid SQL 7.7 now offers full Unicode support throughout the application, allowing you to work with data in different languages and display the text correctly on screen.

InterBase and Firebird Support

The Rapid SQL 7.7 release introduces native support for InterBase and Firebird with connectivity, object management, SQL editing and execution facilities, and project support.

Data Editor

Improvements to the data editor include simplifying record creation and default value handling to quickly add multiple records.

User Interface Enhancements

Rapid SQL 7.7 continues the ongoing efforts to standardize object editors and wizards to improve workflow and the user interface experience.

Additional Enhancements

• Object management enhancements for Oracle, DB2 z/OS, DB2 LUW, and SQL Server
• Enhanced currency and support for DB2 z/OS and LUW
• Windows 7 support

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Embarcadero Technologies today released Rapid SQL XE, the latest version of its integrated development environment (IDE) that enables developers and database administrators (DBAs) to produce high quality SQL code faster. Rapid SQL XE includes direct native support for heterogeneous database environments from a single user interface, and debuts support for Embarcadero® InterBase® and the open-source Firebird database, in addition to full Unicode support.

As with the recently introduced DBArtisan XE line, Rapid SQL XE includes support for all database platforms with a single product, interface and license, and also includes Embarcadero® ToolCloud™ centralized licensing and on-demand deployment features.

“As the application and database landscape becomes increasingly heterogeneous, developers must adapt by working proficiently on multiple platforms,” said Michael Swindell, senior vice president of marketing and product management, Embarcadero Technologies. “Rapid SQL XE enables IT and development managers to maximize their database development productivity by standardizing on a single tool that allows them to work on all database platforms – even ones they are not familiar with – using a single interface and minimal training.”

The intuitive SQL editing, debugging and optimization tools integrated into Rapid SQL XE help developers overcome the learning curve associated with developing for different types of databases and create high performance SQL code with optimal efficiency.

Rapid SQL XE is the second Embarcadero product to include Embarcadero ToolCloud as a standard feature. ToolCloud provides centralized licensing and provisioning plus on-demand tool deployment to improve tool manageability for IT organizations with multiple users of Rapid SQL or other Embarcadero products. Embarcadero InstantOn, also included with Rapid SQL XE, gives developers click-and-run access to Rapid SQL XE from anywhere on their network with zero-install requirements on their local machines.

Rapid SQL XE includes several feature enhancements, such as:

• Unicode Support – Unicode is the internationally recognized method to support global data and allows users to work with data in different languages and display the text correctly on screen.
• InterBase and Firebird Support - Rapid SQL XE introduces native support for InterBase and Firebird with connectivity, object management, SQL editing and execution facilities, and project support.
• Object Filtering – Rapid SQL XE delivers three new filtering capabilities most requested by our customers: name-based filtering, user-defined object name filtering and node filtering. These new filtering enhancements enable developers to better control the user interface and work more efficiently.
• Enhanced ISQL Editor - The ISQL editor now supports “on-the-fly” syntax checking of both code and object names. To further reduce the possibility of keying errors, Rapid SQL XE introduces two other powerful functions: full object look-up and code complete.
• Data Editor - Improvements to the data editor include simplifying record creation and default value handling to quickly add multiple records.
• User Interface Enhancements – Rapid SQL XE continues the ongoing efforts to standardize object editors and wizards to improve workflow and the user interface experience.

Rapid SQL XE also includes new data source management features, object management enhancements for Oracle, DB2 z/OS, DB2 LUW and SQL Server, and enhanced currency and support for DB2 z/OS and LUW and Windows 7. Rapid SQL XE supports all major databases including IBM® DB2® for LUW, DB2® for z/OS, Firebird, InterBase, Microsoft® SQL Server, MySQL®, Oracle® and Sybase®.

Press Release Source: Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. On Wednesday May 5, 2010, 8:00 am EDT

 Pricing and Availability

Rapid SQL XE is now available starting at $1,495. Existing Rapid SQL customers who have purchased support for two or more database platforms can upgrade to Rapid SQL XE for $895.

About Embarcadero Technologies

Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. is the leading provider of software tools that empower application developers and data management professionals to design, build, and run applications and databases more efficiently in heterogeneous IT environments. Over 90 of the Fortune 100 and an active community of more than three million users worldwide rely on Embarcadero’s award-winning products to optimize costs, streamline compliance, and accelerate development and innovation. Founded in 1993, Embarcadero is headquartered in San Francisco with offices located around the world. Embarcadero is online at www.embarcadero.com.

Embarcadero, the Embarcadero Technologies logos and all other Embarcadero Technologies product or service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6275600&lang=en.

MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6275600