Winter Corporation Announces
TopTen™ Survey Program Will Begin
February 15th

Worldwide Campaign Maps Current and Future
Boundaries of Database Scalability
 

WALTHAM, Mass (January 25, 2005) — Winter Corporation, a leading center of expertise in very large databases, announces that the 2005 TopTen™ Program survey of the world’s largest and most heavily used databases will be launched February 15th.

The 2005 Program is the seventh Winter Corporation campaign to identify the world’s leading databases. The Program’s primary objective is to celebrate the users whose databases are defining new frontiers in size and performance. The campaign identifies the products, platforms and architectures that support these exceptional implementations. The campaign also highlights the technology vendors whose products and services are meeting the most demanding database requirements.

Scott Smith, Director of Data Warehouse Operations at comScore Networks, a Grand Prize (first place) award winner in the last Program, commented, “At comScore Networks, we collect massive amounts of information used to conduct timely, accurate consumer analysis and research for our valued clients. Our database requires analytical flexibility to support extensive QC procedures, speed to meet tight deadlines, and scalability to keep vast databases online and accessible. comScore is committed to developing industry-leading technology, and we’re delighted that our efforts have once again been recognized by Winter Corporation’s TopTen Program.”

Any database with a minimum of 1TB of data (excludes freespace and redundancy) may be entered. Respondents complete a short questionnaire on current and projected database size and workload, DBMS, server and storage environments, database and system architectures, and project benefits and obstacles. Participants are required to validate their submissions by running queries developed jointly by database vendors and Winter Corp. or submitting system-generated documentation that supports their figures. Award winners will be announced for up to 48 categories defined by application type, operating system and the four program metrics: database size (compressed and uncompressed), number of rows/records/objects and workload. Winter Corp. executes a comprehensive media campaign to publicize the program, award recipients and research findings. Previous campaigns have been covered by The New York Times, InformationWeek, eWeek, Forbes.com, CIO Magazine, Computerworld, IntelligentEnterprise and other industry publications. Winter Corp. uses the survey data to develop quantitative insights about large database demographics, their operating characteristics, and the practices used to develop and manage them. Past survey results have been featured at industry conferences and cited in business cases, publications and presentations by users, vendors and industry experts.

Richard Winter, president of Winter Corporation, remarked, “The TopTen Program provides a unique opportunity to publicly honor IT professionals for their achievements with large-scale databases. All too often, the vital contributions of these dedicated and highly skilled individuals go unnoticed. On the research side, the Program’s findings enable our clients to build fact-based business cases and make informed—not intuitive—technology decisions.”
The 2005 TopTen Program is sponsored by HP (NYSE: HPQ), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) and Sybase Inc. (NYSE: SY). Sponsorship does not sanction influence on the TopTen Program in any way.

Data collection for the 2005 TopTen Program runs until July 15th. Award winners and research results will be announced in September.

Visit our web site to learn more about the TopTen Program.

About Winter Corporation

Winter Corporation is an independent consulting firm that helps customers maximize the value of their large-scale database solutions, data warehouses and operational systems. The company provides research, consulting and education services that help users and vendors define their database solutions, architect and engineer their implementations, and manage their scalability issues. Winter Corporation focuses on database technology near, at and beyond the frontier of database of scalability.

For more information, contact Winter Corp. by e-mail at info@wintercorp.com, on the WorldWideWeb at www.wintercorp.com, or by calling 617-695-1800.

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