IBM also intends to bring out a version of DB2 9 for its System z mainframe before year’s end, he added. DB2 9 Enterprise Edition, a full-blown version of the database, is priced from US$36,400 ...

Through the years, IBM has brought DB2 to other platforms, including Unix, Windows and Linux. DB2 is optimized for the cloud, SAP, Intel’s Xeon processor and IBM POWER.

Meanwhile, IBM said Db2 11.5 has a shared code base with three editions: Db2, Db2 Standard and Db2 Advanced. Db2 is a trial download for developers with a single application to prototype and test.

IBM itself is using the BLU components of DB2 10.5 as a cornerstone for its DB2 SmartCloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS), to add computational heft for data reporting and analysis jobs.