IBM Db2 is a collection of products for database and data management, processing, and analytics. IBM’s first database was developed by IBM employee Edgar Codd as a relational database. IBM also first developed SQL, the standard language for databases. They first named their database product DB2 in 1983 (changing it to Db2 in 2017).
Db2, as a family of data management products, now focuses on advanced, AI-driven analytics. It is available on Windows, Linux, and UNIX operating systems. In 2020, Db2 was named a Leader in cloud database management systems by technology research firm Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, a method of scoring top tech vendors.
Db2 products
Db2 Database is offered through IBM’s Cloud Pak for Data, an AI platform for data cloud services. IBM has a containerized version of Db2 for workloads in containers. Db2 Database is geared toward enterprises that need AI analytics for their large stores of data.
Db2 on Cloud, IBM’s cloud database or Database-as-a-Service, is scalable for different amounts of stored data, should those amounts increase or decrease. It uses machine learning for applications that require AI. Db2 on Cloud offers both security for data at rest and agility for those applications that need the responsiveness of AI.
Db2 Warehouse uses Apache Spark engine for big data analytics. It provides containers for users to transport applications easily and machine learning for the data stored in the warehouse.
Db2 Warehouse on Cloud offers in-memory processing for faster data analysis, processing data in RAM or flash instead of on a disk. It’s elastic, meaning that its pricing is scalable based on the data or workloads that customers currently have and how that could change in the future.
Db2 Big SQL is an SQL-on-Hadoop platform for large data stores that need advanced queries and parallel processing. Big SQL can integrate with Apache Spark for analytics.
Db2 Event Store focuses on event-driven applications, which are applications that don’t require high-latency go-betweens but rather respond when a user triggers an event on the app. Applications that require real-time response to user action can also require real-time data analytics and machine learning, especially for enterprises that are trying to keep up with customer demand. Event Store offers data ingest capabilities and is also built on Apache Spark.
Db2 for z/OS provides a database for enterprises to store data on IBM’s mainframe operating system, z/OS. It’s useful for enterprise data that backs mobile applications.
