DMExpress is a tool for DB Admins and/or data managers and application developers that provides optimized ETL capabilities for use in data management (including export, aggregation, migration, etc.) and/or reporting tasks. The client/server platform enables users to design transformation tasks on workstations and then deploy them on servers when ready. Defined jobs can be scheduled, embedded in batch scripts, or launched from 3rd party applications.

At its core, DMExpress allows for the integration, aggregation, and transformation of data from and to multiple sources; with base support offered for flat files (fixed or variable length records), structured files such as indexed files and spreadsheets, pipes, and data in memory. Transformations can be applied at the source (converting tables to files/vice versa), record (join, sort, merge, aggregate), or individual field (data type/format conversion, comparisons, boolean operations, and general purpose functions) levels.

Onto the core platform the vendor offers separately available modules to enhance its capabilities. These currently include:

- Advanced Data Management (ADM), which provides optimized aggregation and join capabilities and includes enhanced data transformation features including Unicode support; support for external, arithmetic, date/time, and string functions, and support for user-defined values, among others.

- Data Source/Data Target, separate components that provide the ability to read/write directly from/to DB tables, including XML files, Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Sybase, and ODBC source/targets, among others.

- Impact Analysis, which graphically displays what if information such as the effect of a variable change, identification of all input variables that effect the value of a selected output variable, and global find (across all jobs) capabilities.

- Grid Computing, for distributed processing of jobs (jobs are automatically separated into parallel streams and deployed to individual selected computers in the grid). Grid machines can be heterogeneous.

- Advanced Graphical User Interface, with features including a drag/drop visual Task and Job Editor with the ability to reuse developed objects and tasks; server status monitoring; job scheduling and submissions; data sampling; and more.

New features in the latest release of DMExpress include data source/target support for SAP, IBM Mainframe, and MicroFocus; support for additional data types (including Oracle Large Objects); additional standardization, cleansing, and validation functions; and optimized performance on specific platforms including Netezza and Vertica.

DMExpress is available now. Visit the Syncsort Web site for further information.