The DB2 product family represents IBM's primary RDBMS offering, with individual editions and tools available supporting everything from stand-alone application development (including a version specifically for use on mobile devices) to full scale, multi-server partitioned databases for data warehousing and access in the largest enterprise implementations. DB2 counts Oracle as its primary rival in the Enterprise DB market. With the exception of DB2 Everyplace, all versions of DB2 share the same core code, allowing for the development of applications that can scale upwards by upgrading to a more powerful version of the DB itself.

For mobile device DB access, DB2 offers DB2 Everyplace Edition in both Standard and Enterprise flavors. The standard edition is for "take-along" database usage in which the DB interaction is contained entirely within the mobile device, while the Enterprise Edition adds synchronization capabilities between the mobile device DB and backend DB servers.

The DB2 Personal Edition is for stand alone applications which require the extended capabilities of the core DB2 engine, but do not require remote access. A Personal Developer's Edition is available for development use only.

For small to medium sized businesses, IBM offers DB2 Workgroup and DB2 Workgroup Unlimited Edition. The Workgroup editions are Web-enabled client/server platforms similar to the enterprise edition but without integrated mainframe connectivity and some of the Enterprise Edition's extensibility features. The "Unlimited" edition differs only in licensing options; a primary key difference being that hits to the DB in the Workgroup Edition (when purchased based on processor) are limited to Internet connections while processor based licensing on the Unlimited edition provides access via both Internet and intranet.

At the top of the line, IBM offers DB2 Enterprise for full scale large enterprise implementations. DB2 Enterprise Edition builds on the functionality of the Workgroup Edition and adds the DB2 Connect component providing the ability to connect to host mainframe DBs. Additionally, multiple extension options are available for DB2 Enterprise Edition, including the Spatial Extended for spatial data analysis; the Net Search Extended (v8) for enhanced performance in-memory and text search capabilities; and the Data Links Manager (v8) that allows for the manipulation and management of data in both unstructured system files and the RDB itself. A final member of the DB2 family, the Enterprise Extended Edition, provides the ability to partition large databases across multi-server deployments.

Enhancements in the latest DB2 release include DBA tools such as the Configuration Advisor and Health Center with it's ability to take or recommend specific actions, for the initial configuration and continued monitoring of the DB; improved Web Services accessibility features allowing developers to access Web service based information with a single SQL query and automate XML transformations; and the Connection Concentrator allowing for the reduction of required server memory by multiplexing multiple DB connections across a smaller number of actual connections.

Visit IBM's DB2 subsite for further information.