Message Gate: Meeting Customer Requirements on Time
Goal
To provide connectivity to a growing number of databases while streamlining development efforts.
Why they Selected DataDirect
DataDirect Connect for JDBC for Oracle came highly recommended in the technology community; further investigation revealed it as a good candidate for all databases they'd planned to support.
Business Benefits
Improved ability to provide consistent quality and performance for meeting customer requirements in a timely manner.
Technical Benefits
Developers develop applications once then use them against a number of different DBMS without modification.
A Growing Number of Databases
A company that provides enterprise e-mail governance solutions to leading companies will inevitably find itself having to support an ever-increasing number of databases. That's exactly what happened with MessageGate. The leading provider of scalable, enterprise-class messaging security and compliance solutions for Fortune 500 companies, MessageGate products provide protection from unwanted e-mail as well as comprehensive monitoring capabilities that enable enforcement of corporate policies and adherence to regulatory requirements.
"Our portfolio of applications required data connectivity to a growing number of databases," reports Bill Kilcullen, Vice President of Technology Partnerships at MessageGate. "We needed to abstract our application development form the underlying database in order to provide consistent quality and performance, so we could continue meeting our customer requirements in a timely manner."
Another pressing consideration, says Kilcullen, was the need to streamline the development and testing process in order to better manage internal costs. The decision was made to standardize on JDBC drivers.
"We set about looking for a technology partner who could provide us with a set of JDBC drivers in support of the major database vendors asked for by our customers."
"The DataDirect team stepped up to the plate and helped us get the answers we needed."
Bill Kilcullen
Vice President of Technology Partnerships
MessageGate
Problems – and a Solution
Trouble first arose when MessageGate began adding Oracle database support to their product line, when limitations became evident in the JDBC driver that Oracle ships with its database. The developer team conducted extensive research in Oracle and other forums as well as with Oracle resellers.
"It quickly became apparent that DataDirect Connect for JDBC driver for Oracle came highly recommended in the technology community," says Kilcullen. "Further investigation indicated that using DataDirect drivers would afford us streamlined access to all databases in our product roadmap."
The first of the company's solutions to deploy DataDirect drivers was MessageGate Policy Enforcement. By delivering a flexible policy engine, numerous message dispositions, and policy-specific content, the application lets companies proactively manage their information flow to protect confidential corporate communications, prevent inappropriate use of e-mail that could result in legal liability, and ensure that sensitive information is not released. It employs two different types of databases for any given deployment: an OLTP database for transactions, and an OLAP database for reporting and data warehousing.
A single API for development and access through JDBC to multiple types of databases simplifies the overall architecture and cuts development costs by reducing the amount and complexity of code needed to access various databases.
"We looked to DataDirect technology as a way to broaden our support for a multitude of database products while reducing our development effort," says Kilcullen, who adds that the decision has paid off. "DataDirect provides a set of JDBC drivers that allowed us to develop our applications once and then use them against a number of different databases without modification."
A Win/Win Scenario
MessageGate found DataDirect equally accommodating on the business end of technology. With the ink barely dry on the OEM agreement, DataDirect's technical support helped them with driver branding issues.
"The real test of technical support is when things are not going according to plan," says Kilcullen. "Once again, the DataDirect team stepped up to the plate and helped our development team get the answers they needed."
It is this combination of superior technology and partnering approach that Kilcullen claims to find most impressive, concluding that "DataDirect met the true test of a partnership, delivering quality technology that meets our needs, in a business manner that creates a win/win scenario for both companies."
