Upgrading to the current version of FairCom DB = A no brainer

There is no good excuse not to upgrade your FairCom database

Note: c-treeACE became FairCom DB in November 2020.

Part 1: SQL
Part 2: Reliability
Part 3: Performance
Part 4: Security
Part 5: Support

Are you using an older version of FairCom DB database management system software?

After the quick upgrade, you’ll get up to a 3x performance increase, encryption and many more modern features and platforms.

Below, we provide answers that debunk the common excuses given for not upgrading to a current version of FairCom DB:

No need to fear! Upgrading from a legacy version of FairCom DB (c-tree, c-tree Plus or c-treeACE) is much easier than you think. In fact, it is so easy that you will likely be upset with yourself for not doing it sooner. Easily get off that unsupported version. (Note: V12 is the latest version.)

Excuse: Management will never approve that much dev time.
Reality: Dev time is much shorter than you think.
The reality is they would approve the time it would take to get a proof of concept operational – which is typically a matter of 4 to 16 hours. From there, it will fund itself as people get excited about being able to have client/server and SQL over their existing FairCom DB data files, with no file conversions.

Excuse: There is a lack of resources.
Reality: We will help you.
FairCom has experienced engineers available to walk your R&D team through the steps to upgrade and change operational models. We have worked with hundreds of customers over the years and are available to help you.

Excuse: It will require data migration.
Reality: Incorrect, … in most cases.
The last time FairCom had a mandatory file reformat was 1992, between FaiCom DB V4 and V6. The latest release of FairCom DB can still read and write to V6 files from 1992. If you are using V4 or older, then some work MAY be required. If data migration is needed, FairCom provides a utility to easily and quickly update the data, usually in less than a day.

Excuse: Server cost is too high.
Reality: You will be surprised at the cost.
The FairCom business team is very flexible with pricing and licensing terms. We understand that if you aren’t successful, we can’t be successful. So, we are on the same team to come up with a winning business model.

Excuse: It is too complex to install and maintain servers remotely.
Reality: It is actually an EASY process.
FairCom’s server technology is very easy to install: (1) The FairCom DB Server process is made up of a handful of files that can easily be integrated into your application installer; or (2) you can use the FairCom provided Server engine installer to install the FairCom DB Server; or (3) you can even embed the FairCom DB Server directly into your application.

Excuse: Requires too much R&D time to migrate to Servers.
Reality: It can be done within a few hours.
FairCom engineers have worked with customers that have upgraded from 1980s technology to the latest FairCom DB Server engine in a matter of hours. FairCom has worked hard to maintain backward compatibility for the APIs we support, the data file format (back to 1992, and prior to 1992 with a single conversion utility), and the overall execution of the technology.

Excuse: Our developers only program in language “X”.
Reality: FairCom technology is extremely flexible.
One of the many great things about FairCom database technology is that it works well with multiple platforms, operating systems and languages. In fact, you can use nine of the top 10 most popular languages (and others) when using FairCom DB. Some of the languages are Java, Python, C++, C#, etc.   

Excuse: I have a legacy hardware or operating system requirement.
Reality: FairCom technology remains extremely cross-platform.
FairCom has worked with more than 100 platform and OS combinations through the years, with many still supported. All it takes is a C compiler and a threading library (and even that can be optional.) We continue to support applications on SCO Unix, HP Unix, QNX Neutrino, Mac OSX and more. Moreover, client applications and FairCom DB servers can exist on differing platforms (with mixed 32-bit and 64-bit architectures at that.)

Now that we have established that upgrading to a current version of FairCom DB is easy, the next question is why should I upgrade?

There are numerous benefits that your organization will receive by trusting your database operations with a current version of FairCom DB, which is available for more than 20 platforms, including real-time operating systems, and offers more than 22 APIs in a variety of development environments.

Some examples of the benefits you will receive by upgrading to V11.5 are:

• Multimodel NoSQL and SQL
• Huge file support up to 16 Exabyte size files
• AES encryption
• TLS encryption for data in flight
• Use a supported version (only V10 and newer is currently supported)
• Hot Alter Table (schema changes on the fly)
• Instant performance gains of up to 3X
• In-memory speed
• Operate on the latest Windows, Unix, MacOS, Linux and more
• Modern language support:  nine of the top 10 most popular languages including: Java, Python, C++, C#, PHP, etc.

And these benefits and many others will occur with the easy upgrade … even if you are moving up from a version as far back as V6 or prior.

Contact our experienced team to talk about your unique upgrade situation. Call 1-800-234-8180 or click here for additional contact information.

Learn more about the current version of FairCom DB at FairCom.com/products/faircom-db.