CA Adds Cloud Database Support To ERwin Modeling Tool

CA Technologies is adding support for Microsoft's SQL Azure cloud database to its CA ERwin data modeling tools in a move that will make it easier for businesses to integrate data residing in on-premise and cloud systems.

The new ERwin 8.2 release, available this week, also offers a Web portal that allows a greater range of employees to see and use a company's data assets. And CA is now offering a concurrent licensing option that will make it easier for organizations to share ERwin among developers and data managers.

ERwin is one of CA Technologies' flagship channel products, with 100 percent of sales made through VARs and other channel partners. It's particularly popular among VARs that focus on data modeling and database development, data governance, data integration and business intelligence services.

While only about 10 to 15 percent of businesses are using cloud databases today, about 75 percent are interested in their potential use, said Donna Burbank, senior director of product marketing for ERwin, in an interview. She based that on her experience at conferences where she's polled audiences about cloud database adoption.

Support for SQL Azure means that businesses can use ERwin to manage data structures in the cloud on the SQL Azure platform, according to the company, and visualize both on-premise and cloud data from a single data-modeling environment. That makes it easier to define business requirements for cloud systems and decide what data should be moved to the cloud and what should remain on-premise.

Database administrators and data modelers are the most regular users of ERwin. But Burbank said the Web-based portal would give a wider audience of workers access to the system, including business users, business intelligence analysts and developers, allowing organizations to get more value out of their data assets.

Concurrent licensing is a new option with CA ERwin 8.2 that allows businesses to share licenses across an organization and create license "pools" – something that's particularly useful for companies with globally distributed database management and modeling teams, Burbank said. Companies can also choose the workstation-based licensing CA Technologies currently offers for CA ERwin.