Innovative Routines International (IRI), Inc. is an American software company first known for bringing

mainframe sort merge The Sort/Merge utility is a mainframe program to sort records in a file into a specified order, merge pre-sorted files into a sorted file, or copy selected records. Internally, these utilities use one or more of the standard sorting algorithms, o ...

functionality into open systems. IRI was the first vendor to develop a commercial replacement for the Unix sort command, and combine

data transformation In computing, data transformation is the process of converting data from one format or structure into another format or structure. It is a fundamental aspect of most data integrationCIO.com. Agile Comes to Data Integration. Retrieved from: https ...

and reporting in Unix

batch processing Computerized batch processing is a method of running software programs called jobs in batches automatically. While users are required to submit the jobs, no other interaction by the user is required to process the batch. Batches may automatically ...

environments. In 2007, IRI's

coroutine Coroutines are computer program components that allow execution to be suspended and resumed, generalizing subroutines for cooperative multitasking. Coroutines are well-suited for implementing familiar program components such as cooperative task ...

sort ("CoSort") became the first product to collate and convert multi-gigabyte

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing data. It defines a set of rules for encoding electronic document, documents in a format that is both human-readable and Machine-r ...

and

LDIF The LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) is a standard plain text data interchange format for representing Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory content and update requests. LDIF conveys directory content as a set of records, ...

files,

join Join may refer to: * Join (law), to include additional counts or additional defendants on an indictment *In mathematics: ** Join (mathematics), a least upper bound of sets orders in lattice theory ** Join (topology), an operation combining two topo ...

and

lookup In computer science, a lookup table (LUT) is an array that replaces runtime computation of a mathematical function with a simpler array indexing operation, in a process termed as ''direct addressing''. The savings in processing time can be sig ...

across multiple files, and apply role-based

data privacy Information privacy is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, contextual information norms, and the legal and political issues surrounding them. It is also known as data ...

functions (including AES-256 encryption) for fields within sensitive files. IRI is headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, United States, and has resale and support offices in 25 countries, including France, Japan, South Africa, and Brazil.

Products

IRI software is designed to transform, convert, report, and protect large data volumes rapidly in distributed, heterogeneous computing environments. These functions are built into the CoSort package or through spin-offs for data extraction, generation, security, and migration. Each tool uses the same graphical IDE built on Eclipse, and

metadata Metadata (or metainformation) is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data itself, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive ...

format for defining and manipulating data. IRI's open data definition file format is also supported by AnalytiX DS and Meta Integration Technology (MITI) so that third-party ETL, BI, and data modeling tool users can convert or re-use their existing metadata in IRI product environments.

IRI CoSort

CoSort was released for

CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/Intel 8085, 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Dig ...

in 1978,

DOS DOS (, ) is a family of disk-based operating systems for IBM PC compatible computers. The DOS family primarily consists of IBM PC DOS and a rebranded version, Microsoft's MS-DOS, both of which were introduced in 1981. Later compatible syste ...

in 1980,

Unix Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

in the mid-eighties, and

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

in the early nineties, and received a readership award from DMReview magazine in 2000, CoSort was initially designed as a file sorting utility, and added interfaces to replace or convert the sort program parameters used in IBM Infosphere

DataStage IBM InfoSphere DataStage is an ETL tool and part of the IBM Information Platforms Solutions suite and IBM InfoSphere. It uses a graphical notation to construct data integration solutions and is available in various versions such as the Server E ...

Informatica Informatica Inc. is an American software development company founded in 1993. It is headquartered in Redwood City, California. Its core products include enterprise cloud data management and data integration. It was co-founded by Gaurav Dhillon a ...

Micro Focus Micro Focus International plc was a British multinational software and information technology business based in Newbury, Berkshire, England. The firm provided software and consultancy. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and t ...

COBOL, JCL,

NATURAL Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are part ...

, SAS, and SyncSort Unix. In 1992, CoSort added related data manipulation functions through a control language interface based on DEC

VAX/VMS OpenVMS, often referred to as just VMS, is a multi-user, multiprocessing and virtual memory-based operating system. It is designed to support time-sharing, batch processing, transaction processing and workstation applications. Customers using Op ...

sort utility syntax, which evolved through the years to handle file-based

data integration Data integration refers to the process of combining, sharing, or synchronizing data from multiple sources to provide users with a unified view. There are a wide range of possible applications for data integration, from commercial (such as when a ...

and staging functions in

data warehouse In computing, a data warehouse (DW or DWH), also known as an enterprise data warehouse (EDW), is a system used for Business intelligence, reporting and data analysis and is a core component of business intelligence. Data warehouses are central Re ...

ETL operations: CoSort Version 9 releases, begun in 2007, can simultaneously transform, convert, report, and/or protect data for ETL,

business intelligence Business intelligence (BI) consists of strategies, methodologies, and technologies used by enterprises for data analysis and management of business information. Common functions of BI technologies include Financial reporting, reporting, online an ...

change data capture In databases, change data capture (CDC) is a set of software design patterns used to determine and track the data that has changed (the "deltas") so that action can be taken using the changed data. The result is a delta-driven dataset. CDC is an ...

, database load and query, application development, and

data migration Data migration is the process of selecting, preparing, extracting, and transforming data and permanently transferring it from one computer storage system to another. Additionally, the validation of migrated data for completeness and the decommi ...

activities. Version 10 was released in 2018, adding support for semi-structured, streaming, and cloud data sources. Version 10.5 provided more functional and source support updates in 2021.

IRI Voracity

IRI Voracity is a data management platform released in 2017 for data discovery, integration, migration, governance, and analytics. It consolidates key data curation activities in the IRI Workbench GUI (built on

Eclipse (software) Eclipse is an integrated development environment (IDE) used in computer programming. It contains a base workspace and an extensible plug-in system for customizing the environment. It had been the most popular IDE for Java development until 20 ...

, and transforms data in the CoSort engine or optionally in

MapReduce MapReduce is a programming model and an associated implementation for processing and generating big data sets with a parallel and distributed algorithm on a cluster. A MapReduce program is composed of a ''map'' procedure, which performs filte ...

, Spark, Spark Stream, Storm, or Tez. Voracity includes most standalone IRI tools, and adds data classification, data profiling, data quality, ETL, metadata management, master data management, change data capture, data federation, and multiple job design and control capabilities.

IRI FACT

FACT (FAst ExtraCT) is a high-performance unload utility for

Oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

, IBM Db2, Sybase

ASE ASE may refer to: Organisations * Academia de Studii Economice (the Economic Sciences Academy), in Bucharest, Romania * Admiralty Signal Establishment, a former defense research organization in the UK * ASE Group (Advanced Semiconductor Engineeri ...

and IQ, SQL Server,

MySQL MySQL () is an Open-source software, open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Its name is a combination of "My", the name of co-founder Michael Widenius's daughter My, and "SQL", the acronym for Structured Query Language. A rel ...

Altibase Altibase is a hybrid database, relational database management system manufactured by the Altibase Corporation. The software's hybrid architecture allows it to access both memory-resident and disk-resident tables using single interface. It support ...

, and Tibero. It exports large tables in parallel to flat files for archive, ETL, reorg, reporting and other applications. FACT and CoSort used together "provide for rapid unloading and transformation of data in Oracle databases in support of ETL processes."

IRI NextForm

NextForm is a

spin-off from CoSort functionality designed to convert between structured

file formats A file format is a Computer standard, standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary format, pr ...

such as CSV,

ISAM Indexed Sequential Access Method (ISAM) is a method for creating, maintaining, and manipulating computer files of data so that records can be retrieved sequentially or randomly by one or more keys. Indexes of key fields are maintained to achieve ...

, and

, plus

data types In computer science and computer programming, a data type (or simply type) is a collection or grouping of data values, usually specified by a set of possible values, a set of allowed operations on these values, and/or a representation of these ...

such as

ASCII ASCII ( ), an acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for representing a particular set of 95 (English language focused) printable character, printable and 33 control character, control c ...

EBCDIC Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC; ) is an eight- bit character encoding used mainly on IBM mainframe and IBM midrange computer operating systems. It descended from the code used with punched cards and the corresponding si ...

Unicode Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 Char ...

, and

Packed Decimal In computing and electronic systems, binary-coded decimal (BCD) is a class of binary encodings of decimal numbers where each digit is represented by a fixed number of bits, usually four or eight. Sometimes, special bit patterns are used for ...

. Newer NextForm editions can structure data in unstructured sources, convert COBOL Vision files, and facilitate database migration and replication.

IRI RowGen

RowGen is designed to generate

test data Test data are sets of inputs or information used to verify the correctness, performance, and reliability of software systems. Test data encompass various types, such as positive and negative scenarios, edge cases, and realistic user scenarios, and ...

in production table, file, and report formats for prototype database population, compliance, outsourcing, and application prototyping projects. RowGen's

GUI Gui or GUI may refer to: People Surname * Gui (surname), an ancient Chinese surname, ''xing'' * Bernard Gui (1261 or 1262–1331), inquisitor of the Dominican Order * Luigi Gui (1914–2010), Italian politician * Gui Minhai (born 1964), Ch ...

parses data models to define table layouts and relationships so database test sets are structurally and referentially correct. RowGen can also transform and format test data during its generation.

IRI FieldShield

FieldShield is a CoSort spin-off designed to protect data privacy in structured and some semi-structured data sources. The software classifies and masks

personally identifiable information Personal data, also known as personal information or personally identifiable information (PII), is any information related to an identifiable person. The abbreviation PII is widely used in the United States, but the phrase it abbreviates has fou ...

and other private data at the

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

or record level within database tables, files and other sources subject to

data spill A data breach, also known as data leakage, is "the unauthorized exposure, disclosure, or loss of personal information". Attackers have a variety of motives, from financial gain to hacktivism, political activism, political repression, and espiona ...

. Privacy functions include AES

encryption In Cryptography law, cryptography, encryption (more specifically, Code, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the inf ...

data masking Data masking or data obfuscation is the process of modifying sensitive data in such a way that it is of no or little value to unauthorized intruders while still being usable by software or authorized personnel. Data masking can also be referred ...

, and

pseudonymization Pseudonymization is a data management and de-identification procedure by which personally identifiable information fields within a data record are replaced by one or more artificial identifiers, or pseudonyms. A single pseudonym for each repla ...

. Job details can be audited from a

log file In computing, logging is the act of keeping a log of events that occur in a computer system, such as problems, errors or broad information on current operations. These events may occur in the operating system or in other software. A message o ...

format.

IRI DarkShield

DarkShield is another data classification and

product front-ended in IRI Workbench for finding and protecting

in structured, semi-structured and unstructured sources on-premise or in the cloud. DarkShield shares data classes and masking functions with FieldShield and also supports flat files and relational databases, but is purpose-built for

NoSQL NoSQL (originally meaning "Not only SQL" or "non-relational") refers to a type of database design that stores and retrieves data differently from the traditional table-based structure of relational databases. Unlike relational databases, which ...

databases, images (in BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, TIF and

DICOM Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) is a technical standard for the digital storage and Medical image sharing, transmission of medical images and related information. It includes a file format definition, which specifies the str ...

format), signatures, and files in

JSON JSON (JavaScript Object Notation, pronounced or ) is an open standard file format and electronic data interchange, data interchange format that uses Human-readable medium and data, human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consi ...

, HL7, X12,

FHIR The Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR, , like ''fire'') standard is a set of rules and specifications for the secure exchange of electronic health care data. It is designed to be flexible and adaptable, so that it can be used in a ...

, raw text,

Parquet Parquet (; French for "a small compartment") is a geometric mosaic of wood pieces used for decorative effect in flooring. Parquet patterns are often entirely geometrical and angular—squares, triangles, lozenges—but may contain curves. T ...

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

Microsoft Office Microsoft Office, MS Office, or simply Office, is an office suite and family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. The first version of the Office suite, announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at CO ...

, and audio formats. DarkShield runs self-hosted on Windows or Linux hardware and can reach files in Amazon S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Platform, and SharePoint Online.Street Insider
(March 2024) It combines search and mask operations in the same job and can run from the GUI, command-line or API to support DevOps pipelines, dynamic data masking, and load balancing.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

IRI, Inc. Home Page
Companies based in Brevard County, Florida Software companies based in Florida Software companies of the United States