Hardware compression technique
The Hardware technique uses the Ziv-Lempel compression algorithm.
Data Packer
exploits the Hardware Compression facility of some processors, such as the IBM ES/9000 processor or S/390 server. The Hardware technique becomes more efficient as the length of the uncompressed segment increases. With Hardware, better CPU performance is seen on databases with segment sizes larger than 200 bytes.
If the hardware is not available, this technique provides bit-level compatible software emulation. If the hardware becomes available at your site, the hardware assumes compression and expansion capabilities for the emulation-compressed data. When disaster recovery requires you to move to a CPU with no Hardware Compression facility, Data Packer assumes compression and expansion responsibilities for the data.
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