Syntax options: RANDOMIZE | NORANDOMIZE The RANDOMIZE clause specifies that the sequence numbers are to be returned with a random value in the most significant bytes of the BIGINT value. This allows unique values to be generated that have a random distribution. When you specify the NORANDOMIZE clause, sequence numbers are close in value to others created at the same time. The advantage of the RANDOMIZE clause is that updates to columns of a sorted index to which these values are written occur in different locations in the index structure. This may improve concurrent access for large indexes as leaf nodes in different parts of the index can be updated independently. In contrast, the sequence numbers generated when you specify the NORANDOMIZE clause (which are likely to be close in numeric value to other sequences) result in index updates that occur in the same or nearby index nodes, which may lead to contention in one part of the sorted index. The full range of values in the BIGINT value returned for the sequence are used; therefore, the NOMAXVALUE and NOMINVALUE clauses must be specified (or defaulted to) for the sequence definition. The most significant bits of the BIGINT value are set to a randomly generated positive value. A generated distinct value is returned in the least significant 32 bits so that uniqueness is guaranteed. If you also specify the CYCLE clause, then only the least significant 32 bits are cycled. When a query is performed on the column RDB$NEXT_SEQUENCE_VALUE in the RDB$SEQUENCES table, only the generated value of the least significant bits is returned, because the most significant bits are not assigned until the NEXTVAL pseudocolumn is referenced. If you specify RANDOMIZE, you cannot also specify ORDER, MAXVALUE, or MINVALUE. The NORANDOMIZE clause is the default.