The irresistible move towards interoperable database systems

Abstract

The successful use of interoperable database technology in major applications has not been widespread to date. This situation is rapidly changing to one where applications commonly share data resources and isolated application/data pairs may soon be the exception. The move to these applications with interoperable database systems is irresistible for a variety of reasons: corporate data, which has been accumulated across global corporate operations on various incompatible systems, is now recognized as a strategic asset; there is a growing willingness by competing information system vendors to cooperate; the emergence of OSI as a useful tool may mean that communication aspects of computers can be viewed as a commodity; and dramatic changes in the world-wide telecommunications fabric will be seen in the 1990s. MCC has a project called Carnot that is doing the research necessary to develop tool that will allow development of open applications that can be tightly integrated with information stored on existing, closed systems. These tools will allow participants to achieve efficient implementations of architectures such as Bellcore's OSCA. The purpose of the Carnot system is to provide for the integration of a variety of resources within an enterprise and ultimately, across global enterprises.<>