Mapping out the DBMS Territory
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DATA BASE Mapping out the DBMS territory by Dr. George Schussel, stant both in terms of new product environment and should include the COP announcements and users since following: 1975. Of companies already using a • A DBMS offering data indepen Data base and data management DBMS product, 85 percent of these dence products have changed dramatically are not CODASYL, so it seems clear that CODASYL DDL and DML • A data dictionary defining and in the last several years. New hard controlling the data environment ware and software technologies standards will not be adopted by the marketplace, at least in their cur • A query language allowing user have greatly changed the character personnel access to the data base and number of products available. rent form. Just as the oil crisis hit the auto Mainframe DBMS • A report-generating system al makers, the "productivity crisis" The market for full-function trans lowing simplified programming has hit the software suppliers mar action processing DBMS, with their generation of reports ket. required high-level technical data • A screen mapper allowing gener base administration gurus and large ation of data entry screens by a In the 1970s there were no more simple example process than two dozen widely marketed mainframes, is still active but ex DBMS product lines. Non-IBM DP tremely competitive. Successful • A user language that is high -level, easy to use and an alternative to shops, using equipment such as vendors of this type of product have procedural languages such as Univac, Honeywell or Burroughs, COBOL and PL/l. simply took the DBMS offered by the hardware vendor. IBM shops Examples of products and vendors could choose IBM's IMS and DL/1 Successful vendors provide supplying software to this market products, or they had a choice of a tools to build a large include IDMS 82 by Cullinet, handful of successful, competing DATACOM by ADR, ADABAS by products such as Software AG's online DBMS environment. Software AG, TIS by Cincom and ADABAS, Cincom Systems' TOTAL DM-IV by Honeywell. and Cullinane's (Cullinet) IDMS. The integrated sets of software Today, there are 75 to 100 quali changed into providing a sophisti products supplied by these manu fied software vendors marketing cated set of high-level language facturers tend to be centered around DBMS packages for all types of tools which give the modem day the data dictionary/directory (DDID) computers-from micros to main data base designer the control that which controls the definition offields frames. Many different logical mod he or she needs to build a large and the design of the data base en els are represented in the products online DBMS environment. vironment. The expertise required being actively marketed: Hierarchi For these shops, the focus today to install and support the complete cal, inverted, CODASYL, master! is on evaluating a complete set of integrated set of software products detail and relational. integrated data management prod from any of these vendors should Another major difference from a ucts of which the DBMS is only one not be minimized. The resulting set few years ago is that few people piece. A shop may choose a set of oftools, however, gives the medium seem to care whether or not a sys products without the most preferred to-large-scale shop state-of-the-art tem is CODASYL. Buyers are more DBMS because that vendor has an capability in defining and develop interested in the complete range of integrated data dictionary or appli ing large online data base software. services provided by the software. cation generation language which is Minicomputer data management CODASYL-type DBMSs represent deemed superior. A complete set of Software products that run on the approximately 15 percent of the high-level integrated data manage classical minicomputer hardware worldwide user base of DBMS ment tools will typically sell for manufactured by such companies as products. This ratio has held con- $300,000 or more on a mainframe Hewlett-Packard, Digital Equip- DATA MANAGEMENT 24 FEBRUARY 1983 ment and Prime have become the mid-sized models of the field. Data bases, query languages and data 1983 DBMS Symposium dictionaries are now commonplace in this environment. Information on 4th Generation Software Systems and DBMS Topics Comprehensive DBMS products will be presented at the 1983 National Data Base Management Symposium which will be offered three times in 1983: March 1-4, Los offered by minicomputer manufac Angeles; April 18-21, Washington, DC; and May 16-19, Chicago. turers include IMAGE by Hewlett The 1983 Symposium will focus on new and enhanced data base and Packard, DGIDBMS by Data G~n data management products that run on all sizes of computers from eral, V AX Information Architecture micros through mainframes. by DEC and PRIME DBMS by The Symposium will feature a number of prominent guest lecturers Prime. including Charles Bachman and Edgar Codd, both ACM Turing Award winners, Thomas Nies, President of Cincom Systems and George The minicomputer manufacturers Schussel, President of Digital Consulting Associates. Educational are hard at work developing data activities will include a combination of classroom and conference-style dictionaries, teleprocessing monitors functions. More than 40 individual technical presentations on the and application generating languages major data management and DBMS packages will be made. to fill out the array of software and Conference registration is $650 for all four days or $350 for the make their products truly competi seminar day only (first day). These fees include lunches and all materials. Group discounts and further details are available from tive for the medium-scale, general Digital Consulting Assoc., 5 Kimberly Terrace, Lynnfield, MA 01940. purpose EDP environment. Phone (617)334-5755. This class of software normally runs on the high-end, 16-bit ma chines or the new 32-bit machines What's available in data base software Data base management system TOTAL Waltham, MA 02154 RAMIS 1/ software is available for a wide All-purpose system for mainframes and minis. (617) 895-6000 Test·flIe generator for COBOL and other range of systems and contains a Cincom Systems, Inc. source languages. wide variety of features. Here is a 2300 Montanta Ave. IMS/VS Mathematica Products Group, Inc. look at some of the systems avail Cincinnati, OH 45211 For System/370. 303X and 4300. Box 2392 able from top software vendors. (513)662-2300 IBM Princeton, NJ 08540 Contact them for more details. National Accounts div. (609)799-2600 MODEL 204 1133 Westchester Ave. System for batch and online modes. White Plains, NY 10604 DPL DATACOM/DB Computer Corp. of America (914)696-1900 System for non·programmers as well as pro· grammers. Supports DEC systems. System for developing, implementing, main Database Products div. taining a data base. Compatible with IBM INOUIRE National Information Systems, Inc. System/360. /370. 303X and 4300. 675 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139 Multiple retrieval and reporting capabilities 20370 Town Center Lane Applied Data Research, Inc. based on building·block design structure. (617)491-7400 Suite 245 Route 206 and Orchard Road Infodata Systems, Inc. Cupertino, CA 95014 CN-8 DATABASIC 5205 Leesburg Pike (408)257-7700 Princeton, NJ 08540 System allows for manipulation of data base Falls Church, VA 22041 (201)874-9000 during development cycle. (800)336-4939 ADABAS Consumer Systems Popular. powerful system for IBM computers. dBASE II SYSTEM 2000/80 Software AG of Popular relational system for micros. 2107 Swift Drive Oak Brook, IL 60521 Full·feature system runs on wide variety of North America, Inc. Ashton-Tate systems. (312)325-2102 11800 Sunrise Valley Drive 9929 W. Jefferson Blvd. Intel Corp. Suite 917 Culver City, CA 90230 IDMS Box 9968 Reston, VA 22091 (213)204-5570 IBM-compatible system with CODASYLstan· Austin, TX 78766 (703)860-5050 dards. (512)258-5171 BASIS Cullinet Software (Cullinane) SYSTEM 1022 Modular system runs on mainframes and minis. 400 Blue Hill Drive SEED General·purpose system for DEC computers. Bate lie Westwood, MA 02090 CODASYL·compatible with COBOL and FORTRAN interfaces. Software House Columbus Laboratories (617)329-7700 1105 Massachusetts Ave. BASIS Coordinator International Data Base Systems, Inc. Cambridge, MA 02138 505 King Ave. DBMS-10, DBMS-20 (617)661-9440 Columbus, OH 43201 For DEt.system·IO and ·20. 2300 Walnut St. (614)424-5524 Digital Equipment Corp. Suite 701 146 Main St. Philadelphia, PA 19103 Maynard, MA 01754 (215)568-2424 DMS 90, DMS 1100 (617)897-5111 OMS 90 is for Sperry's Series 90 and Series 80 DMS-II MDBS computers. OMS 1100 is for Univac Series 1100. All-purpose system for Burroughs' eqUipment. I-D-S/I/ Full·networking system for micros. Sperry Univac div. Burroughs Corp. For Honeywell DM·IV information manage· International Software Sperry Corp. Burroughs Place ment system. Enterprises, Inc. PO Box 500 Detroit, MI 48232 Honeywell Information Systems 350 N. Sagamore Parkway Blue Bell, PA 19424 (313)972-7000 200 Smith St. West Lafayette, IN 47906 (215)542-4011 (317)463-4561 DATA MANAGEMENT FEBRUARY 1983 25 1he DBMS territory that have been announced by most of product include MDBS from ENCOMPASS by Tandem, ORA minicomputer vendors. Micro Data Base Systems, DB Mas CLE by Relational Software, IN Software license fees for mini ter from Stoneware, PFS from Soft GRES from Relational Technology, computer products are typically less ware Publishing Corp. and dBASE the System 38 Data Base from IBM, than half the price of the comparable II from Ashton-Tate. RELIANCE from Perkin Elmer and MAPPER from Sperry Univac. Two license fe~s for the large-scale IBM Relational DBMS environment. On the other hand, The relational data base model years ago, relational DBMSs were the capability of the mini DBMS has received much attention recent an interesting debate item.