Second and final announcement In the annual seminar series on "Modern Developments in Database Systems Science and Technology", the Database Systems Group of Delft University of Technology organizes in co-operation with IBM Nederland n.v. THE SEMINAR: DATABASE SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS FOR THE NINETIES Speakers from: France (O2 Technology) Germany (GMD, IBM, SNI) The Netherlands (BitByBit, PHILIPS, Syllogic, TU Delft) USA (IBM) Subjects: Object Databases, Engineering Databases and Methodology Tools for CAE, Query and Transaction Processing, CAD Frameworks, Coupling of Heterogeneous Databases, Standards (SQL3, ODMG-93, CFI), Distributed Client- Server Sites, etc. to be held on October 11-12, 1994 at the Delft University of Technology THE SEMINAR SERIES In recent years it has become clear that in many new application areas, conventional database management systems (DBMSs) only provide limited possibilities. Engineering, for instance, does not yet fully benefit from DBMS technology. World-wide, researchers and developers are now active in providing this new functionality along several different approaches (e.g. extended relational, semantic or object oriented approach). Numerous prototypes of new generation DBMSs have appeared. From a consumer's point of view the question is: "Which approach should I choose, and next, which system should I choose ?". There are no simple answers to these questions, since too many factors are involved. To keep you informed of the latest practical advances in DBMSs for "new" applications, last year the Database Systems (DBS) group of Mrs. prof.dr.ir. W. Gerhardt-Hackl at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) decided to start a series of annual seminars, entitled "Modern Developments in Database Systems - Science and Technology". Representatives of the international R&D community, invited from a variety of well known institutions, will talk about the state of the art developments in methodologies, systems, standards, techniques, etc. and will be available for discussion. The seminars alternately focus on concepts one year and emphasize on applications the other year. Last year the main program dealt with various aspects of object-DBMS (ODBMS) concepts, as viewed by prof. K. Dittrich and his group (Univ. Zurich). THE 1994 SEMINAR Next to developments of general interest, the '94 seminar "Database Systems and Applications for the Nineties" will focus on engineering applications. The speakers are from France (O2 Technology), Germany (GMD, IBM, SNI), the Netherlands (BitByBit, Philips, Syllogic, TU Delft) and the USA (IBM). All are active in the development area and, therefore, closely connected with the needs of industrial and other users. Among the topics covered are: - providing DBMS functionality to the programmer - optimization - distribution - interoperability - frameworks - standards The first day is dedicated to technological advances in general. The second day emphasizes on frameworks (a framework can be considered an extension to a DBMS that provides complete support for engineering applications, e.g. design and process flow management, and project management). The speakers on the second day have a common base: they have been involved in shaping the largest European project in this area (JESSI Common Framework), intended to make the European Community the world leader in framework technology. PROGRAM OCTOBER 11, ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY 09:00 Registration and coffee 09:40 Opening and welcome 09:50 Advanced Transaction Models (C. Mohan) 10:40 Coffee 11:00 Advanced Transaction Models (C. Mohan) 11:50 Object Orientation in SQL3 (P. Pistor) 12:40 Lunch 13:50 Interactions between Query Optimization and Concurrency Control (C. Mohan) 14:40 Managing Distributed Client/Server Database Sites (P.W. Adriaans) 15:30 Tea 15:50 O2, an ODMG Compliant Object Database System (F. Bancilhon) 16:40 Discussion 17:00 End of day 1 OCTOBER 12, ENGINEERING DATABASES 09:00 Coffee (registration of newcomers) 09:40 Welcome to newcomers 09:50 Standards in CAD Frameworks (E. Abel) 10:40 Coffee 11:00 SIFRAME - Concurrent Engineering Framework Based on OODBMS (T. Kathofer) 11:50 Application of Framework Technology in System Simulation Environments (P. Bingley) 12:40 Lunch 13:50 Coupling of Heterogeneous Databases by Federation Services (G. Kachel) 14:40 Methodology Tools for Engineering Environments (T.G.R. van Leuken) 15:30 Tea 15:50 Providing DBMS Functionality to the Programmer: Using a Virtual Object Approach (M.N. Sim) 16:40 Discussion 17:00 End of the seminar GENERAL INFORMATION - The seminar is organized by the Database Systems group of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and IBM Nederland, and will take place at TU Delft on October 11 and 12, 1994. - Presentations will be held in English. - Further general information and announcement copies can be requested by: telephone (+31-15- 784475) telefax (+31-15-786632) e-mail (secr@is.twi.tudelft.NL). - Specific information may be obtained from J.P. Dotman, W. Gerhardt-Hackl or M.N. Sim (+31-15-784475). - Seminar information is available on the Campus Wide Information System (CWIS) of TU Delft (through WWW/Internet) under URL: http://www.twi.tudelft.nl/Local/dbs/ REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT - Dfl. 750,- cost for 2 day participation, registration done and paid by September 5 (no VAT obligations). - Dfl. 950,- cost for 2 day participation, late registration. - Dfl. 450,- cost for 1 day participation, registration done and paid by September 5. - Dfl. 550,- cost for 1 day participation, late registration. - Dfl. 100,- student rate, 2 day participation (proof of student status is required, proceedings, lunch, coffee and tea are included). - Your registration form should be sent to TUD/TWI/IS, P.O. Box 356, 2600 AJ Delft. - Registration closes on September 30. - Your payment should be transferred by September 30. - The payment must be transferred to postal giro account 352286 of TU Delft, and should mention "DBS Seminar 94" and the participant's name. CONFIRMATION, ENTRANCE, CANCELLATION - Your registration will be confirmed by letter after receipt of your registration form and payment. - For entrance to the seminar you have to show your letter of confirmation (plus student registration card if registered as student). - You may transfer your registration to another person, by giving him/her the confirmation letter (a student registration is strictly personal). - Only cancellations by registered letter, received by September 30 will be accepted. Cancellation charges are Dfl. 75,-. ABSTRACTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Standards in CAD Frameworks E. Abel The standards of the international CAD Framework Initiative (CFI) focus on the interoperability between CAD tools as well as between different CAD systems. The first set of CFI standards, published in January 1993, addresses basic design environment software (e.g. networking services), design representation supporting basic netlist manipulation, inter-tool communication providing messaging among tools, and basic techniques for describing tool encapsulation information. CFI aims to adopt existing and industry accepted standards and to concentrate its efforts on those areas that specifically require new standards. If CFI can successfully address the issue of interoperability, customers will be provided with a better design data flow and open environment that lower their design costs and improve their own tool selection. In the presention these matters will be discussed, and the advantages for the user will be shown. GMD, National Research Center for Computer Science, St. Augustin, Germany. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Managing Distributed Client/Server Databases Sites P.W. Adriaans Many organizations are turning to client/server computing. In a lot of cases this means that large database applications are distributed over a number of smaller systems. The management of such a site is very complex and confronts the database administrator with a set of unprecedented problems. In this talk I will discuss a number of issues on a conceptual level: client/server architectures, distributed database architectures, implications for management, performance, replication, tuning, software development and security. Syllogic, Houten, The Netherlands ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- O2, an ODMG Compliant Object Database System F. Bancilhon The ODMG standard was established in 1993 and 1994 by a group of five object database vendors. Since then major actors such as Sybase, HP, EDS and Andersen Consulting have joined the group. The standard defines an object data model, an object definition language, ODL, an object query language, OQL, and language bindings for C++ and Smalltalk. The O2 object database system consists of an efficient database engine together with a complete set of tools. These include an ODMG compliant C++ interface and an OQL interpreter and optimizer. O2 Technology, Versailles, France. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Application of Framework Technology in System Simulation Environments P. Bingley Outside the electronics world CAD has focussed mainly on developing point tools for simulating specific (physical) phenomena. These tools are essential in designing up-to-spec-components for products (= systems). However, these tools are often not suited for determining the overall performance of a product that is made up of individual components. The need for this keeps increasing, due to the growing importance of cost effectively supporting multi-disciplinary design teams in overall product optimization. We aim at: (1) making the point tools widely available by placing them in a single environment that provides uniform user interaction and integral management of design data, (2) combining the physical models for the components into a model for the complete system that aids in evaluating the overall performance of the system. We find framework technology to be an important vehicle for realizing these goals. Philips Research Laboratories, Nat.Lab., Eindhoven, The Netherlands ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Coupling of Heterogeneous Databases by Federation Services G. Kachel Nowadays, enterprises use multiple heterogeneous databases. Due to enterprise integration a necessity arises to couple these databases for realizing global applications using more than one database. A first solution outline of an object-oriented approach is given. This solution allows the autonomous coupling of heterogeneous databases by so-called Database Federation Services. Besides federation, non-autonomous coupling as well as migration of tools and data in heterogeneous database environments are offered. Architecture as well as implementation aspects are discussed. The relation to an R and D area called "Middleware" is presented. Conclusions for the use of Database Federation Services are given. Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme, CADlab, Paderborn, Germany ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SIFRAME - Concurrent Engineering Framework Based on OODBMS T. Kathofer The SIFRAME framework is a program package into which individual applications can be integrated for across-the-board optimization of process management in the areas of organization, development, and production. It can be used to configure, execute, and manage complex multi-user design projects. The framework uses design flow mechanisms to define, monitor, and combine activities. Activities can be assigned to tools or individual functions of tools integrated into the system. Projects can be defined by assigning users or user groups with appropriate design flows to the projects. The framework enables several users to work simultaneously on a project and ensures the consistency of the data. Data consistency is ensured by the underlying Object Management System (OMS). The OMS offers a complete object-oriented database system combined with a traditional relational database system. This innovative combination allows for object-oriented access to relational data and vice versa. In this paper an overview of the functionality and design of the framework is presented. Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG, CADlab, Paderborn, Germany ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Methodology Tools for Engineering Environments T.G.R. van Leuken In the EDA world design management tools have been available for some time. They include version management, concurrent access procedures and others. This presentation will be directed to methodology management tools, which are in the transfer stage from research tool to commercial tool. These tools can have a major impact on a company when they are utilized, because they require a precise description of the processes in the company (do you know them?) and can result in a major reorganization of the company production process. The utilization of the methodology tools will have a strong influence on the company's staff behavior. DIMES Design and Test Center, TU Delft, Delft, The Netherlands ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Advanced Transaction Models C. Mohan The classical transaction concept has been widely adopted in academia and in industry. This transaction model guarantees the ACID properties - atomicity, consistency, isolation and durability. In these last few years, for non-traditional applications like CAD/CAM, CASE, collaborative editing, etc., the traditional model has been found to be inadequate. To address the unique requirements of such applications and also to model business processes (workflow) which involve executing multiple interrelated transactions, advanced transaction models have been proposed. Some of the latter are: Nested Transactions, Sagas, ConTract model, Flex Transaction model, Split-Transactions, etc. This tutorial reviews some of the above work and points out those issues that have not been adequately addressed by the proponents of those transaction models. An industrial and research perspective with implementation and practicality goals will be provided. Data Base Technology Inst., IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose CA, USA. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interactions between Query Optimization and Concurrency Control C. Mohan Work on query optimization has generally ignored considerations relating to concurrency control in making query execution (access planning) choices. In this talk we argue the importance of and need for taking into consideration concurrency control related issues in making query optimization and query processing decisions. Such considerations are very important not only for attaining good performance, but also for assuring the correctness of the results returned to the users under certain circumstances. Some of the topics that we deal with include degrees of consistency or isolation levels, lock escalation, blocking of results and use of multiple indexes for a single table access. We identify some of the pieces of information relating to locking that must be available to the optimizer for it to make intelligent decisions. We also identify some situations in which locking can be avoided by taking advantage of the isolation level of the query being executed. Data Base Technology Inst., IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose CA, USA. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Object Orientation in SQL3 P. Pistor Currently, standardization bodies (mainly ANSI and ISO) make considerable efforts to turn SQL into a computationally complete object oriented programming language, which is upward compatible with the current standard (ISO/IEC 9075:1992). This presentation mainly addresses the new object oriented features of SQL, and discusses how they meet the requirements of nonstandard applications. Institute of Databases and Software Engineering, IBM, Heidelberg Scientific Center, Heidelberg, Germany ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Providing DBMS Functionality to the Programmer - Using a Virtual Object Approach M.N. Sim , W. Gerhardt-Hackl , P.M. Kist , N.E. Simon Several approaches are known to minimize the impedance mismatch between programming language (PL) and DB Application Programming Interface (API). One direction is provided by Object Database Management Systems (ODBMS) which should integrate DBMS capabilities with object-oriented (OO) programming language capabilities. We discuss an approach that follows this line but we extend the properties of an object to a virtual object. This enables us to develop an ODBMS of which the API (unlike the ODMG-93 database standard) does not add extensions to the OOPL. Faculty of Technical Mathematics and Informatics, TU Delft, Delft, the Netherlands. BitByBit Information Systems, Delft, The Netherlands. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REGISTRATION FORM (Please use typewriter, or capital letters) PARTIAL/FULL REGISTRATION I shall attend the 1994 seminar "Database Systems and Applications for the Nineties" at the TU Delft, on: (Fill in the appropriate circle.) ()Day 1 only (October 11) ()Day 2 only (October 12) ()Both days (October 11 and 12) AFFILIATION Name, initials: Position: Company/Institute: Department: ADDRESS Postal code: City: Country: Telephone: E-mail (Internet) address: ()Home Address (Fill in, if the above address is your home address.) STUDENT RATE ()(Fill in, if you request a student registration; proof of your student status must be enclosed, and shown at the seminar entrance.) REGISTRATION FEE Registration fee (Fill in the appropriate circle; see Registration and Payment section for details.): ()Dfl. 750,- (registration, by 5 September) ()Dfl. 950,- (registration, after 5 September) ()Dfl. 450,- (registration, by 5 September, 1 day) ()Dfl. 550,- (registration, after 5 September, 1 day) ()Dfl. 100,- (student rate) SIGNATURE Signature: Date: MANNER OF PAYMENT By September 30, this form should be at: TUD/TWI/IS, P.O. Box 356, 2600 AJ Delft, The Netherlands. By September 30 (September 5 for reduction), the registration fee should be payed to: postal giro account: 352286 of TU Delft. The transaction should mention "DBS Seminar '94" and your name. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Original newsgroups: comp.object