IRO-DB: Making relational and Object-Oriented Database Systems Interoperable

Abstract

The functionality of IRO-DB can be summarized as follows:

• IRO-DB provides the ODMG interface at all product layers, i.e., at the interoperable layer, at the communication layer, and at the local layer. The benefit of using an upcoming standard is the foreseeable availability of ODMG-compliant interfaces for many commercial database management systems and as such to provide portability and reusability of applications.

• The Integrator Workbench offers design support for the definition of the integrated views derived from local database schemas which includes resolving of the various kinds of heterogeneities between existing databases, merging of data, and code generation for the integrated views.

• The C++/OML interface of IRO-DB transparently integrates heterogeneous database system services with the application programming language making it easy to use for application programmers.

• IRO-DB is a complete system providing access transparency to heterogeneous databases. It provides global query processing, global transaction management, object management, remote access to the existing databases, and local database adapters providing ODMG interfaces for local database systems.

A first IRO-DB prototype has been developed. It is based on one object-oriented system MATISSE and one relational system INGRES. ONTOS has been selected for this first prototype as the Home OODBMS. In the second phase of the project Local Database Adapters will be developed on top of other OODBMS such as O2 and ONTOS.

This work is initiated and partially supported by the European IRO-DB ESPRIT project. The project is developed in cooperation with GMD,FAW,GOPAS, IBERMATICA, EDS, EURIWARE, INTRASOFT and O2 Technology. PRiSM acts as a subcontractor of both Euriware and EDS.