DATABASES AND THE INTERNET - Fundamentals of Database Management Systems - page 367

specifying the type of license and any restrictions such
as corrective lenses. In 1996, an extension to the
application was implemented that captures and stores
both a photograph of the driver and the driver's signature
in a digital format or ''image.'' All of this data, including
the photo and signature, are incorporated into the actual
physical driver's license. The images are captured at
each driver's licensing location and transmitted online
to the database for storage. All the data, including the
images, can be queried and retrieved online using canned
queries.

Running on an IBM OS/390 mainframe computer
located in Nashville, the database application is an
interesting hybrid of two different types of databases
and DBMSs. The original 1978 application that stores the
name and address and license type data is implemented
in IBM's IMS DBMS. The 1996 extension that stores
the photos and signatures is implemented in IBM's
DB2 relational DBMS. The relational database currently
holds approximately 7 million photo and signature
images, including driver photos taken for previous license
renewals.

Printed by permission of State of Tennessee—Department of Safety

DATABASE CONNECTIVITY ISSUES

In a simple database environment, the application program, the database
management system, and even the data (during execution) are all contained and run
within the hardware of a single computer. Figure 14.1 illustrates this arrangement
when the computer is a stand-alone PC, but the situation is certainly similar for a
much larger computer with multiple simultaneous users.