Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
the company's business and strategic goals. Equipment bought today
should provide a basis for the expanding technology of tomorrow.
Equipment based on Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) provides this
flexibility. OSI represents a group of international architectural standards
for data communications. It is meant to be a step toward truly open sys-
tems. A common OSI architecture enables networks built by different ven-
dors and based on separate technologies to be connected across wide geo-
graphic areas. This will become more important as LANs play a larger role
in processing at a local level. The effect of OSI on network expansibility will
be a phasing out of equipment based on proprietary technology.
CONCLUSION
This chapter has focused on data communications issues of distributed
databases. There are still many communications as well as other problems
that must be addressed before true distributed databases can become real-
ity. Key to this will be further technical advancement of high-speed commu-
nications on local and wide area networks.
In the near term, distributed DBMSs will be used only for decision support
applications that are not highly fragmented or are fully replicated. Key to this
will be to keep data access on a local basis, therefore taking advantage of sav-
ings in communications and computer resource costs. As communications
technology continues to improve, distributed DBMSs will support more
online, baseline applications. If distributed DBMSs are part of a company's
long-term planning horizon, data managers should begin to analyze their
current communications networks to avoid costly changes in the future.
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