NEWS - PRESS RELEASE
ODBMS.ORG Launches Educational Portal on Object Databases
High-Profile Experts Help Meet Growing Demand for
Free Educational Resources on OO Database Technology
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Sep. 15, 2005 - ODBMS.ORG, a vendor-independent, non-profit
group of high-profile software experts lead by Prof. Roberto Zicari, today announced
the launch of ODBMS.ORG (www.odbms.org), the Internet's most up-to-date educational
and research portal on object database technology. This initiative is the first
of its kind in nearly two decades, since first-generation object-oriented databases
emerged in the early 1990s and subsequently fell dormant.
The open source community has created a new wave of enthusiasm that's now fueling
the rapid growth of second-generation, native ODBMSs and demand for appropriate
education. The new portal is designed to meet this fast-growing need for educational
and research resources focusing on object database technology and the integration
of object-oriented programming and databases.
"The ODBMS.ORG portal is a mission-critical resource for any serious 21st century
software professional. It is indispensable, and a key element in promoting state-of-the-art
software craftsmanship," said ODBMS.ORG panel member Philippe Kahn, founding CEO
of Borland and current CEO of Fullpower Technologies, Inc.
ODBMS Growth Boom
Object databases (ODBMS) have long been recognized as a solution to one of the biggest
dilemmas in modern object-oriented programming (OOP): the object-relational (OR)
impedance mismatch. Now that OOP languages like Java and .NET are finally becoming
mainstream, this problem rests at the heart of information technology.
Thus object databases are increasingly established as a complement to (not a replacement
for) relational databases for efficient resolution of the OR mismatch. ODBMSs are
flourishing as embeddable persistence solutions in devices, on clients, in packaged
software, in real-time control systems, and to power websites.
IDC's Carl Olofson confirms: "Object-oriented DBMSs could well enjoy a second growth
period as embedded DBMSs due to the efficient and flexible data management they
offer object-oriented applications."
Expert Resources
The ODBMS.ORG portal features open source software, lecture notes, tutorials, papers
and other resources for free download. It is complemented by listings of relevant
books and vendors to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of available
resources on object database technology.
The portal's Editor, Roberto Zicari, is Professor of Database and Information Systems
at Frankfurt University and representative of the Object Management Group (OMG)
in Europe. His interest in object databases dates back to his work at the IBM Research
Center in Almaden, CA, in the mid '80s, when he helped craft the definition of an
extension of the relational data model to accommodate complex data structures. In
1989, he joined the design team of the Gip Altair project in Paris, later to become
O2, one of the world's first object database products.
The Expert Section contains exclusive contributions from internationally recognized
experts including Scott Ambler, Michael Blaha, William Cook, and Carl Rosenberger.
Scott Ambler is a consultant with Ontario-based Ambysoft and thought-leader of the
widely recognized Agile Modeling (AM), Agile Data (AD), and Enterprise Unified Process
(EUP) methodologies. His newest paper, published exclusively on ODBMS.ORG, examines
how object database technology fosters agile development (AD) through the ability
of modern, native ODBMSs to absorb class model changes seamlessly by automatic schema
evolution on behalf of the database.
William Cook, professor at the University of Texas, and Carl Rosenberger, chief
software architect at db4objects, have contributed their ground-breaking joint paper
on Native Queries (NQ), which discusses the use of programming languages like Java
or .NET to express database queries that are 100% typesafe, 100% refactorable and
100% object-oriented. Native queries are poised to become the unifying standard
for object-oriented queries in the same way that SQL has standardized the query
interface for relational databases - replacing earlier, non-native attempts such
as ODMG and JDO.
Michael Blaha, co-inventor of UML and co-author of the seminal book "Object-Oriented
Modeling and Design with UML" (with James R. Rumbaugh), has contributed a new paper
on "The Dilemma of Encapsulation Versus Query Optimization."
Blaha states: "I thank Dr. Zicari for initiating the ODBMS portal. Object technology
has become influential in many areas of computing, but is lagging a bit for databases.
The ODBMS portal will be a helpful resource for practitioners in better combining
object technology with databases."
About ODBMS.ORG
ODBMS.ORG (www.odbms.org) is a vendor-independent, not-for-profit educational program
on object database technology and the integration of object-oriented programming
and databases. Designed by Prof. Roberto Zicari of Frankfurt University, the program's
goal is to promote and further the use of object databases - by offering free resources
for students, faculty and researchers at universities and research centers, as well
as for JAVA and .NET developers in the commercial and the open source world. Content
is provided by a panel of internationally recognized experts, who share research
articles and teaching materials with the community via the Web portal.
Press and analysts contact: editor@odbms.org