ODBMS.ORG Launches Portal on Object Databases

FOR IMMEDIATE 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 Internet¹s 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,² 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 Œ80s, 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 world¹s 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.²  

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
program¹s 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  

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