September 30, 2002
                      (Information Systems Magazine Winter 2000)
                       Some of the things to look for in data management systems include:
                        1. Standardized access methods, gateways, data migration and transfer software.
                        2. Portals (repositories that enable people of company to find which data is available, where it is, and how it can be accessed, as well as allow data to be shared among diverse systems such as modeling, component development, application, intranet, and database and data warehousing technologies).
                        3. OLAP - Online Analytical Processing
                        4. Enhanced parallel processing, bit mapped indexes, improved query algorithms, pre-aggregation and improved bulk loading capabilities
                       The article states that IBM and Microsoft are currently competing with Oracle, the leader in database system technology. After going to the website, I found that Oracle hands down offers the best software which would be vital to the success of data management in Mission 2006. I'm currently in the process of asking Oracle if I may post some of the graphs and charts found on their website on the team website or maybe even asking if they would be willing to put together a minor presentation that could be included in the teams overall presentation. For security, the Oracle 9i database protects data from all forms of failure including system failure, storage failure, site failure and human error and ensures continuous operations by minimizing downtime for maintenance operations. The security protects data as it travels from the browser to application server and database, encrypts sensitive data within the database, restricts user access to row-level, provides a single point of entry to all authorized applications and detects data misuse. (Row-level access means the user can only access the rows of data that pertain to the user). For speed and scalability, Oracle partitioning and Real Applications Clusters increase the performance, availablitiy, and manageability of large underlying database tables and indexes and provides unlimited scalability and high availability for any packaged or custom application by exploiting clustered hardware configurations. It not only beats IBM and Microsoft in pratically all software aspects, bu also costs much less ($326,500 less than Microsoft's SS2000 to be exact). For more information, feel free to visit the website at www.oracle.com .