InterViso: a data integration server

Connectivity products are available to connect computers containing data. DBMS vendors are providing gateways into their products, and SQL is being retrofitted on many older DBMSs to make it easier to access data from standard 4GL products and application development systems. The next step needed for integration of data is to provide a common data dictionary with a conceptual schema across the data to mask the many differences that occur when databases are developed independently. Data Integration Inc. has two products for addressing the problem: the InterViso IVBuild for developing the common data dictionary, and InterViso IVQuery for access to diverse databases. IVQuery is a DBMS front-end that allows a user to access data that is managed by existing DBMSs. IVQuery needs the definition of the existing databases, “local schemas” and a view across the databases, the “federated schema”, which are stored in a DD/D (data dictionary /directory). The DD/D Builder program, called IVBuild, is used to develop and maintain the DD/D. IVBuild differs from other data modeling tools in that the description of the individual databases is input rather than output