Using a unifying mediator in an environment of distributed heterogeneous databases

Considers the architectural aspects and design requirements regarding the development of a framework of cooperating mediators used to integrate a number of pre-existing data repositories (e.g. databases and knowledge-bases). Existing approaches are identified and their major features are critically assessed with respect to interoperability, local autonomy and ease of use. A novel architecture for an integrating set of mediator systems is proposed and a general purpose communication facility capitalizing on this architecture is suggested. The building elements of the proposed environment can be characterized as highly expandable and amenable to the intricacies of local database sites