Report of the Workshop on Semantic Heterogeneity and Interpolation in multidatabase Systems

Abstract

This report presents a review of the problems that were discussed during the Workshop on Semantic Heterogeneity and Interoperability in Multidatabase Systems. The workshop participants discussed the importance of interoperation in the U S WEST information processing environment and the progress that has been achieved in three major research areas: resolution of semantic heterogeneity among cooperating heterogeneous systems, transaction management in such environments, and software architecture for interoperation. The workshop provided researchers with necessary feedback from the industrial perspective and helped in identifying the major issues that need further research. The following problems concerning the applicability of the methods proposed for data processing in the heterogeneous, autonomous information systems have been identified: (i) many of the assumptions made in the research community are too restrictive to make the results directly applicable to existing environments; (ii) performance ramifications of various heterogeneous architectures need to be understood; (iii) the prototype systems need to be put to the test with real data, schemas, and transaction streams to verify their utility.