From Object-Relational to Federated Databases

Object-relational databases allow users to manipulate rich data types that are not supported by traditional relational database systems. However, the majority of such data are in systems that are outside of that database—either in file systems, specialized systems, hierarchical databases, or other varieties of relational database that do not provide as rich a level of abstraction. Users want to take advantage of object-relational technology to exploit the rich semantics and abstraction but cannot afford to change existing applications or to move that data into the database to do so. The solution for enterprises is a federated database system, which allows users to leverage their existing applications and existing data, while allowing new applications to exploit the functional richness of object-relational technology.