INDUSTRY AND PRACTICE: Understanding Three Dimensions of Heterogeneity: The “Why”, “How” and “What” of Heterogeneous Database Systems

In a previous JDM issue, one of the Associate Editors issued a challenge to database researchers to “...encourage us to think about innovation and point out areas that ... are not only important but also open to innovation.†(Pirkul, 1995, p.33). In this editorial, I address one area that Pirkul explicitly identified as a topic for innovation, namely, Heterogeneous Databases. Below I present a novel framework for understanding Heterogeneous Databases and Database Systems. This framework identifies three dimensions of heterogeneity: the “Why†?, “How†?, and “What?†of heterogeneous database systems. I claim that exploring answers to these three questions will help practitioners (1) identify heterogeneous application requirements and map them to appropriate database capabilities, (2) evaluate heterogeneous application techniques that fulfill these necessary requirements, and (3) select products that support the required techniques.