Continuing to refashion itself as a framework and development tools provider, object database pioneer Ontos Inc is adding a back-end relational database integration mechanism to its product line, which it now calls its Virtual Information Architecture. The first product release of this architecture is the Object Integration Server. It comprises a mapping repository, schema mapper and schema capture and is tailored in its initial guise for the Sybase database with Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server and IMS versions planned. The goal of Virtual Information Architecture is to fit desktop applications to databases and to each other, transparently. Object Integration Server for Sybase has a graphical tool for automatically mapping Sybase information to C++ objects. Burlington, Massachusetts-based Ontos claims C++ objects can be connected to data stored in any form without changing the application or the database although the mapping structure must be reconfigured. Object Integration Server run-times include a client library, Sybase-specific technologies and installation software. A bundled development and runtime environment, consulting and training starts at from $70,000. The latest revision of OntosDB, the key component of Virtual Information Architecture, provides the framework for integrating object and non-object information sources (CI No 2,413). Ontos was recently handed what appeared to be a life-saving $5m investment by Daimler-Benz AG (CI No 2,517) to develop what is described as a ‘virtual corporation’. The two companies will work co-operatively to explore ways of integrating next-generation object technology with existing information systems. The cash from Daimler, for which Ontos is designing an object-based information infrastructure, has enabled the company to continue to create new commercial products for its overall Object Cohesive Enterprise strategy. This strategy is the product of $8m in venture capital funding from a group of investors headed by J P Morgan Capital and Wolfensohn Associates LP at the beginning of this year. Ontos insists reports of life-saving cash injections are wide of the mark.
