Dorchester-based Unisys value-added reseller and distributor Realstream Ltd has launched what it controversially describes as the world’s first database management software and system equipped to store both text and image. Called The Origin, the system combines Philips/Control Data Write-Once optical disk technology with a Unisys U5000, 6000 or 7000 Unix processor, to offer a potential […]
Dorchester-based Unisys value-added reseller and distributor Realstream Ltd has launched what it controversially describes as the world’s first database management software and system equipped to store both text and image. Called The Origin, the system combines Philips/Control Data Write-Once optical disk technology with a Unisys U5000, 6000 or 7000 Unix processor, to offer a potential storage capacity of 256Gb and bolt-on compatibility with all major computer systems. The database also breaks with traditional record formats – key words and fixed length fields – by dealing directly with documents. According to Realstream, data of any size, shape or form fed in on-line from the mainframe, or manually via image scanners, is automatically indexed by the system’s proprietary relational database management system, entered into the on-line index, and written to optical disk. Data is retrieved by entering any word contained in the original document, or used to label an image, into the system. Realstream claims that, depending on the type of processor, and the number of disks used, retrieval speeds match those of standard database products, and offers a quarter of a second for a word stored 100 times within a document on a fully loaded 1Gb disk, as a benchmark. The company predicts that the system will find particular favour with financial and legal institutions, specifically banks, insur ance companies and building societ ies, and has been invited to demon strate the product to the Metropol itan Fraud squad. The product has been up and running for some three weeks at Realtime’s parent company, West Country brewer Eldridge, Pope Plc, where it has been used for archiving correspondence and paper work, and for conducting financial transactions from the mainframe. An Origin package, including image scanners and MS-DOS micros for net working, is upwards of UKP100,000.
