BBN - Object Oriented Databases vs Relational Databases
Object Oriented Database vs Relational Database
BBN
(Military Logistics and Control)
BBN, the creators of the Internet, have deployed a Crisis Management and Resource Logistics Management system built on Objectivity/DB. It supports distributed usage through multiple nodes in the field, for military and civilian crises that require immediate sharing of knowledge and optimization of resource allocation. For example, it was used after the Kobe, Japan, earthquake to coordinate rescue operations.
The top three requirements that led to the choice of the ODBMS are scalability, flexibility, and survivability. The first is due to the need to support massive operations, without the worry that a central server will overload. Instead, they can simple add more servers as needed.
Flexibility is required to support field deployment with constantly changing distribution models, nodes being attached and removed, while communication stays the same and integrity is ensured. In addition to such physical flexibility, it also requires the logical flexibility to support changing and adding object types online.
Finally, survivability is a necessity in such life-threatening operations. No single failure can disable the system, due to replication and use of multiple parallel servers. Also, there is never a need to disable the system due to the 24x7 operation capability.
