During the past two weeks, we have discussed the following:

Distributed Relational Databases

Middleware

Object-Oriented Databases

Object-Relational Databases

Data Warehousing

Data Mining

XML

You are to select two different categories from the seven given above. (If you have another category related to databases and database management, you must ask for my approval before completing the assignment.)

For each of the categories selected, identify two products, each from a different vendor, that are available in that product category. Research and evaluate each product. You are to complete a written evaluation of both products that includes a comparison between the two. For the products you select, give an overview of the costs and potential benefits, provide information about what the product will and will not do, and give an example of an organization or organizational situation that could benefit from the use of the product. I expect that the written evaluation would be approximately one to two pages in length. You can include printed copies of web pages if it helps with your exposition and analysis, but you need to complete some analysis beyond printing off copies of web pages. You should include references and any supporting material.

Repeat this for the second category selected. Again, both products must be from different vendors, but the vendors can be the same as those used for the first set of products. For example, you could look at distributed RDBMS products from IBM and Oracle and middleware products from Oracle and BEA Systems.

Some companies you might want to consider in addition to those mentioned in class:

IBM

HP

BEA Systems SA (France)

Tibco

Oracle

Sybase

Active Software

Open Horizon

Winsbrook

Momentum Software

The textbook also contains numerous references (also look at the "Field Exercises" for the related chapter).