In any case, IBM deserves kudos for having started down this path years
earlier. Of course, the USPTO is set to do its own server soon, too.
Any FoRKs care to comment on the UPS database? :-)
Rohit
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'Mine's Bigger': A Data Spat
Wired News Report
7:35pm 10.Jul.98.PDT
Last week, when Microsoft rolled out its new Web service offering satellite
photos to Web shoppers, it billed the image collection as the largest Web
database in the world.
Using superlatives is always a dangerous business and Microsoft felt the
heat a day later when IBM (IBM) felt obliged to address the claim.
In a company data flash entitled "The Truth is Out There" and addressing the
question "Who really has the largest database?", IBM said it had the bigger
tool.
"The facts are that we have a Patent Server that's got every US patent since
1971," said IBM's Jeff Cross. "That's 1.5 terabytes compressed, 15 terabytes
uncompressed." (A terabyte is equal to one trillion bytes.)
The Microsoft (MSFT) TerraServer contains 1 terabyte of compressed data and
5 terabytes uncompressed, a point Redmond made to boast the capabilities of
its Microsoft SQL database server.
And IBM's data flash went on to point out an even larger data repository on
the Web. A 4.2-terabyte database served the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in
Nagano, Japan, the company said. It was powered by IBM's DB2 database
product. The largest known commercial database, the company went on to add,
is run by UPS, with over 11 terabytes of data, another DB2-based system.
Microsoft spokespeople said the company had no comment on IBM's statements.