Hewlett-Packard Co has been nursing an odd combo in its Palo Alto, California, research dens that may prove just the ticket for graphics-intensive database chores like computer-aided design, computer-aided software engineering, and corporate publishing, reports Microbytes. Known as Iris, Hewlett-Packard’s prototype database mixes object-oriented programming methods and Structured Query Language with relational algebra to produce a distributed database system. This technology, which Hewlett revealed at an object – oriented – programming conference in San Diego, California this month, could enable database management systems not just to store information, but to spot flaws and inconsistencies in the information as well. Key to the real world potential of Iris is its SQL module.