Lotus Development Corp has expanded on its strategy for entering the personal computer database market with its forthcoming Lotus/DBMS relational database management system – seen as a challenger to the Microsoft – Ashton – Tate – Sybase SQL Server. The company is developing a range of data management tools under OS/2 and Presentation Manager and a high-performance SQL server, to be integrated with its next-generation graphical spreadsheet, 1-2 3/G. The Cambridge, Massachusetts company has also developed a data access technology enabling Lotus/DBMS tools to be used with servers from other manufacturers including IBM’s DB2. Lotus said its approach to the database market underlined a commitment to open architecture based on the realisation that Lotus’ spreadsheet customers routinely need to access information residing on a wide variety of corporate databases. The Lotus/DBMS product family includes a set of front-end, graphical tools and a local database server, which uses the industry standard SQL query language. A local area networking version of the same server will be offered for multi-user applications. Lotus/DBMS tools are designed to exploit the OS/2 Presentation Manager’s graphical user interface, enabling users to undertake functions such as designing and analysing without using procedural programming. The Lotus Extended Applications Facility provides the programming facilities needed to build more complex applications which can be assembled more easily using a graphical representation. Lotus tools also allow users to formulate queries by using a mouse rather than SQL. The company hopes to enable users to easily operate database products while also facilitating applications development for developers. Lotus is also providing access to the Lotus/DBMS server from within 1-2-3 Release 2 and Release 3, Lotus’ character-based spreadsheets. This enables MS-DOS 3 and OS/2 users to share information concurrently, using the familiar 1-2-3 interface. The Lotus/DBMS server is being jointly developed with Gupta Technologies Inc of Menlo Park, California.
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