Tivoli Systems Inc, Austin, Texas is planning to bring together the big three database vendors for discussions on how to make their enterprise server management products, based on Tivoli’s technology, interoperable. Informix Software Inc and Sybase Inc both use Tivoli Management Environment as the basis of their distributed database management systems; Oracle Corp gets the framework through its relationship with DBMX Ltd. Others planning to use the environment will also be invited to join the club. The aim of interoperability is to make the management of distributed databases easier for users with more than one of its products. Tivoli said customers had complained that this was a serious problem. It described the get-together as a series of informal meetings that will be mainly technical dialogue, the first of which are expected to be completed before the end of the year. It also said it was willing to look at various ways of linking the firms if it got the job done. Michael D’Ath, Tivoli’s business devel opment manager, said All of the database vendors have mutual customers, however, there’s no formal business relationship between them. We’re the point of integration.
