The use of parallel processing technology in the next generation of Database Management Systems (DBMSs) makes it possible to meet new and challenging requirements. Database technology in rapidly expanding new application areas brings unique challenges such as increased functionality and efficient handling of very large heterogeneous databases.
Abdelguerfi and Wong present the latest techniques in parallel relational databases illustrating high-performance achievements in parallel database systems. The text is structured according to the overall architecture of a parallel database system presenting various techniques that may be adopted to the design of parallel database software and hardware execution environments. These techniques can directly or indirectly lead to high-performance parallel database implementation.
The book's main focus follows the authors' engineering model: A survey of parallel query optimization techniques for requests involving multi-way joins; A new technique for a join operation that can be adopted in the local optimization stage; A framework for recovery in parallel database systems using the ACTA formalism; The architectural details of NCR's new Petabyte multimedia database system; A description of the Super Database Computer (SDC-II); A case study for a shared-nothing parallel database server that analyzes and compares the effectiveness of five data placement techniques.

This book illustrates important ways in which new parallel hardware is being used to improve the speed and usefulness of a variety of information systems. It contains thirteen original papers that survey the latest trends in performance enhancing architectures for smart information systems.
The machines featured in the text have been designed to support information systems ranging from relational databases to semantic networks and other artificial intelligence paradigms. In addition, many of the projects illustrated in the book contain generic architectural ideas that support higher-level requirements by using semantics-free hardware designs.
The case studies describe add-on machines and performance-enhancing units that employ parallel hardware to speed up database operations. Other case studies show how high-performance computers support database and related software, even though some platforms were originally designed for scientific or numeric applications. The last three chapters give examples of machines that are deliberately designed to speed up a particular knowledge representation formalism or a particular AI problem solving paradigm. The information presented throughout this book will help all those engaged in the design or use of high-performance architectures for nonnumeric (i.e., symbolic) applications.