The Handbook provides practitioners, scientists and graduate students with a good overview of basic notions, methods and techniques, as well as important issues and trends across the broad spectrum of data management. In particular, the book covers fundamental topics in the field such as distributed databases, parallel databases, advanced databases, object-oriented databases, advanced transaction management, workflow management, data warehousing, data mining, mobile computing, data integration and the Web. Summing up, the Handbook is a valuable source of information for academics and practitioners who are interested in learning the key ideas in the considered area.

Based on the results of the study carried out in 1996 to investigate the state of the art of workflow and process technology, MCC initiated the Collaboration Management Infrastructure (CMI) research project to develop innovative agent-based process technology that can support the process requirements of dynamically changing organizations and the requirements of nomadic computing. With a research focus on the flow of interaction among people and software agents representing people, the project deliverables will include a scalable, heterogeneous, ubiquitous and nomadic infrastructure for business processes. The resulting technology is being tested in applications that stress an intensive mobile collaboration among people as part of large, evolving business processes. Workflow and Process Automation: Concepts and Technology provides an overview of the problems and issues related to process and workflow technology, and in particular to definition and analysis of processes and workflows, and execution of their instances. The need for a transactional workflow model is discussed and a spectrum of related transaction models is covered in detail. A plethora of influential projects in workflow and process automation is summarized. The projects are drawn from both academia and industry. The monograph also provides a short overview of the most popular workflow management products, and the state of the workflow industry in general. Workflow and Process Automation: Concepts and Technology offers a road map through the shortcomings of existing solutions of process improvement by people with daily first-hand experience, and is suitable as a secondary text for graduate-level courses on workflow and process automation, and as a reference for practitioners in industry.

Mobile communications havepermeated the globe in both business and social cultures. In only af ew short years, Japan aloneh ash ad more than ten million subscribers enter the mobilem arket. Such explosive popularity is an indication ofa strong commercial demand for communications in both the tethered and tetherless environments. Accompanying the vibrant growth in mobile communications is the growth in multimedia communications, includingthe Internet. Mobile and multime dia communications technologies are merging, making mobile computing ak ey phrasei n the coming advanced information communication era. Thegrowth i n these dynamic industries shows that achange in our chosen method of commu nications is already well advanced. Reading e mail and connecting to various information feeds have already become a part ofdaily business activities. We are trying to grasp theo verall picture of mobile computing. Its shape and form are just starting to appear as personal digital assistants (PDA), handheld personal computers (HPC), wireless data communication services, and com mercial software designed for mobile environments. We are at the cusp of vast popularization of "computers on the go. " "Any time Anywhere Computing" provides the reader with an understand able explanationo ft he current developments and commercialization of mobile computing. Thec oret ec hnologies and applications needed to un derstand the industry are comprehensively addressed. Thebook emphasizes three infrastruc tures: (1) wireless communication network infrastructure, (2) terminal devices (or "computers on the go"), and (3) software middleware and architectures that support wireless and mobile computing.

Mobile communications havepermeated the globe in both business and social cultures. In only af ew short years, Japan aloneh ash ad more than ten million subscribers enter the mobilem arket. Such explosive popularity is an indication ofa strong commercial demand for communications in both the tethered and tetherless environments. Accompanying the vibrant growth in mobile communications is the growth in multimedia communications, includingthe Internet. Mobile and multime dia communications technologies are merging, making mobile computing ak ey phrasei n the coming advanced information communication era. Thegrowth i n these dynamic industries shows that achange in our chosen method of commu nications is already well advanced. Reading e mail and connecting to various information feeds have already become a part ofdaily business activities. We are trying to grasp theo verall picture of mobile computing. Its shape and form are just starting to appear as personal digital assistants (PDA), handheld personal computers (HPC), wireless data communication services, and com mercial software designed for mobile environments. We are at the cusp of vast popularization of "computers on the go. " "Any time Anywhere Computing" provides the reader with an understand able explanationo ft he current developments and commercialization of mobile computing. Thec oret ec hnologies and applications needed to un derstand the industry are comprehensively addressed. Thebook emphasizes three infrastruc tures: (1) wireless communication network infrastructure, (2) terminal devices (or "computers on the go"), and (3) software middleware and architectures that support wireless and mobile computing.

Based on the results of the study carried out in 1996 to investigate the state of the art of workflow and process technology, MCC initiated the Collaboration Management Infrastructure (CMI) research project to develop innovative agent-based process technology that can support the process requirements of dynamically changing organizations and the requirements of nomadic computing. With a research focus on the flow of interaction among people and software agents representing people, the project deliverables will include a scalable, heterogeneous, ubiquitous and nomadic infrastructure for business processes. The resulting technology is being tested in applications that stress an intensive mobile collaboration among people as part of large, evolving business processes. Workflow and Process Automation: Concepts and Technology provides an overview of the problems and issues related to process and workflow technology, and in particular to definition and analysis of processes and workflows, and execution of their instances. The need for a transactional workflow model is discussed and a spectrum of related transaction models is covered in detail. A plethora of influential projects in workflow and process automation is summarized. The projects are drawn from both academia and industry. The monograph also provides a short overview of the most popular workflow management products, and the state of the workflow industry in general. Workflow and Process Automation: Concepts and Technology offers a road map through the shortcomings of existing solutions of process improvement by people with daily first-hand experience, and is suitable as a secondary text for graduate-level courses on workflow and process automation, and as a reference for practitioners in industry.

The Handbook provides practitioners, scientists and graduate students with a good overview of basic notions, methods and techniques, as well as important issues and trends across the broad spectrum of data management. In particular, the book covers fundamental topics in the field such as distributed databases, parallel databases, advanced databases, object-oriented databases, advanced transaction management, workflow management, data warehousing, data mining, mobile computing, data integration and the Web. Summing up, the Handbook is a valuable source of information for academics and practitioners who are interested in learning the key ideas in the considered area.

""As organizations have become more sophisticated, pressure to provide information sharing across dissimilar platforms has mounted. In addition, advances in distributed computing and networking combined with the affordable high level of connectivity, are making information sharing across databases closer to being accomplished...With the advent of the internet, intranets, and affordable network connectivity, business reengineering has become a necessity for modern corporations to stay competitive in the global market...An end-user in a heterogeneous computing environment should be able to not only invoke multiple exiting software systems and hardware devices, but also coordinate their interactions.""--From the Introduction

Seventeen leaders in the field contributed chapters specifically for this unique book, together providing the most comprehensive resource on managing multidatabase systems involving heterogeneous and autonomous databases available today. The book covers virtually all fundamental issues, concepts, and major research topics.
* Presents implications of distribution, autonomy, and heterogeneity on system architectures and management techniques
* Discusses logical-level issues, including representation, semantics, schema integration, and languages
* Covers system-level issues, with an emphasis on data consistency, recovery, and transaction management