Database Systems: Database Work at Bell Laboratories

There is no easy way to characterize the many different kinds of data that are used to run the Bell System. The volume of data involved is itself staggering. At Bell Laboratories alone, more than two-trillion bytes are stored on various kinds of on-line devices in the computer centers. That's equivalent to more than one-million good-sized textbooks. Clearly, computerized systems are necessary to administer and keep track of such large quantities of data. But because the uses of data are so varied, no one data management system has proven suitable for all applications. The papers in this issue are a sampling of the broad range of database applications at Bell Laboratories. The papers were presented at a database symposium held at Bell Laboratories in April 1981. Although great diversity in application areas is evident, many of the issues discussed in these papers are common to all database systemsdevelopment efforts. It is hoped that by exposing these issues here, 2383 progress towards a more unified approach for database systems design will be hastened. II. DATABASE SYSTEMS WITH THE UNIX* OPERATING SYSTEM