4.1.2 Databases

• Database


  A collection of related data organised to permit efficient access for reading and updating by a computer
• The first known example of a computer database, when the words 'data base' appeared in a technical memorandum


  1962
• Databases


  • Proved to be one of the crucial applications that drove the computerisation of big businesses and government during the 1960s
• SABRE


  The first civilian computer application to provide real-time responses to enquiries
• Booking flights with SABRE


  1. Place a card listing flights to a destination on the upright part of the teletype terminal

  2. Press a 'NEED' button

  3. SABRE database looks for available seats

  4. If a plane is fully booked, a light comes on

  5. Complete the booking using the teletype keyboard
• SABRE


  • Gave American Airlines a huge competitive advantage over rival airlines
  • Served customers more quickly and reliably
  • Gave American Airlines immediate access to figures such as passenger numbers on routes and the number of unsold seats on forthcoming flights
• SABRE's success


  Rival airlines either paid for access to SABRE or began development of their own competing systems
• SABRE


  Ancestor of all the e-commerce systems we use today, from online ticketing to shopping and banking
• IMS (Information Management System)


  Database developed by IBM, in collaboration with North American Aviation and the Caterpillar Tractor Company, to solve the engineering problem of building the Saturn V rocket
• IMS


  • Kept track of the nearly 3 million components in each rocket
  • Responsible for scheduling delivery of components to meet NASA's deadlines
  • Ensured contractors were constantly kept informed of changes to the design of the rocket or to the Apollo programme's schedules
• Without IMS, it is highly likely American astronauts would not have landed on the Moon in 1969
• IMS


  • Remains a core part of IBM's business and a crucial part of the world economy
  • Used by 90% of the world's 1000 largest companies in areas as diverse as defence, banking, aerospace and pharmaceuticals to process more than 50 billion transactions every day