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Here we profile someone or some aspect of WISL to create a better understanding of our operations, goals and people.

UniVerse

Most of WISL's server based applications employ the UniVerse Database Management System. It is a portable, generic, relational database environment that is a versatile facility for the implementation of computer based information management systems. WISL's server based products are Open Systems applications that will run on any platform that supports the UniVerse database management system. UniVerse is available on all major implementations of the UNIX operating system, Linux and MS Windows NT. WISL is a licensed distributor for the UniVerse DBMS.

A DBMS is a structured manner of storing data designed to facilitate maintaining, accessing and reporting on the data. There are recognized criteria that must be satisfied in order for a DBMS to be considered "relational". UniVerse meets these criteria and has two additional capabilities that are beyond the scope of other popular DBMS's(e.g. ORACLE, SYBASE or INGRES). It handles variable- length fields and variable-occurrence fields and groups in records and consequently provides a richer model of the real world. It is often referred to as a post-relational database. Together with WISL's structured application development system, SCADS, UniVerse provides the framework within which WISL is able to deliver effective solutions quickly and handle required changes in a responsive manner.

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The commercial entity that supports UniVerse has undergone a couple of major organizational changes in the recent past. For many years the name of the company was Vmark but a couple of years ago(1998) it merged with Unidata Inc(a company with a similar DBMS product) to form Ardent. In early 2000 a merger with Informix was announced which makes the resulting company second only to ORACLE in size as a DBMS vendor. In addition to its flagship DBMS, Ardent has major offerings in the data mining/data warehousing marketplace.

Recently WISL introduced its first client/server offering, QUIKREP/CS which utilizes the supplementary DBMS product from Ardent called UniVerse Objects. We are now evaluating the Ardent Redback web development environment which would permit leveraging of WISL's investment in UniVerse based applications to provide related web based offerings. These developments further strengthen the strategic relationship that WISL maintains with this important software industry vendor. If you would like more detail about Ardent please go to http://www.ardent.com.