Client/Server Data systems
There is a tremendous and constantly changing variety of Client/Server data systems.
Data warehouse
Data warehouse is a repository of an organization's electronically stored data. Data warehouses are designed to facilitate reporting and analysis.
This definition of the data warehouse focuses on data storage. However, the means to retrieve and analyze data, to extract, transform and load data, and to manage the data dictionary are also considered essential components of a data warehousing system. Many references to data warehousing use this broader context. Thus, an expanded definition for data warehousing includes business intelligence tools, tools to extract, transform, and load data into the repository, and tools to manage and retrieve metadata.
The concept of a data warehouse is usually attributed to IBM. The idea is that information from all of a company’s operations are aggregated into a single central database that can be used for decision support. The data warehouse doesn’t replace the other databases.
Computer Telephony Integration
There are two general ways in which systems developers are planning to integrate telephones and computers. The first is to combine the PC and telephone on the desktop. Network connection would handle voice as well as data, and the PC would be able to assume the functions of a very sophisticated an answering machine. On the server side, things would be simplified because one machine would be both network server and office telephone switching system.
This approach has a lot of promise, but is not yet widely used. The barrier is that LAN technology doesn’t handle voice well. Neither Ethernet nor Token Ring networks, which comprise all but a small percentage of LANs, can handle time-dependent communications. There is some progress in improving existing protocols. For example, there is a form of Ethernet (called isochronous Ethernet) that is designed to prevent latency, but the real transition to combined voice(data) LANs will have to wait for improved LAN switching or for ATM to be chap enough for the desktop.
The second kind of telephone(computer) integration is connecting phones to databases. Given its tremendous business potential, this still immature technology is quite popular with small, medium and large companies. A major reason for progress is the availability of the Telephony API (TAPI) protocol for Windows NT/2000. This protocol defines a set of APIs that programmers can use to connect digital telephones and telephone system to network system.
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