| | DBMS - December 1997 - Extending Relational Databases |
 | | It is, however, not possible for each DBMS vendor to implement all the datatypes and access methods for all the rich datatypes required by the yet-to-be-developed applications of the near future. |
 | | Three of the leading DBMS vendors -- IBM, Informix, and Oracle -- have extended their conventional relational DBMSs to become object/relational "universal servers." These servers provide the mechanisms to extend the data storage capabilities of the database and the functionality of the DBMS itself. |
 | | The DBMS treats these datatypes in a strongly typed manner, ensuring that they are only used where data items or columns of that particular datatype are anticipated. |
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