As usual Gartner is full of manure in the first place. Sure RFID tags can be attached to cans of soup, and counted, if you want to pay a person to run up and down the isles of the store to inventory what is on the shelf, never mind what's in the back room. These guys seem to forget that an RFID tag is only useable within a couple of feet away, depending on size. Whereas the database is accessible from anywhere and has the larger view. GOD, I can just see the buyer at Shaws, Hanaford, or Stop&Shop calling every store to go scan their shelves for a soup count before he buys more! He's got all of that data at his fingertips today, plus what's on the truck and warehouse. Analysts have got to be the greatest ostrich's in existence. _____ From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jared Still Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 10:40 AM To: Oracle-L Freelists Subject: Death of the database Anyone seen their workload reduced due to unstructured data? Death of the database As improvements in networking technologies lead to real-time connectivity to any data, that data will be best kept closest to its natural source rather than at the intersection of a database's row and tuple. At last week's Symposium ITxpo, Gartner analysts backed up that premise with two examples: an RFID-tag equipped can of soup, and a chip embedded in the back of a human hand. Must data always be stored -- or cached -- in a database? If not, it's time for DBAs and BI vendors to to reinvent themselves. http://ct.zdnet.com.com/clicks?c=625728-4778725&brand=zdnet&ds=5&fs=0 <http://ct.zdnet.com.com/clicks?c=625728-4778725&brand=zdnet&ds=5&fs=0> -- Jared Still Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist