Data Research Associates, Inc., has announced support of the new Digital Equipment Corporation VAX 4000 Model 300 processor, which utilizes three RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) processors to drive storage disks and communications. The technology offers not only better price/performance, but also lower maintenance costs. The VAX 4000 Model 300 is available as a single- or dual-host CPU and operates in an office environment.
Data Research is a member of Digital Equipment Corporation's System Cooperative Marketing Program. Its applications software runs exclusively on Digital hardware. The Data Research automation system is currently in use at more than 400 academic, public, and special libraries worldwide.
DRA also has announced that it and the San Diego Data Processing Corporation have signed a contract for the installation of the Data Research automation system at the San Diego Public Library and the San Diego County Library. The software-only installation, a conversion, includes Data Research modules for Public Access, circulation, media booking, acquisitions, and serials control, MARC cataloging, indexing and authority control, Baker & Taylor interface, report writer, and full-text data base search and retrieval. The San Diego Public Library serves a population base of more than a million and has annual circulation of more than 4.5 million. The system comprises the main library and 31 branches.
Finally, DRA has announced that it will have a working prototype of implementation of the NISO Z39.50 standard by Fall 1990. Z39.50 is formally titled "Information Retrieval Service Definition and Protocol Specifications for Library Applications." Adherence to it allows a software application on one computer to query the data base of another computer, even when the two systems are from different vendors and use different hardware. Additionally, the Z39.50 protocol provides for the transfer of data base records identified by a search/retrieval request. Z39.50, a national standard, also provides compliance with the International Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) protocols now in development by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
[Contact: Data Research Associates, Inc., 1270 North Warson Road, St. Louis, MO 63132-1806; (800) 425-0888; in Missouri, (314) 432-1100; Fax (314) 993-8927.]
