Warp wrote:
>   Speaking of AT&T... 312 terabytes in one single database? That starts
> requiring some efficiency from the part of the database software...

Indeed!  Almost mind-boggling.  And that's just one of the 9 large databases 
they have.  This one sounds like PREMIS, which is all the call data, 
billing, etc. Basically, ever interaction with an end-user of the network.

The other giant one (which I thought used to be bigger, but might have 
shrunk with more fiber while PREMIS continues to grow) is TURKS. The Trunk 
Utilization and Resource Knowledge System tracks basically where all the 
wires go, what streets they go under, what the connections between cables 
are, each punch-down block, each manhole cover, the configurations of all 
the phone switches, which wires connect to which line cards, and basically 
everything that has ever been installed, who worked on it, what time, how 
long it took, etc. Given that the local loops alone in the USA used 58 
light-minutes of copper wire, you can imagine the kind of data you're 
talking about.

I'm pretty sure they roll operational stuff out of the main databases after 
six months or so, but I guess they still keep all the records somewhere.

>   I think it could perhaps be safely assumed they use Oracle? 

It's IBM mainframe DB2. Or was, 15 years ago. I don't imagine they changed 
that, tho.

 > I have read
> Oracle is about the only database system out there which scales up so much.

It probably has the best scale per dollar. I don't imagine it's going to 
take advantage of mainframe features like IOPs and knowing which sectors are 
on which cylinders of the hard disks and such. But mainframes still blow 
away I/O driven applications by hundreds to one.  Apparently, some people do 
things like put dozens of Linux VMs on one mainframe,

> Or at least that's what the Oracle company wants us to believe in any case.)

I think IBM has the same sort of advertising. You just see it less because 
it's not really targeted at minicomputer type installations.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   There's no CD like OCD, there's no CD I knoooow!

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