Very Large Database (VLDB) - While there is apparently no official or standard definition for the term Very Large Database (VLDB), it is sometimes used to describe databases occupying magnetic storage in the terabyte range and containing billions of table rows. Typically, these are decision support systems or transaction processing applications serving large numbers of users.

The Winter Corporation, a consulting firm that specializes in large-scale databases, data warehousing, and strategic information management, conducts a yearly survey of large corporations and then announces winners in a number of VLDB categories. In 1997, the largest database was Knight Ridder's DIALOG, a text database, with 7 terabytes (seven thousand gigabytes) of storage. Replications of databases present in redundant array of independent disks (RAID) systems and mirror sites were discounted in the survey.

Related glossary terms: record, flexfield, splay tree, in-memory database, virtual private database (VPD), Edgar F. "Ted" Codd, extent, field, object-oriented database management system (OODBMS / ODBMS), hash / hashing / hash algorithm

[Category=Data Management ]

Source: WhatIs.com, 15 September 2013 09:22:39, http://whatis.techtarget.com/glossary/Data-and-Data-Management