<s>
At	O
TechEd	O
1999	O
conference	O
during	O
its	O
rollout	O
of	O
Windows	B-Application
2000	I-Application
Beta	O
,	O
Microsoft	O
introduced	O
COM+	O
in-memory	B-General_Concept
database	I-General_Concept
(	O
IMDB	B-General_Concept
)	O
that	O
provided	O
an	O
application	O
with	O
fast	O
access	O
to	O
data	O
through	O
databases	O
that	O
supported	O
OLE	B-Language
DB	I-Language
connectivity	O
,	O
without	O
incurring	O
the	O
overhead	O
associated	O
with	O
storing	O
and	O
accessing	O
data	O
to	O
and	O
from	O
physical	O
disks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
"	O
You	O
'll	O
be	O
running	O
your	O
application	O
on	O
a	O
Windows	B-Application
2000	I-Application
machine	O
,	O
but	O
you	O
may	O
be	O
actually	O
accessing	O
the	O
data	O
from	O
an	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
database	I-General_Concept
on	O
another	O
platform.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
did	O
not	O
intend	O
to	O
offer	O
IMDB	B-General_Concept
separately	O
from	O
COM+	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
"	O
There	O
are	O
no	O
current	O
plans	O
to	O
productize	O
the	O
IMDB	B-General_Concept
separately	O
,	O
or	O
incorporate	O
it	O
into	O
SQL	B-Application
Server	I-Application
in	O
the	O
near	O
future	O
,	O
"	O
Gross	O
says	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
He	O
noted	O
then	O
that	O
SQL	B-Application
Server	I-Application
6.5	O
and	O
SQL	B-Application
Server	I-Application
7.0	O
—	O
along	O
with	O
Oracle7	O
,	O
Oracle8	B-General_Concept
,	O
Sybase	B-Application
Enterprise	I-Application
,	O
Informix	O
8	O
,	O
and	O
Microsoft	O
ADO	B-Device
—	O
would	O
be	O
able	O
to	O
serve	O
as	O
back-end	O
data	O
stores	O
for	O
the	O
IMDB	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
's	O
IMDB	B-General_Concept
also	O
supports	O
the	O
OLE	B-Language
DB	I-Language
for	O
an	O
ODBC	B-Application
provider	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
soon	O
after	O
the	O
rollout	O
of	O
Windows	B-Application
2000	I-Application
,	O
several	O
already	O
delivering	O
IMDB	B-General_Concept
vendors	O
had	O
come	O
forward	O
with	O
main-memory	O
database	O
systems	O
that	O
run	O
on	O
32-bit	O
Windows	O
NT	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
TimesTen	B-Application
Performance	O
Software	O
—	O
a	O
Hewlett-Packard	O
Co	O
.	O
spin-off	O
—	O
offered	O
a	O
main-memory	O
database	O
for	O
Windows	O
NT	O
and	O
Unix	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
's	O
COM+	O
division	O
's	O
IMDB	B-General_Concept
solution	O
never	O
made	O
it	O
past	O
Windows	B-Application
2000	I-Application
Beta	O
release	O
,	O
because	O
it	O
was	O
squelched	O
by	O
Microsoft	O
's	O
SQL	B-Application
Server	I-Application
division	O
for	O
several	O
reasons	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Initial	O
tests	O
showed	O
that	O
Microsoft	O
's	O
IMDB	B-General_Concept
performed	O
better	O
with	O
Oracle7	O
and	O
Oracle8	B-General_Concept
than	O
with	O
Microsoft	O
's	O
products	O
SQL	B-Application
Server	I-Application
6.5	O
and	O
SQL	B-Application
Server	I-Application
7.0	O
and	O
ADO	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
a	O
skunkworks	O
project	O
produced	O
by	O
Microsoft	O
's	O
COM+	O
division	O
,	O
and	O
Microsoft	O
's	O
SQL	B-Application
Server	I-Application
division	O
had	O
more	O
political	O
clout	O
.	O
</s>
