Title: DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT TARGET

Description of project target

The IMS database is being developed in two phases. Work on the first phase began in March 2004. Two versions of a functional specification for the database have been created. At first an extended database structure was developed with 138 fields in total. It was expected that the market would evolve rapidly and that many of these fields would quickly become necessary. In practice many of the products on which the initial analysis was based simply disappeared and so a second version was developed, the ‘prototype database’ which consists of 29 fields. These 29 fields cover the main features and attributes of IMS which are presently available and they leave scope for future developments.  

The prototype database was developed using Microsoft Access which was later on moved on to an Oracle platform and is currently accessible via a web interface at http://www.jrc.es/projects/ims/imsintrodb.cfm. Ten full records have been introduced thus far into the database. For the remainder of the first 18-month period, which ends in September 2005, the FIDIS partners involved in developing the database will continue to add records.

In the second phase of development, the database will be made accessible to the general public. In particular, manufacturers and developers of IMS will be contacted in order to make them aware of the database and to request information on their products. During this phase, more records will be added to the database either by product developers themselves or by FIDIS partners. The classification of IMS according to type and class used and developed in D3.1 is also used in this database, so the information collected there will be re-used and extended for the IMS database. As developments in the field of IMS take place quickly, the database will need maintenance and updating throughout this second phase. This will be done by the IPTS in conjunction with the ICPP.