This book provides an essential update for experienced data processing professionals, transaction managers and database specialists who are seeking system solutions beyond the confines of traditional approaches. It provides practical advice on how to manage complex transactions and share distributed databases on client servers and the Internet. Based on extensive research in over 100 companies in the USA, Europe, Japan and the UK, topics covered include : * the challenge of global transaction requirements within an expanding business perspective *how to handle long transactions and their constituent elements *possible benefits from object-oriented solutions * the contribution of knowledge engineering in transaction management * the Internet, the World Wide Web and transaction handling * systems software and transaction-processing monitors * OSF/1 and the Encina transaction monitor * active data transfers and remote procedure calls * serialization in a transaction environment * transaction locks, two-phase commit and deadlocks * improving transaction-oriented database management * the successful development of an increasingly complex transaction environment.

Dimitris N. Chorafas served on the faculty of the Catholic University of America and as Visiting Professor at Washington State University, George Washington University, University of Vermont, University of Florida, and Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, as well as the University of Alberta, Technical University of Karlsruhe, Ecole d'Etudes Industrielles de l'Université de Genève, Ecole Polytechnic Fédérale de Lausanne, Polish Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences. More than 8,000 banking, industrial and government executives participated in his seminars in the United States, England, Germany, Italy, other European countries, Asia and Latin America. Chorafas is the author of 160 books, translated into several languages world-wide.

PART 1: THE TRANSACTION ENVIRONMENT AT THE END OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Transaction Processing in the Late 1990s and Beyond Global Transaction Requirements and Business Perspectives The Challenge Posed by Long Transactions Long Transactions and Object-Oriented Solutions Using Knowledge Engineering with Transaction Systems PART 2: SYSTEMS SOFTWARE FOR EFFICIENT TRANSACTION HANDLING Functions of Transaction Processing Monitors Using the Web to Process Transactions OSF/1 and the Encina Transaction Monitor Active Data Transfers and Remote Procedure Calls Serialization in a Distributed Transaction Environment PART 3: DATABASE CHALLENGES IN TRANSACTION ENVIRONMENTS Transaction Locks, Two-phase Commit and Deadlocks Transaction Management and Database Resources Can We Improve Transaction-Oriented Database Management