Distributed Database Management Systems and the Data Grid

Currently, Grid research as well as distributed database research deals with data replication but both tackle the problem from different points of view. The aim of this paper is to outline both approaches and try to find commonalities between the two worlds in order to have a most efficient Data Grid that manages data stored in objectoriented databases. Our target object-oriented database management system is Objectivity/DB which is currently the database of choice in some existing High Energy Physics (HEP) experiments as well as in next generation experiments at CERN. The characteristics of Data Grids are described, especially within the High Energy Physics community, and needs for Data Grids are defined. The Globus toolkit is the Grid middle-ware on which we base our discussions on Grid research.