Hewlett-Packard engineering managers sat in on the Feb. 17 detailed discussions for a new data caching facility for the IMAGE database, but HP is waiting to see a fully-baked “Enchilada” specification before assigning technical resources.

Enchilada stands for ENhancement for caCHIng Limited Authorized DAta, a facility that could give IMAGE users a brand new way to store extra information about the database. A pre-IPROF meeting on the facility gave database experts, HP managers and customers a chance to debate design proposals, but no consensus emerged.

Pam Bennett, the lab section manager whose operations include HP’s database efforts, said at the IPROF conference management roundtable that a better-specified database design will have to surface.

“It sounds like the [Feb. 17] meeting didn’t get as far as they would have liked to have gotten,” Bennett said. “Our response at this point is we really need it to get a little bit further and then we’ll be prepared to respond to what the request is.”

Ken Sletten, chairman of the SIGIMAGE Executive Committee (SIEC) leading the effort, reported at IPROF that SIEC “resolved to form a committee” at their Feb. 17 meeting to create a detailed specification for the Enchilada. SIGIMAGE will vote on its requested database enhancements from HP by the end of this month, and Sletten said he’d like to see HP take a stand on doing the Enchilada work without waiting for another year to pass.

“If we get a consensus on this — and it looks doable and relatively easy — I hope we don’t have to wait for another whole Interex System Improvement Ballot cycle,” Sletten said. “We didn’t get as far as we hoped, but we didn’t expect to get a firm conclusion either.”

Sletten said the SIEC named six of its members, including himself, to do the in-depth specification on the Enchilada: Steve Cooper of Allegro Consultants and former chair of SIGIMAGE, who first proposed the idea; Denys Beauchamin of HICOMP America; Donna Garverick, chair of SIG-Sysman; Wirt Atmar of AICS Research, who spearheaded the IMAGE B-tree index enhancement; and Fred White of Adager, one of the original authors of IMAGE.

Sletten also announced that the specification committee would be reviewing its designs with HP’s database lab engineers, specifically Tien-You Chen and Dolly Hu.

“We don’t want to take forever to do this, but we do want to take the time to get it right the first time,” Sletten said. “If we do this, it needs to be everywhere, and meet most of the needs most of the time for everybody.” The specification group plans to publish its work on the HP 3000 newsgroup and listserver.

HP’s Bennett was supportive of the planning and discussion so far on the Enchilada.

“We really appreciate the initiative of the SIG in coming up with ideas and trying to make things happen,” she said. “From HP’s point of view we really have been giving support, going to all the meetings and trying to participate. I think the right things are happening.”