As a database administrator on a financial IMS project about eight years ago, Mark Gurry was asked to investigate his company's database direction for the next five years. The number of users was up to 950, the cost of maintaining the mainframes was huge, and he'd heard about relational databases and downsizing. After much investigation, he chose Oracle, and has stuck with the system ever since. He has worked as Manager of Computing and Network Services, senior database administrator, senior Oracle technical support, and other jobs. He now has a small consulting company called New Age Consulta...