Emulation has been proposed as a preservation strategy for longevity of digital objects. An advantage of emulation is the relative platform independency. Emulation with a high degree of platform independency requires a Universal Virtual Computer (UVC), as described by Lorie. This paper describes the realization of the enhanced UVC developed for the National Library of the Netherlands. The preservation method of the UVC at preservation time and at retrieval time (in the future) is concisely described, the conceptual model of the UVC is given, and the object design and the logical data viewer of the UVC are presented. The UVC has been realized and proven to work for image types using the JPEG and GIF87a formats, although performance of the present UVC can still can be improved. The UVC demonstration tool is freely available at the Alphaworks web site to let the general public experience this approach on long-term access.

DataBase Management Systems (DBMSs) are a major component of most information systems (ISs). The relational DBMS is nowadays by far the most widely accepted DBMS, although many large non-relational DBMSs are still in use, and Object Oriented DBMSs are developing. Besides, more and more DBMSs are supporting basic multimedia storage and retrieval facilities. Nevertheless, advanced information retrieval facilities, especially for accessing large document and text databases, are still the almost exclusive domain of Information storage and Retrieval Systems (IRSs). A growing need is identified to integrate the facilities of a DBMS and an IRS in order to fully support work with multiple data types, like multimedia police work. For Dutch police departments, a criminal investigation system is developed, fully integrating both types of facilities.

The purpose of the DareLux (Data Archiving River Environment Luxembourg) Project was the preservation of unique and irreplaceable datasets, for which we chose hydrology data that will be required to be used in future climatic models. The results are: an operational archive built with XML containers, the OAI-PMH protocol and an architecture based upon web services. Major conclusions are: quality control on ingest is important; digital rights management demands attention; and cost aspects of ingest and retrieval cannot be underestimated. We propose a new paradigm for information retrieval of this type of dataset. We recommend research into visualisation tools for the search and retrieval of this type of dataset.

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