In Memory of Vern Watts
Vern Watts
Vern was the original architect of IBM's IMS hierarchical database for the mainframe. His work, and the work of his team, served as the foundation for the creation of the DB2 database as well. Vern is the father of shared-disk clustering, recognizing its power, simplicity and adaptability. Vern and his team introduced the world to shared-disk clustering in 1980 when IMS embraced this architecture. Oracle RAC, which was release 20 years later, may be viewed as the pioneer of shared-disk clustering, but it all started with Vern.
Vern worked at IBM from 1968 to 2004, when he retired as Distinguished Engineer Emeritus. But Vern wasn't the retiring type. He had more database knowledge and experience than anyone else in the world, and he was eager to share it. He continued working at his IBM office on a part-time basis 2 days a week. The remaining 3 days of the work week were spent mentoring and guiding a small start-up called ScaleDB whose mission was to bring shared-disk clustering to low-cost commodity servers by riding the wave of open source databases led by MySQL.
There was no better guide for a database start-up than Vern. Building a database is a unique effort in the software world. You do your best to design and build the system. Then you test the code. Then you sell it. Your customers test it. Then they go into production. It can be a full five years before you discover the true impact of design decisions. Then you have an install base you need to support as you work to refine and tune your software. Vern helped us get it right the first time. He defined an architecture that expanded upon his 40+ years in the database field. Then when we had a question about implementation he would describe all of the pros and cons of various approaches, and he would back it up with customer requirements from some of the largest database implementations in the world. Vern's insight and experience was invaluable to us.
Even more important than Vern's insight and experience was his character. He was simply a good man. He had a quick sense of humor and a passion for building great software. Everyone at ScaleDB loved Vern and we were crushed when he passed away. The best way we can honor his memory is to carry-on and fulfill his dream of bringing shared-disk clustering to the masses, but he will be missed.
Vern used to tell a story about how IBM jumped through hoops to deliver a new version of software at midnight on March 31st so it wouldn't be delivered on April 1st. The inside joke, one Vern never told us, was that HE was delivered on April 1st. That could explain his sense of humor and irony. Vern passed away April 4, 2009, just 3 days after his 77th birthday...which was spent at his desk at ScaleDB, doing what he loved, just like any other day. Vern is survived by his wife Carol.
Here is additional information about IMS and Vern Watts.
Here is an excellent article about Vern written in 2002.
Here is a very nice Vern Watts video.
You can also visit the website for Vern & Carol Watts.
Our advisor Jnan Dash also wrote a very nice article in memory of Vern
Vern Talks about Clustering: