The primary design influences for a CORBA solution has been CORBA::RelationShips and the MOF, both discussed in the section called Design Discussion in Chapter 1, Database structure . The most important difference in design is the decision not to use active connections between objects, which is an absolute demand to allow other data formats.
This decision is problematic, as the advantages of CORBA are not fully exploited. We imagine at least two solutions:
One could imagine a sort of semi-direct connection, that allows direct connection if possible, but do not force it. This is, however, difficult to implement. The whole problem can be summarized as a problem of associating local data to a CORBA object without using, e.g., a hash table (which, on the other hand, definitively solves the problem, and which is also the solution implemented).
Perhaps we will need to make the decision not to mix the different data formats at all. Only the future can tell if this rather radical solution will be necessary.