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Database Pioneer Michael Stonebraker Receives 2005 IEEE John Von Neumann Medal

Dr. Stonebraker Recognized for Contributions to Multi-Billion-Dollar Database Software Industry

BOSTON, MA – May 9, 2005 — StreamBase Systems, Inc., the pioneer of enterprise-class stream processing software designed to transform real-time complex events into instantaneous competitive advantage, today announced that Dr. Michael Stonebraker, the company's chief technology officer and one of its founders, and an adjunct professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been named the recipient of the 2005 IEEE John von Neumann Medal. The award recognizes Stonebraker for his significant contributions to the design, implementation and commercialization of relational and object-relational database systems.

Established by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 1990 and named in honor of the eminent mathematician John von Neumann, the von Neumann Medal is presented for 'outstanding achievements in computer-related science and technology.' In evaluating potential recipients, the IEEE Awards Board considers an individual's achievements in the areas of computer hardware, software or systems art. Past recipients have included C. Gordon Bell, Carver Mead and Barbara Liskov. The award consists of a gold medal, a bronze replica, a certificate and an honorarium.

"It is an honor to be recognized by the IEEE with the John von Neumann Medal," said Dr. Stonebraker. "This medal is also a credit to the enormous support I have received from colleagues at Berkeley and M.I.T., as well as other institutions and enterprises, who have provided the resources and collaboration that have allowed me to make the contributions that this award recognizes. I look forward to continuing my work and developing new capabilities that can further advance the field of computer science."

Dr. Stonebraker has been at the forefront of database and related technologies for more than 30 years. He led the groundbreaking INGRES project, which, along with System R from IBM, revolutionized database systems by allowing data to be accessed through a high level language. He also created POSTGRES, an object-relational database that allowed database systems to provide significantly better intelligence and efficiency in commercial, administrative and scientific applications. Today, virtually all business computing applications worldwide manage data using database systems that are built on concepts first introduced by Dr. Stonebraker.

"Dr. Stonebraker is a visionary who has had a tremendous impact on the development of database management," said Dov Jaron, chair of the IEEE Awards Board. "His groundbreaking research and dedicated leadership have resulted in 30 years of innovation in his field."

Most recently, Dr. Stonebraker has been applying database concepts to high performance stream processing applications. In 2001, Dr. Stonebraker and a distinguished team of 25 professors and students from M.I.T., Brown University and Brandeis University began developing a new software platform — the Aurora project — to process real-time streaming data. In 2003, Dr. Stonebraker founded StreamBase Systems, where he serves as the company's chief technology officer, to commercialize Aurora.

Sponsored by IBM, the award will be presented to Dr. Stonebraker at the 2005 IEEE Honors Ceremony on June 18 in Chantilly, VA.

About the IEEE

The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society with approximately 365,000 members in more than 150 countries. Through its members, the IEEE is a leading authority on areas ranging from aerospace, computers and telecommunications to biomedicine, electric power and consumer electronics. The IEEE publishes 30 percent of the world's literature in the electrical and electronics engineering and computer science fields, and has developed more than 900 active industry standards. The organization also sponsors or cosponsors more than 300 international technical conferences each year.

About StreamBase

StreamBase Systems was founded in 2003 to address the processing demands of low latency, real-time computing. The first in a new breed of systems software, the StreamBase stream processing engine helps organizations in financial services, telecom and networking, government and military and other industries transform streaming data into competitive advantage through applications that deliver instantaneous response. Current customers include leading exchanges, hedge funds and investment firms, where applications require rapid execution of queries, analytics and actions using real-time streaming data. StreamBase is headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts.

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