Semantic Storage: Overview and Assessment

The Semantic Web has a great deal of momentum behind it. The promise of a ‘better web’, where information is given well defined meaning and computers are better able to work with it has captured the imagination of a significant number of people, particularly in academia. Language standards such as RDF and OWL have appeared with remarkable speed, and development continues apace. To back up this development, there is a requirement for ‘semantic databases’, where this data can be conveniently stored, operated upon, and retrieved. These already exist in the form of triple stores, but do not yet fulfil all the requirements that may be made of them, particularly in the area of performing inference using OWL. This paper analyses the current stores along with forthcoming technology, and finds that it is unlikely that a combination of speed, scalability, and complex inferencing will be practical in the immediate future. It concludes by suggesting alternative development routes