Silva, former National Security Agency official now at VeriSign, the main operator of the Internet-address database that directs billions of digital packets around the world every day.

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There is no central address database in Jersey for the health department to use to call about screenings and smears so Mrs Prior said they were reliant on women booking themselves in.

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Also, T-Mobile has not been able to get my 911 address correct in their system, and if I dial for help right now, the police will see the address in their database as the T-Mobile store on Broadway, some 250 miles from my home, which they insist does not exist, despite the fact that I have owned it for 20 years.

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Relational database technology effectively address this need, which in turn led to it pervasive use across government.

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To join up data points into a context, common identities are required (for example, a web page view can be given a geographical location by joining up the IP address of the page request with that from the IP address in an IP intelligence database).

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You simply send the company your name and address and it will cross-reference your details with its database.

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The simplest, cheapest way to add customers to your company's database is by asking every paying customer for their e-mail address--no matter if the sale was made face-to-face, by phone or online.

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Contact Point is a vast database that holds the details of everyone under the age of eighteen in England, their name, address, gender, date of birth, school and health provider.

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