EDBT 2000 is the seventh conference in a series dedicated to the advancement of database technology. This year's conference special theme, \Connect Millions of Users and Data Sources," underscores the importance of databases for the information age that is dawning with the new millennium. The importance - rives not just from the observation that the information age essentially rests on theconvergenceofcommunications,computing,andstorage.Equallyimportant, many of the concepts and techniques underlying the success of databasesystems have independent meaning and impact for today's distributed information s- tems. The papers in the volume should also be seen in this light. The EDBT 2000 conference program includes 30 research papers selected by the program committee out of 187 submissions, covering advances in research, development, and applications of databases. The conference program also - cludes six industry andapplications papers,a panel discussion,six tutorials,and several software demonstrations. The conference features three distinguished - vited speakers: Ashish Gupta discusses database issues in electronic commerce, Stefano Ceri addresses the impact and challenges of XML on databases, and Andreas Reuter shares his views on new perspectives on database technology. The technical contributions presented at the EDBT 2000 conference are colle- ed and preserved in this volume that we are pleased to present to you with the expectation that it will serve as a valuable research and reference tool in your professional life.
