ArcSDE

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ArcSDE is a "middleware" software package made by ESRI to manage RDBMSs for the purpose of storing and querying spatial data. The common RDBMS formats supported by ArcSDE are: Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database, DB2 or Informix.

ArcSDE grew to meet the need of users of geographic data for robust multi-user editing, storage and access of extremely large geospatial databases. ArcSDE supports the ESRI geodatabase implementation.

While the traditional RDBMS software is used to keep track of the tables and records contained in the database, ArcSDE pushes the relational model higher so that geographic data - which is comprised of several tables - can be managed by client software seamlessly. The user is not aware of, nor do they have to deal with, the particulars of the RDBMS. Connections to the database are all routed through the ArcSDE middleware, which performs the storing, and retrieval of data.