What are the prospects of research in database field? I have been working with database management systems, and would like to focus on research in this very area some day.

I was having a look at the various research labs around the world,

http://www-07.ibm.com/in/research/
http://research.microsoft.com
http://research.google.com/


but did not find any dedicated Database research groups, or any exciting activity in this area.

How do the research prospects in the Database field look like?
As usual, to have an idea of what is happening in a field, have a look at the major conferences: SIGMOD/PODS, VLDB, ICDT, to name a few.