Database titans embrace XML

DATABASE HEAVYWEIGHTS IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft are looking to usher in the next wave of data management with support for XML and, in the case of IBM and Microsoft, by offering new CM (content management) servers that run on their databases.

Free IT resource Hear how top CIOs turn change into a competitive advantage. Sponsored by HP Free IT resource TechNet: More ways to know it, share it, and keep it running. Sponsored by Microsoft

Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM plans to release in the second quarter of this year the next version of its CM software, Content Manager 8.0, according to a company representative. The new version includes workflow capabilities, enhanced text indexing and searching, and increased performance and scalability.

"What the database companies are offering is good indexing, search, and retrieval; but typically they don't have workflow to route documents around," said Philip Russom, an independent industry analyst based in Waltham, Mass. He added that workflow capabilities in IBM's Content Manager should help fill that void.

When taken with IBM's database -- which is also slated for a midyear upgrade -- and its application server and portal, Content Manager provides a stack for accessing a variety of data types that can be viewed through the portal interface.

With SQL Server, the Windows operating systems, and its Content Management Server, Microsoft offers a similar stack.

Meanwhile, Oracle is set to release in May Oracle 9i Release 2, which will be a "fully unified XML and relational database," said Robert Shimp, vice president of database marketing at Oracle in Redwood Shores, Calif.

Brett MacIntyre, vice president of IBM's content and information integration software group, said that CM is the next wave of both data management and competition between itself and rivals Oracle and Microsoft. "It's about how we can put more room between us and Oracle and Microsoft," he said.

As a part of its strategy for entering the next wave of data management, Big Blue plans to extend the core database engine currently in DB2 to include support for XML, with technologies such as new index structures that relate to XML, according to Nelson Mattos, an IBM distinguished engineer and director of IBM's information integration group.

By supporting what it calls the "three faces" of database design -- XML, relational, and object data -- IBM's database will be able to interact with XML documents, structured information such as rows and columns, and data written in object-oriented programming languages, namely Java and C++.

As such, the goal of all three vendors is to more effectively run searches across structured and unstructured data sets.

But Russom added that even though database companies are pursuing CM with superior searching and indexing technology, pure-play vendors such as Vignette, Interwoven, and Documentum are still one step ahead. "It's not enough to just shove documents into a database," Russom said.