XML has become the definitive universal
data and communication format for all areas of e-business. Though XML's
ascendancy is a foregone conclusion, its universal appeal in the world
of e-business hinges on two factors: In order to ensure smooth data
exchange and facilitate application integration, XML demands both a
suitable e-business infrastructure and an efficient XML-enabled (and
thus Web-capable) management system.
The demand for state-of-the-art e-business solutions is
overwhelming. And with good reason: companies are compelled to gain
total control over data, information and knowledge in their bid to
remain competitive. They want information to be transparent, and they
want to be able to exchange it liberally within and without the
enterprise, i.e. with external customers, suppliers or partners.
Beyond that, the Internet has ushered in a new era of multimedia
communication. This means highly complex data packages such as audio
and video clips or comprehensive documents with interleaved data
structures have to be shuttled to and fro. This clearly overtaxes
conventional database systems that handle data in the line and column
format.
Adding fuel to the flames, when tasked to deal with data in XML
format traditional databases develop a healthy appetite for time- and
resource-consuming external data conversion services. Native XML
systems such as the Tamino XML Server deliver far superior performance,
particularly in connection with a suitable XML infrastructure.
Fast and reliable, this breed of database demands far less
administrative overhead. And courtesy of the XML industry standard,
there are virtually no limits to scalability. In other words, the
system grows collaterally with the enterprise. This means that
XML-based Web applications that have been implemented on this basis
may be accessed readily via standard Web browsers, handheld and PDA
appliances, and WAP-enabled mobile telephones.
The firm foundation of a quality infrastructure
First and foremost, any viable XML solution demands a rock-solid
infrastructure. The aforementioned XML Authority by Tibco Software is
a component part of the Tamino X-Studio development product. It
provides a solid underpinning for communication according to the XML
standard by allowing every schema to be defined, for example, XML 1.0
document type definitions.
To this end, the graphical interface of XML Authority is remarkably
developer-friendly. With its hierarchical view of directories, it
makes the developer's job so much easier. This makes precision
programming of the formal definitions of XML elements and attributes
that actually determine the individual data classes in the XML format
easier.
In addition to the sophisticated graphical views and advanced
editing options, XML Authority offers an arsenal of extremely helpful
tools for developing and defining schemas. These empower developers to
access existing contents and reuse the elements of XML documents, for
example, tags, Java-class fields, data from an ODBC-capable data
source, or even raw text, to create new schemas.
Beyond that, all content (XML tags, HTML document type definitions,
ODBC structures extracted from relational database management systems)
that has been integrated using these tools may be edited freely and
modified to suit the given application.
Amazing flexibility for long-term investment protection
By marrying the powerful Tamino
XML Server to the extensive
database document type editor XML Authority, Software AG and Tibco
Software, Inc. have created a winning combination that ensures
customers' investments are protected over the long term.
This longevity is above all attributable to the amazing scalability
of the implemented solutions. In this context, the term scalability
must be taken to mean much more than merely the virtually limitless
extendibility of an enterprise's unique e-business application by
means of new hardware and software modules. Scalability also means
that these solutions keep in step with strides made in
technology.
Software AG makes sure that its offering maintains that pace by
keeping a vigilant watch on the standardization efforts of
organizations like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and by
integrating emerging developments as swiftly as possible into its
products. The company's track record as a member of W3C attests to its
success in achieving this aim.
Tamino now supports recent developments such as WebDAV, the
Engineering Task Force's (IETF) standard infrastructure for
collaborative document generation via Internet, XML Metadata Exchange
Format (XMI) for exchanging objects via UML (Unified Modeling
Language), and MOF (Meta Objects Facility).
W3C is busy working on establishing other standards such as RDF
(Resource Description Framework), DCD (Document Content Description
for XML), SOX (Schema for Object Oriented XML), XSchema and DDML
(Document Definition Markup Language). As soon as these have been put
through the paces by the XML Schema Working Group, they will be
integrated into the products of Software AG.
Over 40 percent of XML Journal readers chose Tamino as the XML database
of the year
The industry and its experts have acknowledged the efforts of
Software AG: In March 2001 Tamino was named the best XML database
currently available on the market by more than 40 percent of the
readership of XML Journal. They did so because Tamino is the premier
native XML database and because it provides an outstanding basis for
every kind of Internet application, e-business and transaction
solution. It stores structured as well as unstructured data and
processes all database information directly without requiring
additional conversion steps.
And now that Tamino XML Server has been dovetailed with products such as
XML Authority, developers, companies and customers enjoy the many
benefits of Web-focused database solutions, including swift
development, low operating overhead, minimum administrative effort,
and smooth integration into legacy as well as emerging technologies.
