They are XML databases, a way to store, search, and retrieve all that mission-critical business data that is finding expression in XML format.

IBM’s native XML storage feature “doesn’t add any value,” said Mark Drake, an XML technology manager at Oracle. Viper will also support XQuery for processing XML data, along with standard SQL.

The XMLType data type obscures much of the complexity of storing and querying XML data, allowing admins to manipulate the data using familiar SQL tools and concepts.

3. XML storage won’t have the same drawbacks that hierarchical/network products did. Hierarchical systems failed because reusing data in multiple apps was too difficult. Today, however, RDBMS vendors ...

They also provide the data in a hierarchical format.When storing data in relational systems, an external primary key may be attached to the XML document for maintaining primary document keys.

IBM and Oracle promise deep XML support in upcoming versions of their databases. With Web services on the rise, Eric Knorr says these solutions could help you get a handle all that XML data.