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Role of XML
Xpriori products were designed from inception to manage content in XML – eXtensible Markup Language. XML is a dynamic and flexible way to express information because context and data are always stored together, meaning that information is never “shredded” into rows (data) and columns (context) as they were in the past. XML is designed to allow easy interchange of information across the Internet, eliminating barriers imposed by proprietary data management systems. Xpriori’s core technology is designed to store and manage information as XML, regardless of its original structure, making applications more flexible and dynamic.
Does all of this mean that End-Users must understand XML in order to use our products? No; our applications automatically store XML, without any user effort. Using native XML structure enables easy storage and flexible approaches to applications not available in other data storage formats. Using XML and XMS means no database design required….NONE!
For many years, enterprises have managed their information assets in a splintered environment where information is available in disconnected pieces for various applications; structured data is managed by database management systems; documents by document management systems; and other information by various means such as spreadsheets, custom programs and embedded databases. Establishing and changing these systems is disruptive and labor-intensive. Even “extreme programming” techniques have failed to fully deliver on the promise of increased efficiency because the development of back-end system components remains a time-consuming and burdensome task.
To take advantage of digital information assets, companies developed a strategy for managing more information than what they have stored in database management systems. They needed a unified strategy for the management and timely distribution of documents, web content and digital assets in a form that knowledge workers could readily use. Extensible Markup Language, or XML, was developed to meet these needs, and XML’s use in content and information management systems has grown exponentially. XML offers the promise of a universal means for expressing information and therefore, easier and more flexible ways to develop applications.
Xpriori’s native XML database, XMS, was designed to capitalize on this trend, offering an information management system that can effectively manage any kind of XML. XMS supports enhanced management of unstructured data and improves productivity because it requires no database design whatsoever; but, offers the kind of fine-grained access to information familiar to database users as well as the ability to manage unstructured information familiar to document management system users.
The world’s leading software development companies continue to successfully introduce products that make use of XML. They do so using semantically valid XML – as they cater to information management systems that take advantage of the power realized by XML representations of information that are semantically strong.
Most of the XML database management products available in today’s market really involve an integration layer that enables management of relational databases and XML. These products store the tags of XML in tables and relate the XML tag structure to the XML datum accordingly. These “native” XML database products are “native” in name only, as many vendors have actually adapted old relational and object database technology to the XML market space. While the new products work on a few basic levels, Xpriori XMS produces much higher performance with superior results.
XMS is a far simpler approach. XMS relies on the structure of XML to facilitate the process. Its processes reflect the tags or context that are part of XML (the datum and its hierarchy), and XMS separately enables the dynamic management of each. XML is ubiquitous. It has become the medium for sharing and transporting information. The transformation of other data forms to XML has become commonplace. Using XML, XMS provides a solution that can accommodate a significant portion of the current and future market requirements to resolve the “real trick” of managing all enterprise information in a unified way.
Xpriori’s customers purchase XMS primarily because they can use information in ways that are new, accommodating applications that were previously thought to be unachievable. From its inception, Xpriori recognized that XML would become a leading data standard and therefore had a vision to develop -- from the ground up -- new technologies in the area of information management. It has created the most modern native XML tool set in the industry for organizing, accessing, manipulating, analyzing and presenting data. XML is an entirely new way to express information, so its fit with old technologies will always be awkward. The Xpriori solution is built on the Company’s patented digital pattern processing technology (DPP) which, when supporting the persistence and management of XML, suffers none of the awkwardness found in adapted RDBMS systems.
