IBM has developed what it calls "pureXML" technology in DB2 9 to help companies create a consolidated view of all XML data regardless of format, platform or location. This has been possible before, but to allow conventional relational databases to read XML data, database administrators had to do some extensive coding and reconfiguring of data before it could be read by the database, noted Alan Chan, sales manager, information management, software group at IBM China/Hong Kong.

With native support of XML provided by IBM's pureXML technology, database administrators do not need to manually bolt on XML capabilities to their systems to enable easy management of XML data, according to IBM.

A key differentiator according to Samson Tai, senior IT Architect, betaworks group, IBM China/Hong Kong, is that while other vendors use hybrid systems to store XML data as binary large objects (BLOB) or as parsed relational data, DB2 9 can store data as an XML file with all its properties intact. "This will allow administrators to pull and extract XML data with traditional tools from any database source," said Tai.

Test drives

Key customers in the region are already testing and evaluating the latest technology with Kingdee Software from China, China Financial Computerization Corporation and China Merchants Bank all conducting "proof of technology" tests.