Building an IT environment for a competitive advantage
Oracle Database 10g Extension Kit
UltraRAD client for XML solutions
Recently, efforts to standardize the various kinds of information handled in enterprises on XML are intensifying. This is because enterprises can take advantage of the flexibility, extensibility, and potential of XML to develop a variety of new businesses, such as Web services, both rapidly and at little cost. With this uptake of XML, the necessity of both relational databases and XML databases that can handle XML is becoming evident. One database that is receiving a lot of attention for its ability to allow existing relational database assets coexist with XML data is Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (herein as Oracle Database 10g). Oracle Database 10g natively supports XML/XQuery, while facilitating the smooth development of Internet-ready applications and services that make use of relational database data. xfy Enterprise Solution for Oracle Database 10g (herein as xfy) is a system environment that links closely with this highly XML-compatible Oracle Database 10g, to enable the development of flexible, extensible, and high-grade XML applications. It offers a variety of advanced features, such as unification of relational and XML database operations, conversion of relational database data to XML, and query-less database operations, bringing the power of Oracle Database 10g to end users and database engineers.
IT environments focused on each project
By linking Oracle Database 10g and xfy, all IT system data can be moved to XML, structured and unstructured data can be integrated, and the current IT challenges involved in SOA installation can be overcome without restructuring existing relational database systems. This has significant value for not only database engineers and IT design engineers, but also IT managers. In other words, database engineers can take advantage of the SQL knowledge they have already acquired to perform native XML handling, and build flexible information systems that link relational databases and XML databases, as well as advanced XML applications or Web services. Meanwhile, IT design engineers can build a fully XML-based system by integrating Web services that are connected by Oracle Database 10g and OracleFusion SOA middleware with databases that are accessible under a single data model from database server Enterprise DataHub. xfy functionality can also be leveraged to build systems with superior usability, which reduce the workload for IT managers, and contribute to overall reductions in TCO. This allows IT managers to gain a competitive edge by focusing their efforts on IT governance. Likewise, XML applications developed in this fashion facilitate information handling by end users working out in the field, enabling them to build and share operational know-how, improve operational efficiency, and create new business opportunities.
Using xfy as an Oracle Database 10g client enables all kinds of data to be moved to XML and services to be enriched through SOAs, for IT utilization that does not necessarily rely on the skill levels of engineers and users
Seamless integration of information handling and application development
Recently, the status quo of corporate IT infrastructure has been changing dramatically. While end users continue to draw on a plethora of database information for synthesis and editing in various applications, technical engineers with database expertise are creating reports and strategic marketing materials for financial analysis, to be shared internally and reported to management. However, while developments in this kind of end user computing have accelerated corporate activities, they have not necessarily improved the centralization and integrity of information, an especially important point in today's age of emphasized corporate responsibility and compliance management. XML applications created from the linkage of Oracle Database 10g and xfy can be used to secure complete data consistency and integrity, while enabling user-oriented IT utilization. Information handling and application development can be integrated through a balance of flexibility, controllability, extensibility, and integrity. xfy provides an entirely new XML solution that allows XML application development to be optimized on existing information handling, based on operations know-how.
- Query-less database operations
Taking full advantage of the powerful ability of Oracle Database 10g to enable relational databases and XML databases to be used together should not force the user to be aware of the differences between SQL and XQuery. That is why xfy comes with xfy Query Generator, a feature that enables required data to be simply obtained without SQL or XQuery knowledge, by allowing query statements against relational databases and XML databases to be generated interactively within a GUI. xfy Query Generator links with xfy Vocabulary Management Server, an XML vocabulary index server, to extract information reliably without requiring the user to be familiar with differences between XML schemas in XML databases. This is possible because xfy Vocabulary Management Server contains functionality to manage and share semantic relationships between XML tags. For example, because customer names between different information data are centrally managed by such linkage as to a Customer Name field in an invoice and To: field in an email, previously difficult cross-database searches can be performed simply and reliably. Complicated procedures such as performing search settings for all tabs of databases with different notation are no longer necessary. With linkage functionality for xfy Query Generator and Vocabulary Management Server, XML documents with different schemas can be managed and used easily.
- Partially automatic view generation from query results
xfy comes with xfy View Generator, functionality that analyzes query results obtained from Oracle Database 10g relational databases and XML databases, to partially automate generation of table data and other views. Until now, this kind of view creation required a significant amount of coding, but now that it is no longer necessary, query results can be visualized even more easily, facilitating the development of XML applications that provide superior usability and facilitate rapid decision-making. More advanced views can be created xfy View Designer, a GUI-based XML vocabulary component creation tool.
- Development of rich XML applications
xfy Query Generator and xfy View Generator not only allow end users to handle information freely, but also provide an UltraRAD environment that allows rapid and simple development of rich applications that take advantage of XML components distributed across a system. Applications developed using xfy provide superior flexibility, extensibility, and reusability, as well as benefits towards TCO reduction. By using xfy as an Oracle Database 10g client, information handling and application development can be seamlessly integrated without negative system or cost impact.