Reports and Articles

"SOA Forgot the Data: Composite Data Services and Data Governance"
dataWarehouse.com, May 1, 2007

The authors would like to thank Bob Albo, VP of Business Solutions at Raining Data, and Murty Gurajada, software architect, XML-Centric Applications and Platforms group at Raining Data, for technically reviewing this article.

This is an introduction to composite data services, a powerful framework in combination with XML data management, SOA registries and repositories.

"Raining Data Helps Manage the Clinical Data Tsunami"
Health Insights & Outlooks
A bi-weekly newsletter (pages 6 & 7)

Life science companies continually add new technologies that can increase the amount of data available in clinical development. This has resulted in a discontinuous and increasingly problematic collection of solutions. In the mid-1990's, enterprise resource planning (ERP) revolutionized the back office operations of corporations around the globe. The success of ERP was based on its ability to integrate formerly distinct applications like billing, manufacturing, inventory management, human resources, etc. into a single production system. Using ERP workers in sales, manufacturing or finance had access to the same data, making cross-functional management possible.

"SOA for the real world"
Transform your SOA experiment into an enterprise-grade implementation
JavaWorld, November 29, 2006

Many companies are coming to realize that SOA is more complex to implement than expected, requiring a laser-like focus on all aspects of enterprise data and a deeper shift in organizational culture than any previous technology wave has demanded. An architecture oriented around services is not new. A few precursors to SOA, such as CORBA and DCOM, have already successfully bridged disparate applications using a loosely-coupled services-oriented approach. What is new about the SOA wave is that SOA is not simply about services. The emergence of the Internet and XML has opened the floodgates for data exchange. The software industry has lined up behind common data exchange format (XML) and Internet transport protocols like it never has before. Thus, a surge of well-accepted and open standards have emerged that enable the promise of SOA: to support flexible configuration of business processes, reduce operational costs, enable dynamic discovery of services, and provide seamless integration between applications, departments, and trading partners.

"XML Advantages & Object to XML Persistence Frameworks"
Interview with Ilya Sterin of Nextrials
TheServerSide.com, November, 2006

An interview with the creator of XQOM, an easy Object-to-XQuery Mapping framework for XML persistence in Java environments. Raining Data's TigerLogic was chosen as the first native XML database to write drivers for XQOM. After evaluating various other vendors out there, including open source products, TigerLogic shined.

"Enable real world trading partner collaborations in SOA"
An introduction to the ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement standard
JavaWorld, August 14, 2006

This article provides a quick introduction to the industry's various Web services standards, their backgrounds, underlying architectures, benefits, status, and industry adoption. It focuses on Web services-enabled trading-partner collaboration standards that influence a service-oriented architecture. It also showcases the advantage of using a flexible and high-performance native XML database management system along with XQuery to enable rapid and evolving loosely-coupled collaborations among trading partners within and across enterprises.

"Inside the world of counterfeit drugs"
Dateline's Chris Hansen investigates how fake prescription drugs have popped up at pharmacies— and how this can be stopped
Dateline NBC, June 4, 2006 (1 MB pdf)

Chances are you didn't think twice about the last prescription you picked up from the pharmacy, trusting that the medicine in the bottle matches the information on the label. After all, America's drug supply is the safest in the world. But a dose of reality: as more and more drugs are being sold on the Internet, a new problem has emerged: counterfeit medications.

"Secure your SOA"
Enterprise-grade SOAs require a plan for addressing diverse security needs
JavaWorld, April 2006

How do you mature your SOA to account for security and governance? What are the standards and specifications in XML security today, and how do they work with each other? What are the important considerations for SOA governance? How do you implement these in a scalable way without sacrificing performance and maintainability? This article attempts to answer these questions.

"FastSOA: Accelerate SOA with XML, XQuery, and native XML database technology"
The role of a mid-tier SOA cache architecture
IBM developerWorks, February 7, 2006

Many SOA implementations rely on message formats defined with XML. The resulting message schemas can become complex, incompatible, and difficult to maintain, and can cause serious scalability and performance problems. In this article, Frank Cohen describes a new strategy and techniques for accelerating SOA performance through the use of XML, XQuery, and native XML database technology in the SOA mid-tier.

"Describe Business Process Activities as Web Services"
and WSBPEL to your enterprise toolbox
JavaWorld, October 2005

This article is written for readers looking at and considering efficient, flexible, and standards-based approaches to implementing real-world Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs).

"Supply Chain Event Management Revisited"
Business Integration Journal, July/August 2005

The key to revitalizing Supply Chain Event Management (SCEM) is adding real-time technologies for the Supply Chain. The combination of RFID, Web Services and XQuery into a multi-layer data and event model transforms SCEM into a dynamic system populated with real-time data and decision support capabilities.

"The power behind the SOA repository"
The nature of SOA data requires a native XML data management server
JavaWorld, June 2005

This article is written for readers looking at and considering efficient, flexible, and standards-based approaches to implementing real-world service oriented architectures, or SOAs.

"Debunking XQuery Myths and Misunderstandings"
Promising technology makes it easier to build services that work with XML
IBM developerWorks, May 6, 2005

XQuery shows much promise for software architects and developers because it greatly reduces the amount of code you need to write to build services that work with XML. You might think XQuery does everything and is well understood, but misconceptions and misunderstandings still exist in the software development community about XQuery. In this article, Frank Cohen details and clarifies many of the myths and misunderstandings that surround XQuery.

"Get familiar with ebXML Registry"
Learn the basics about the ebXML Registry standard
JavaWorld, April 2005

Much like Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), electronic business XML (ebXML) was developed to enable business to be conducted electronically over the Internet. Custom protocols and proprietary messaging formats between trading partners created a deterrent to the widespread adoption of EDI. ebXML, on the other hand, provides an open and flexible alternative, allowing enterprises anywhere, anyplace, and anytime to engage in meaningful collaborations.

“After prototyping a half dozen different database options, the TigerLogic^® native XML database product was selected as the primary option due to its best performance for JBI Mercury during evaluation.”

Combining XQuery and Web Services
Combined entities can lead to sophisticated solutions
XML Journal, January 2005

The XML world is driving new emerging technologies that can be utilized to provide solutions to a variety of problems. This article focuses on two of these technologies: Web services and XQuery. As separate entities, these technologies provide a powerful set of features; but when combined they have the potential to present ever more sophisticated feature sets designed for very specific goals.

"Use XML Databases to Empower Java Web Services”
Integrate a native XML operational data store into your enterprise application
JavaWorld, December 2004

This article, intended for CIOs, software/solutions developers, and system architects, covers design and usages of service-oriented architecture in the enterprise, discusses problems introduced by SOA, and provides an alternative approach to architecting such solutions by integrating a native XML operational data store. It also provides a specific use-case (hospital infrastructure) scenario and explains the benefits of the native XML approach. The approach discussed in this article will enable your enterprise applications to become more efficient, run faster, be standards-compliant, provide a single, accurate view of data, and reduce development and maintenance costs.

Aberdeen Group Database Buying Guide
Fifth Edition (Download Raining Data's Profile - 1.1 MB pdf)
Aberdeen Group, October 2003

Each year, Aberdeen Group (www.aberdeen.com) produces this seminal guide to database and related technology in a thorough research report of the entire industry. For 2003, Raining Data’s TigerLogic XML Data Management Server was profiled as a key technology. In its analysis, Aberdeen cites how the TigerLogic XDMS mid-tier model of transforming and storing data of any type or structure as XML files, takes a bold step towards enabling the real-time enterprise. Download Raining Data's profile and Aberdeen’s analysis of the benefits of using a mid-tier operational data server for strategic information management. You can also view the full version of the free Database Buying Guide (Aberdeen registration required).

High Performance Information Aggregation Using XML-Based Operational Data Servers
ZapThink, LLC, May 2003

This research report on how XML is changing the financial services market, presents a solution in the form of a mid-tier information aggregation server that provides an XML-based operational data store as a way of providing aggregated access to multiple data sources. TigerLogic XDMS is used as a strong example of an XML operational data server.

Integration Aggregation: Data without Frontiers
Aberdeen Group Executive White Paper, March 2003

This report catalogs the technologies that make up information aggregation, shows how they can be used (singly or in combination) to abet strategic information management, and examines the “state of the art” that IT strategists can use today in attempting strategic information management.