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XML takes on the world

XML is touted as the end to IT woes - a cure-all for integration and compatibility headaches that have held companies captive for so long. But is this grand promise too good to be true?
By Jason Norwood-Young, Contributor
Johannesburg, 12 Feb 2001

Whenever a new technology breaks onto the IT stage, it brings with it a melange of techie-terms, seemingly designed to confuse and frustrate those wanting to use technology for a specific, real-world purpose.

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is certainly no different. If anything, its disenfranchising jargon is worse than what most new technologies seem to inspire. The result of the techno-babble is that too few businessmen truly understand what XML is, what it means for their industries, and how they can use it to save and make money.

What is this 'Next Big Thing`?

XML is touted as another Next Big Thing, and some seem to believe it is the death-knell of all IT woes - there is almost a feeling in the market that if you can`t do it with XML, you can`t do it at all.

However, XML is just another technology, another step to a perfect IT world, and is far from being the cure-all that some hope it could be.

XML has proven to be an incredible, effective, easy way to get data back and forth between trading partners over the Internet.

James Utzschneider, director, business frameworks, Microsoft

XML is a standard method of exchanging data. In that way, it is similar to HTML, a text file, or a Microsoft Office document. One can send a list of clients, a technical specification, or a simple article to another user using XML, and they will be able to read it with any of a variety of XML-compliant applications.

What makes XML special is its ability to combine the definition to the data (often called meta data) with the data itself. For example, when putting together a list of clients` details to send to a colleague, the data can be structured to turn it into information. The colleague would instantly be able to recognise each client`s postal address as opposed to physical address; each client`s home number as opposed to work number, etc.

In its simplest form, XML takes the ambiguity out of exchanging information.

Here is an example of what the data looks like in its raw form:

Joe

Bloggs

011

123-4567

011

234-5678

It`s pretty confusing if you don`t know what everything is. XML helps describe this data. When converting it to XML, tags are included (encased in <>) to describe what each piece of data represents, as follows:

<Name>

<First>

Joe

</First>

<Surname>

Bloggs

</Surname>

</Name>

<Telephone Details>

<Work Number>

<Area Code>

011

</Area Code>

<Number>

123-4567

</Number>

</Work Number>

<Home Number>

<Area Code>

011

</Area Code>

<Number>

234-5678

</Number>

</Home Number>

</Telephone Details>

It is a bit longer, but suddenly meaningless data is changed into meaningful information. This example also proves that XML needn`t be as complex as it first sounds.

Improving e-business` chance of success

XML, in the above example, has few real-world applications apart from exchanging simple information. Its power begins to show when one starts defining schemas for it. A schema, in its simplest form, is a predefined collection of the tags mentioned previously. The example is a schema for exchanging data about a person. If everyone in a company standardises on the above schema, then everyone in the firm can exchange information about clients.

Once there is a schema, applications can be built around it, such as an address book that will display the information in a pleasing way, and allow searches and other advanced functions to be performed on that data.

Schema can also be used to distribute information beyond the company`s boundaries, to partners, customers, suppliers, distributors - the information can be propagated throughout the entire supply chain.

"XML has proven to be an incredible, effective, easy way to get data back and forth between trading partners over the Internet," says James Utzschneider, director of business frameworks, Microsoft.

The distributive nature of XML makes it the perfect medium for e-business, which is why it is such an important technology at a time where everyone is aiming for that elusive e-business star. Basing e-business transformation on a foundation of XML will make the whole process a lot less painful, and allow for a much higher chance of success.

Cutting the costs of 'administrivia`

Before XML data can truly start changing our lives and the way we do business, the schema standards have to be hammered out.

The fact that vendors like Microsoft, Oracle and Sun are all supporting XML shows that we are at the start of the growth curve.

Nithia Govender, director, Zen Computing

Industry groups for vertical market segments usually decide schemas, which are then ratified by other standards groups, such as the World Wide Web Consortium. For instance, legal firms need a standard method of parsing legal documents, while insurance companies need a standard way of defining clients to help them check for multiple policies among different insurance companies.

Schemas are available today for application in business, science, communications, multimedia, and even spiritual fields (such as LML, or Liturgical Markup Language). As with all standards, the schemas have been slow to emerge, and have to cater to the lowest common denominator. There are also fears that the schema could become a political tool - he who owns the standard controls it.

"Schemas that are de facto or de jure standards empower the institutions that produce and control them," wrote Kendall Grant Clark in an article entitled The Politics of Schemas, Part One, published on XML.com.

Potential political struggles regarding XML standards have not managed to arrest the growth curve of this technology. The costs involved in doing administrative tasks or exchanging information in the past demand that XML succeeds.

In Europe alone, between 180 and 230 billion euros are spent annually collecting administrative data from 16 million businesses within the European Community. The number of business-to-business (B2B) transactions is growing exponentially - expected to grow by a factor of 30 until 2003, according to Forrester Research. XML has the potential of saving millions for companies involved in B2B or business-to-administrative transactions.

"According to the GartnerGroup, a typical enterprise will use up to 40% of its programming budget to perform data extraction and to update programs for the sole purpose of transferring information between different databases and applications," according to Berthold Daum and Chris Horak, authors of XML Shockwave, published by Software AG. "And this is only for the data traffic within, not between, enterprises."

"What we really like about XML is its potential for B2B applications," comments Chantell Applewhite, MD of TCM Software. "I believe that business will adopt it quite quickly - once the standards are in place."

Applewhite refers to XML as the "slick" way to do B2B transactions.

The e-business push is also demanding a better method of extending a business beyond the boundaries by which it was once confined. Portals, e-procurement, e-supply chain management, and other e-business technologies all need a common language to enable different businesses with different IT infrastructures to talk to one another.

"Supply chain management [SCM] is very important for XML," comments Neil Cave, pre-sales consultant for Dimension Data`s i-Commerce Software division. "XML can cut down SCM timeframes to minutes."

Even software vendors are building data interchange middleware systems out of XML for their applications - there is no point in reinventing the wheel, and once an application is integrated with XML internally, it is easy to make it XML-compliant externally too.

The base of the curve

"We`ve gone beyond the first steps," says Nithia Govender, director of Zen Computing. "The fact that vendors like Microsoft, Oracle and Sun are all supporting XML shows that we are at the start of the growth curve."

All of these factors are pointing towards a technology about to launch up the ramp of the great analyst`s mountain - that IT bell-curve that gets touted whenever a new technology hits the street. Unlike a great deal of technologies positioned on the growth curve, XML promises to go all the way.

"XML has been described as the 'Esperanto` for computers. This is true in that XML can make the most heterogeneous computer applications communicate with each other," say Daum and Horak in XML Shockwave. "Unlike Esperanto, however, XML is a runaway success, to the point that the ease and flexibility of XML-based communication has already changed the landscape of business itself."

Dr Anthony Picardi, senior VP of Global Software at the International Data Corporation (IDC), believes XML has passed through the "evangelism" stage, and is now in the "early adopters" phase.

Deterrent factors

It would be wishful thinking to believe that XML`s progress will be smooth sailing. Just like all new technologies, it will suffer from lack of skills to implement it. Training is essential for XML`s success, and, as with all language-based skills, it will not be the most popular choice as an entrance into the IT field.

What we really like about XML is its potential for B2B applications.

Chantell Applewhite, MD, TCM Software

There are some visual development environments coming out in support of XML, while existing visual development platforms, such as Delphi and Visual Interdev, are adding XML integration to their product suites.

Good HTML developers are already in a position to leverage their skills to gain entrance into what looks to be a lucrative market. Likewise, Standard Generalised Markup Language-savvy developers will also be able to re-launch their careers in the XML environment.

Another factor that could hamper XML is the misunderstanding of what XML is. This feature tried to show that XML is actually a simple concept, and not as complex and highbrow as many believe it to be. In fact, its mere simplicity is half of its potential power. Due to this misunderstanding, there could be some serious repercussions for XML`s status if people try to use it for projects that it is unsuited for. It is not a magic cure-all for all of the industry`s woes.

Unaware project managers might choose to use it for applications for which XML is unsuited. These include data warehousing, cubing data, high-level middleware functions that require strong ACID features, and storage of naturally relational data. (ACID ensures the integrity of enterprise-level transactions, and refers to the four key requirements for such a transaction: atomicity, consistency, isolation and durability.)

"A lot of people don`t understand what XML is," comments DiData`s Cave. "The bottom line is that it offers content-based searching, using textual information. XML is not big on intelligence applications such as data warehousing."

"A lot of people think of it as just a blanket language," says Zen`s Govender. "I don`t think there is such a thing as a cure-all. It`s like the case of the universal solvent - what do you keep it in? There are some things that XML will be awkward for," although he adds: "It`s hard to think of a limit to its possibilities."

Companies may also choose to ignore XML simply to protect their investments in existing technologies. XML is a great potential replacement for Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), but the amount of money that many large corporates have spent on EDI makes the feasibility of replacing it questionable.

"People with EDI have got it, and they are keeping it," comments TCM`s Applewhite. "They`ve got a big investment in it, and it will take a lot to get them to throw it away."

According to Cave, XML costs 60% less to install, and reduces per message costs by 60%.

SQL doesn`t cut the cheese

Relational databases - such as SQL-based databases - are inherently unsuitable for storing XML data, as the schematic data structure is hierarchical in nature. Software AG has released an XML-native non-relational database called Tamino (Transaction Architecture for Managing Internet Objects), and more activity can be expected in this market in the near future.

IDC has added a fourth category to its existing three definitions of databases as it expects this market segment to grow approximately 130% per year until 2004.

The non-relational nature of the data is why it does not work particularly well in data warehousing or cubing applications. The processes become very complex in the hierarchical system, as one has to choose a position to enter the data analysis process, and falsely map the data in a relational manner.

Similarly, storing XML in a relational database is difficult, as you need to choose a starting point. Many relational databases now parse XML information as it enters the database, creating tables and fields as necessary. This simplifies the entry process, but can create havoc in the tables at the back-end, with fields and tables changing and being created every time a slightly alternatively formatted XML file is parsed. The other alternative is to administrate the data on entry, thus creating a bottleneck and a further administrative process - the very things XML is designed to avoid.

Nevertheless, XML is on its way up. It could become a pervasive technology, which - as the Internet has proven - is a powerful beast. Those who supported the Net from the beginning were rewarded, while those who ignored it were left struggling to catch up. Adopting a technology too early does involve some teething pain, but getting in too late can put one out of business.

XML is not all that complex - its power is its simplicity. Understanding its basics does not require a degree in computer science. To ignore it would be foolish. To embrace it could mean reaping some hefty rewards.

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