The rise of the Internet and of XML have dramatically affected the way information is exchanged and combined, to the extent that every major database vendor has added XML support, and customers are using XML to exchange data even among databases from the same vendor. Since many applications that combine and exchange information also need to store it, XML is changing the way databases are used, often in ways that database vendors would never have anticipated just a few years ago.

Web and Internet programmers use XML to exchange data, often using SOAP messages, and XML is also used to integrate data. Some of this data may be stored natively in XML, other data may be stored as rows and tables in relational databases. In the next few years, how will we use XML and database data together? Some database theorists have claimed that it is a fundamental mistake to store information in XML, which is not based on Codd's laws, others have suggested that XML should replace the relational model for some applications. Some programmers insist that XML is good only as a transient form for moving data from one place to another, others say that XML is a better data model for representing complex data structures. Will programmers who rely on the structure of XML face long term maintenance problems later on?

During the last few years, a variety of companies have developed native XML databases, and most significant relational database vendors have added XML support to their databases. Are there advantages to using native XML databases, rather than relying on the XML support found in modern relational databases? Are there specific kinds of applications that tend to favor storage as XML versus storage as relational data?

The XML world has stressed open architectures and standards, but has only recently embraced query languages. Now that the W3C is developing XQuery, an XML query language with much of the power of SQL, to what extent will it be used for mainstream database applications? Is XQuery up to the task? Will the market accept it?

To date, relational database vendors have relied on XML strategies that are highly proprietary, and not interoperable across databases. SQL/XML is emerging as a standard for supporting XML in relational databases. To what extent will we see interoperability for XML applications that use relational databases? As standards develop further, to what extent will applications be able to use the same APIs and query languages for both native XML and relational databases, allowing applications to be quickly migrated based on performance characteristics?

This session will bring together industry leaders who represent different points of view on how XML will be used together with databases, and provide plenty of time for audience participation.