NeoCore Inc. on Monday is announcing the next release of its native XML database with a focus on improved performance, new querying capabilities and expanded interface support.
Version 2.6 of the NeoCore XML Information Management System (XMS), which will be available Aug. 30, will provide an order of magnitude improvement in query and store performance as well as support for XQuery, the developing XML querying standard, according to officials of the Colorado Springs, Colo., company.
“The essence of this release is all about legitimizing a new form of information management platform,” said Ric Miles, CEO of NeoCore. “Up to this point, weve been guilty as charged for not being able to perform [at a level] that would match up to traditional databases. Weve broken down the walls.”
The latest release also adds support for Java 2 Enterprise Edition with new Enterprise JavaBeans interfaces and provides an HTTP interface for integration. On the scalability front, it includes support for the Solaris 64-bit platform.
NeoCores improvements come as the major relational database vendors—Oracle Corp., IBM and Microsoft Corp.—have begun or are planning to add greater support for XML in their respective databases.
But, according to Miles, because NeoCore was built to handle XML, rather than being restructured to handle XML like traditional relational databases, it better manages XML data. It also eliminates 50 percent to 70 percent of the database design effort because of its Digitial Pattern Processing technology, allowing the database to self-construct based on XML.
Rex Fowler, CEO of Fowler Software Design LLC, is recommending NeoCore XMS to his clients who are looking to store and manage XML. He said he has also experimented with using it himself and likes its speed and new querying capabilities.
“They take XML and break it apart mathematically in different bits rather than trying to force it into some relational database,” Fowler said. “Its so flexible.”
NeoCores plans for improvement extend well beyond Version 2.6. NeoCore XMS 2.7, planned for the fourth quarter of this year, will extend XQuery support further. Version 3.0, due in the first quarter of 2003, will focus on making NeoCore XMS better suited for nonstop enterprise data centers with features for automatic growth, online space reclamation, hot backups and a more functional management console.
In September, NeoCore is planning to add an extract, transform and load tool for the database, officials said.
Pricing for NeoCore XMS 2.6 is $20,000 per CPU for the standard edition on 32-bit platforms. The professional edition for 64-bit platforms costs $30,000 per CPU.