Conclusions

A large number of options exist for incorporating XML data into existing enterprise applications. The final decision about which approach to take depends on the constraints and requirements of the individual project and organization. The volatility and lack of broad standards for implementing XML support within a relational framework dictates that the prudent application developer isolate any dependencies on proprietary APIs as much as possible.

As standards organizations begin to recognize the need to update existing protocols (such as the Structured Query Language) to accommodate XML, the decisions about where and when to incorporate XML into a corporation's database strategy will become easier.