Conclusion: Advantages of Tamino XML Server in a Nutshell

Let's briefly summarize how the Tamino XML Server can provide tangible benefits to those implementing Electronic Business applications on heterogeneous systems.

First, the Tamino XML Server enables you to easily implement a flexible, low-cost data integration strategy based on XML.

  • XML is the key to exchanging data across applications and enterprises.

  • Tamino stores XML data natively.

  • Tamino X-Node lets you view legacy databases in XML format.

  • Tamino X-Tension provide an XML-enabled interface to legacy processes.

  • Tamino XML Server can function as a convenient server in which to cache an XML representation of a "back office"; XML applications can be built on top of this clean XML view of the underlying complexity.

This ease of use implies a shorter time to market for applications built easily on top of the Tamino XML Server.

Second, the Tamino XML Server protects investments in core IT systems that need to be exposed to the outside as XML. Taking advantage of the Internet and e-business means opening up (externalizing) core IT processes, the so-called enterprise transaction systems, to the outside world. Writing whole new applications is simply not an alternative due to huge investments in existing technologies and systems (which are generally doing the job they are supposed to do quite satisfactorily).

Tamino XML Server can integrate existing systems both at the data level and at the application level, and is particularly strong in conjunction with Software AG's EntireX and its proven track record of integration success.

Third, Tamino XML Server minimizes the Total Cost of Ownership of integrated electronic business applications. For information that has already been put in XML format, the Tamino XML Server stores XML documents "as is" in their "native" format, eliminating the need to map XML structures to relational or other structures. This is more efficient than any other approach taken by post-relational "universal databases", which must map XML onto SQL and full-text storage subsystems and back to XML upon retrieval. More importantly, maintaining these mappings involves a lot of work for systems administrators as well as the programmers developing the initial system. For information that does not arrive in native XML format, Tamino XML Server offers a flexible set of tools for mapping data from underlying databases and applications onto an easily usable XML view.

This leads to savings in personnel costs. A major headache for IT managers is the difficulty in finding and retaining the right staff to develop and maintain systems. Since the Tamino XML Server is built throughout on standards, in particular those relating to XML and the Internet, the IT staff required to manage Tamino need little knowledge other than that related to these standards. This makes personnel recruitment easier.

Fourth, using the Tamino XML Server as a staging platform offers significant performance and scalability advantages over other data storage and management strategies. The staging server concept means that access to core business processes (such as those in ERP systems) is not direct but indirect through the staging server. The advantage is that the operational, back-end systems are not overloaded, so their response times remain unaffected. In addition, the staging server can "compile" information from many sources (for example, multiple online stores) and present the information in a single view to the customer. Tamino XML Server with its native XML storage, its ability to communicate with back-end systems and its open, Web-oriented architecture is an ideal engine for such implementations.