IBM is likely to issue a public beta test version of its next DB2 database in June and a full commercial release later this year. However, although deeper support for the XML document markup language is on the agenda for the company and all its rivals, IBM is taking a step-by-step approach to integration.

IBM plans to include XML querying capabilities so database administrators can delve into unstructured data, including multimedia files. Jeff Jones, DB2 marketing director, said the next DB2 will host "some form of XQuery support". XQuery is one of the most popular emerging ways of performing analysis routines on XML data.

While some rivals are talking up native XML file support, IBM is not so sure that integrating it in the core database file system is appropriate. Instead, it is collaborating with its old foe Oracle on polishing another approach, called SQL-X, that it hopes will become a standard way to query XML.

"Native file support is fine if you can guarantee performance but you can do a full-blown XML on DB2 now and we're working with Oracle to accelerate the performance," Jones said.

IBM recently uploaded to its Web site a demonstration of a tool called Xperanto that is intended to provide users with a way to search across data types, including XML files. But Jones cautioned that Xperanto is a wide-ranging set of technologies, adding that only elements of it are designed for DB2 itself. Jones also said that Xperanto remains a work in progress. "It's not clear how many versions it will take to get Xperanto out," he added.

DB2 will also add new monitoring capabilities that will make the system more "self-healing", Jones said. Software monitors will perform trend analysis to establish patterns that lead to failures and performance hits, and will automatically fix problems or tune accordingly. IBM will also update support for Web services protocols.

IBM will also make a significant change to the way it packages DB2. Instead of offering a separate version of the database with clustering support, IBM will make clustering an option on its top-end DB2 Universal Database Enterprise-Extended Edition (EEE). The packaging switch is intended to correct a perception that the version with clustering support has a different feature set.

IBM's rivals are also gearing up for their next database releases. Oracle has just shipped its 9i Release 2 product with deeper XML integration while Microsoft's next version of SQL Server, codenamed Yukon, is expected either late this year or early next.

Have your say: contact IT Week