Re: DB2XML was -> RE: Arrays of Structures as a parameter in V5R1

--- "Bartell, Aaron L. (TC)" <> 
> Does anybody else see a need for this in their
> company?  One obvious
> advantage is that you can get at any remote or local
> database via XML.  It
> could save you from writing a ton of web services to
> output file
> information.
Aaron,
I see a big need for this. I work at a Major School
District & our biggest issue is interfacing with
applications running on non-iSeries platforms.
There is a new framework being used now in the open
source community designed for the Education industry. 
It is call SIF (Schools Interoperability Framework).


SIF has a set of standardized XML's, Schema's, & DTDs
that relate to schools & education. 
The heart of SIF is a ZIS Server (Zone Integration
server). The ZIS is designed to receive XML
transactions (as predefined in the framework) and
distribute them to applications that have been
designed for SIF integration. Each of these
applications are identified to the ZIS server as a
publisher (owner of data) or subscriber (receiver of
data) of a transaction/s

This involves writing, or purchasing an 'Agent' for
each application in the Enterprise. This Agent will
take a publisher's transaction, send it to the ZIS
server and the ZIS server will distribute it to the
subscriber/s.  The subscriber's Agent will then update
it's database with the XML based transaction.

Therefore, many legacy applications will need Agents
written that can send or receive a databases
add/change request to/from the ZIS server.  And of
course, any application can be SIF compliant whether
it runs on Windows, Unix, iSeries, or whatever
platform as long as it conforms to the SIF framework.

By the way, Microsoft's Biztalk can work as the ZIS.
There are also an open source Java Zone Integration
Server, plus many 3rd party servers.

Microsoft called us and volunteered to do a 2 day
analysis on our systems and come up with a solution. 
They came up with a solution which included Biztalk, a
couple of other Microsoft applications, and many
contracting hours to make our district SIF compliant
(and also Microsoft reliant).  I contacted several
sources at IBM to see if they would do the same thing,
but have not heard back from any of them. 

Anyway, I see XML becoming a major part of our current
& future programming requirements.

Don McIntyre  

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