XML Database Products:

Data Integration Software

Copyright 2000-2008 by Ronald Bourret

WARNING!

This list has not been updated since roughly 2010. As a result, information may be out of date and products may no longer be available. If you are interested in a product whose link does not work, search for it on the Web, as product pages frequently change and products/companies are frequently sold.

Overview

Data integration software is software designed to transfer data between many different sources, including databases and XML. It is usually used to perform ETL (Extract, Transform, Load), EAI (Enterprise Application Integration), or EII (Enterprise Information Integration), and is frequently used in SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) applications.

Although data integration software often functions as middleware, these products differ from the products in the Middleware category in two ways:

Most products in this category are not reviewed, as information about them is hidden behind layers and layers and layers of marketing prose. Also, because of the great number of ETL, EAI, and EII tools available, this list is necessarily incomplete. For example, here is a 2003 list of more than 200 ETL tools.

Products

Ab Initio
Developer: Ab Initio
URL: http://www.abinitio.com
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, mainframe, etc.
Entry last updated: December, 2008

Not reviewed.

[Ed. -- The Ab Initio Web site contains almost no useful technical information. For an explantion of why this is, click here.]
Actuate iServer
Developer: Actuate
URL: http://www.actuate.com/products/deployment-platform/enterprise-deployment/index.asp
http://www.actuate.com/products/data-integration/real-time-data-access/index.asp
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, applications (SAP, PeopleSoft, etc.), flat files
Entry last updated: December, 2008

Actuate iServer is an EII tool that can extract data from a variety of data sources, including relational databases, SAP, PeopleSoft, flat files, XML, Java objects, and Web Services. Data is served to users (including external applications) in the form of HTML, PDF, RTF, Excel, or XML documents.

Data is accessed through Information Objects, which provide views of data from one or more data sources. Information Objects can themselves be viewed through other Information Objects, allowing data to be integrated in a modular fashion.

Actuate iServer includes a GUI-based tool for designing Information Objects and reports. It can be run as a standalone tool or accessed through HTTP or Web Services. It also includes a number of performance features, such as data caching, clustering, load balancing, and failover, and a number of security options, such as user- and role-based security and setting permissions for individual reports and data sources.
ASTERIA WARP
Developer: Infoteria
URL: http://www2.infoteria.com/en/products/asteria/warp.html
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, XML databases, Lotus Notes, Salesforce, LDAP, flat files, etc.
Entry last updated: December, 2008

Not reviewed.
BEA AquaLogic Data Services Platform
Developer: Oracle
URL: http://www.bea.com/framework.jsp?CNT=overview.htm&FP=/content/products/liquid_data/
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, Web services, flat files, etc.
Entry last updated: August, 2003

[Ed. -- In 2005, Liquid Data was renamed BEA AquaLogic Data Services Platform and integrated with the AquaLogic family, which is a suite of products used to build SOA applications. In 2008, Oracle purchased BEA. Whether the Data Services Platform will remain part of AquaLogic or be integrated with Oracle products is not yet clear. The following is a description of Liquid Data and has not been rewritten, other than name changes and minor edits.]

BEA AquaLogic Data Services Platform (formerly Liquid Data) is a heterogenous query engine. It implements XQuery over a virtual data store, in which data from different sources is mapped to virtual XML documents. Queries are decomposed into queries against individual data sources; the query engine uses the results from these queries to build the final query result. BEA AquaLogic Data Services Platform optimizes queries and caches results in a user-configurable cache.

BEA AquaLogic Data Services Platform supports a variety of sources, including relational databases (including stored procedures), XML documents, Web services, flat files, and application data. Relational data appears to be mapped using a table-based mapping. Liquid Data also supports parameterized views, which are defined in XQuery and may be used in other queries.

BEA AquaLogic Data Services Platform can be called from EJBs, JSPs (using the BEA AquaLogic Data Services Platform tag set), and from other components in the WebLogic family. In addition, it can generate a Web service to execute a particular XQuery query. BEA AquaLogic Data Services Platform comes with a GUI-based query builder and administration tools.
BusinessObjects Data Integrator, BusinessObjects Data Federator
Developer: BusinessObjects
URL: http://www.businessobjects.com/product/im/data_integration.asp
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, mainframe, applications (Salesforce, Siebel, etc.), flat files, etc.
Entry last updated: December, 2008

Not reviewed.
Centerprise Data Integrator
Developer: Astera
URL: http://www.astera.com/Centerprise/
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, Web services, applications, files and documents, social media, etc.
Entry last updated: November, 2014

Centerprise Data Integrator is a data integration tool that can transfer data between a variety of sources, including databases, files (fixed length, delimited, Excel), documents (XML, EDI), applications (Salesforce, QuickBooks, Microsoft Dynamics CRM), Web services, and social media. It can read data from additional sources, including PDF, Word, and COBOL files.

Centerprise Data Integrator provides a GUI tool for designing data transfers. During the data transfer process, fields can be transformed with a variety of features, including user-defined expressions, built-in functions, and lookups. Entire data sets can be transformed using functionality such as filters, sorts, joins, unions, aggregation, distinct values, and normalization/denormalization.

Centerprise Data Integrator can also build tree structures from tabular and/or hierarchical sources, transform them, and write them to tabular or hierarchical destinations. Field and data set transformations can be applied to a particular nodes of the tree, while FLWOR transformations (similar to XQuery's FLWOR expression) can be applied to the entire tree.

Users can define workflows that include decision points, iterations, and multiple branches. Jobs can be scheduled to run on a regular basis, triggered by file creation, or run from an external application.
DataMirror Constellar Hub
Developer: IBM
URL: http://www.treehouse.com/ConstellarHub.shtml
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, mainframe, applications (SAP, PeopleSoft, etc.), etc.
Entry last updated: December, 2008

Not reviewed.

[Ed. -- In 2007, IBM bought DataMirror, which had purchased Constellar Hub. Although IBM does not appear to directly sell Constellar Hub, it is still available through Treehouse Software, which has a 2005 agreement to sell DataMirror software.]
DataMirror Transformation Server
Developer: IBM
URL: http://www.treehouse.com/TransformationServer.shtml
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, flat files
Entry last updated: December, 2008

Not reviewed.

[Ed. -- In 2007, IBM bought DataMirror, which developed Transformation Server. Although IBM does not appear to directly sell DataMirror Transformation Server, it is still available through Treehouse Software, which has a 2005 agreement to sell DataMirror software.]
ETI Solution
Developer: ETI
URL: http://www.eti.com/products/index.html
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, mainframe, applications, etc.
Entry last updated: December, 2008

Not reviewed.
FusionWare Integration Server
Developer: FusionWare
URL: http://www.fwic.net/Products/IntegrationProducts/FusionWareIntegrationServer.aspx
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, multivalue, flat files, EDI, HL7, etc.
Entry last updated: November, 2008

FusionWare Integration Server consists of the FusionWare Designer, FusionWare Server, and FusionWare Administrator.

From the Web site:

"[FusionWare Designer is] an easy to use Windows and XML-based integrated development environment that generates most of the code for you with its:
  • Extensible Wizards and Code generators:
    • Business Process Wizard
    • XSL Transformation Wizard
    • XPath Generator
    • WSDL Wizard
  • SQL and Parameter Builders
  • "One-click" deployment capability for easy application testing
  • Flexible Workflow Designer
  • Abiity to access structured and unstructured data sources (ODBC, OLE DB, JDBC, MS Excel, MS Word, email, print files, EDI, HL7, relational and non-relational databases)
  • Suport for COM, Java, .NET or custom controls"

"[FusionWare Server is] a multi-threaded Java server that is highly portable across all major operating systems and does not require any additional infrastructure such as application servers, Web servers or databases.

The FusionWare Server is a full Web Services-based business process framework which combines a powerful workflow engine with an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) to deliver:
  • An event-driven and document-oriented architecture
  • Content-based routing and filtering mechanisms
  • Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) features
  • Complex transformation capabilities
  • Support for COM, .NET, JDBC, ODBC, OLE DB, Java, C++, Web Services, email and other custom interfaces, including EDI, HL7 and more
  • Adapters to access both structured and unstructured data, such as relational and non-relational databases and MS Office documents."

"[FusionWare Administrator is] a very easy to use management console that allows you to remotely:

  • Monitor the operation of the FusionWare Server
  • Control the deployment of applications
  • Initiate a variety of server actions including refresh, shutdown, log viewing, and resource management (metrics)."
Genio
Developer: Hummingbird
URL: http://connectivity.hummingbird.com/products/nc/genio.html
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, applications, SAP, flat files, etc.
Entry last updated: December, 2008

Not reviewed.
IBM Cognos DecisionStream
Developer: IBM
URL: http://www.cognos.com/products/business_intelligence/data_preparation/index.html
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, SAP, flat files, etc.
Entry last updated: December, 2008

Not reviewed.
IBM InfoSphere Information Server, IBM InfoSphere DataStage
Developer: IBM
URL: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/integration/
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, applications (SAP, PeopleSoft, SAS, etc.), flat files, etc.
Entry last updated: December, 2008

Not reviewed.
Informatica PowerCenter, Informatica PowerExchange
Developer: Informatica
URL: http://www.informatica.com/products_services/Pages/products_overview.aspx
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, mainframe, applications, flat files, etc.
Entry last updated: December, 2008

Not reviewed.
Ipedo XIP
Developer: Ipedo
URL: http://www.ipedo.com/html/ipedo_xip.html
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, applications (PeopleSoft, Salesforce.com, SAP, Siebel, etc.), flat files, etc.
Entry last updated: January, 2009

Ipedo XIP is an EII engine that integrates data from a variety of sources, including relational databases, application data (PeopleSoft, Salesforce.com, SAP, and so on), and flat files (XML, CSV, Excel, LDAP, and so on). Users integrate data with views, which define how to retrieve and transform data into a single, virtual data object, which can be queried or used in other views. Relational views map data to a table structure and XML views map data to an XML structure.

Views are queried with SQL or XQuery. The query engine analyzes the query and passes it to the federation, which distributes the query across multiple data sources. Final processing (if needed) is done in the query engine itself.

Other features include an integration/transformation engine, a rules/intelligence engine, a metadata manager, a cache manager, an XML store (Ipedo XML Database), a data services manager (which handles application access to the data), and GUI-based tools for developing and managing applications.
iWay DataMigrator
Developer: iWay Software
URL: http://www.iwaysoftware.com/products/etl_data_migrator.html
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, hierarchical, multi-value, applications (SAP, PeopleSoft, etc.), etc.
Entry last updated: November, 2008

iWay DataMigrator is an ETL tool that uses iWay Adapters to convert between more than 300 data sources, including relational and non-relational databases, applications, flat files, and XML. It includes GUI editing tools for defining views and transformations over data source, designing data flow (including calling external routines), and designing process flow. Of note, all data is internally modeled as relational tables.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services
Developer: Microsoft
URL: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/integration.aspx
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, applications, flat files, etc.
Entry last updated: December, 2008

Not reviewed.
Oracle Data Integrator
Developer: Oracle
URL: http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/oracle-data-integrator/index.html
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, Salesforce, LDAP, etc.
Entry last updated: December, 2008

Not reviewed.
Pervasive Data Integrator
Developer: Pervasive Software
URL: http://ww2.pervasive.com/Integration/Products/Pages/PervasiveDataIntegrator.aspx
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, mainframe, native XML, applications (Salesforce, Siebel, etc.), flat files, etc.
Entry last updated: November, 2008

Pervasive Data Integrator (formerly Data Junction) is an ETL tool that can convert between more than 200 databases, file formats, applications, technologies, and B2B formats, including XML.

At design time, users use a GUI-based tool, the Integration Architect, to define transformations and process flows. A transformation includes a source, a target, a mapping from source to target (including data transformations), and a filter defining the source data to transfer. Process flows define how the data flows, including when to transform data, execute programs, perform branching, validate data, and so on. A scripting language, the Real-Time Integration Flow Language (RIFL), can be used in both transformations and process flow to perform tasks as diverse as manipulating data, branching, and calling DLLs. Design components (source and target descriptions, transformations, schemas, and so on) are stored in the Integration Repository, from which they can be reused in other projects.

Pervasive Data Integrator has three run-time components: the Integration Engine, the Integration Server, and the Integration Manager. The Integration Engine performs the actual data integration. It can be run stand-alone, such as from the command line, or called from an application. The Integration Engine can perform single-threaded (serial) or multi-threaded (parallel) transformations. In addition, multiple instances of the Integration Engine can be run concurrently and managed by the Integration Manager. One or more Integration Engines can also be used in a client-server architecture, in which they are managed by the Integration Server. The Integration Server can be called through a Java API, SOAP, Message Driven Beans, or the J2EE Connector Architecture (JCA).
PolarLake Integration Suite
Developer: PolarLake
URL: http://www.polarlake.com/index.php?q=node/58
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, applications (SAP, PeopleSoft, Siebel, etc.), flat files, etc.
Entry last updated: November, 2002

PolarLake Integration Suite is server software that processes both incoming and outgoing XML documents. XML documents are processed according to XML Circuits. An XML Circuit consists of selection rules, which use XPath to identify different parts of the document, and actions, which describe how each part is to be processed. A given part can be processed by multiple actions, which are performed in series.

Actions are performed by components, which can be Java classes, XSLT stylesheets, or BeanShell scripts. A number of components are included with the Database Integrator. These include database components for starting, committing, and rolling back transactions; inserting, updating, and deleting data; mapping XML to the database; and executing stored procedures. Transactions can be nested, and the XML/database mapping appears to be table-based. Because actions can execute Java classes and stored procedures, PolarLake Integration Suite can be used to implement a Web services interface to existing code.

The XML document fed to an XML Circuit can have a number of sources. It can come from HTTP, SMTP, FTP, JMS-based messaging systems, Microsoft Message Queue, and TIBCO Rendevous, as well as from the database itself. The latter source requires that query results be mapped to an XML document using one of the mapping components.

XML Circuits are implemented using SAX. When a SAX event matches a selection rule, that event is passed to the components which implement the corresponding actions. Because multiple XPath expressions might match a given event, the event might be processed by multiple components. And because events corresponding to sibling elements define non-overlapping subtrees, these events can be processed in parallel.

PolarLake Integration Suite includes a GUI-based tool for defining XML Circuits.
Sybase Data Integration Suite
Developer: Sybase
URL: http://www.sybase.com/products/dataintegration/dataintegrationsuite
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, mainframe, flat files, etc.
Entry last updated: December, 2008

Not reviewed.
Visual Net Server
Developer: CNet
URL: http://www.visualnetserver.com/visnet.vns?request=keyfeature
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, flat files
Entry last updated: December, 2008

From the Web site:

"Visual Net Server is a software platform for development of semantic-based knowledge and content systems. It allows you to extract and annotate knowledge from a number of different formats and information sources.

"Visual Net Server includes ready-to-go solutions for on-the-fly conversion of a large number of different data sources into XML - this includes SQL, Word, HTML web pages, and delimited files. This means your end-users can continue to produce their content using familiar tools like MS Word. A new built-in text parser also makes it possible to translate virtually any text file format into XML.

"Through an easy-to-use, point-and-click graphical interface developers can incorporate any data source and work with it directly as if it was in native XML format. Therefore there is never any need to produce or store content in an XML format. Users can continue working with their existing content production systems but still take advantage of all the benefits XML offers.

"The built-in cross-media engine makes it possible to publish and deliver content to different output format such as web pages, XML documents, Flash, Word, Quark XPress and text files. Visual Net Server fully supports XSL-T for rendering XML but also offers its own easy-to-use template language. This allows designers to continue working with familiar HTML-editors and animation tools and still be able to present XML data without having to go through the painful process of learning and mastering XSL-T.

"The development environment is fully integrated with JavaScript and VBScript allowing developers to take advantage of their existing skills and get a head start in XML development. Visual Net Server has an open architecture and allows developers to extend the functionality using and integrating their own COM-components.

"Visual Net Server supports HTTP, FTP, file and mail as protocols for fetching and integrating content into the application as well as delivering content to end consumers.

"The SOAP (Structured Object Access Protocol) for communicating and sharing data with between different web services is also supported. This makes it easy to integrate external web services without the problems of agreeing protocols and data structures with external parties. XML Schemas can be applied to validate the incoming data to ensure the integrity of your application.

"The media component architecture of Visual Net makes it easy to re-use content and program logic. An easy-to-use graphical user interface gives an overview of your application. The graphical tool automatically produces templates both for fetching content and presenting it, reducing your learning time to a minimum."
XAware
Developer: XAware, Inc.
URL: http://www.xaware.com/products
License: Commercial
Data sources: Relational, native XML, mainframe, applications, flat files, etc.
Entry last updated: July, 2002

XAware is a suite of components that use XML to integrate data from "over 150 ... systems including RDBMS, XML DBMS, ERP Systems, CRM Systems, Main Frames, EJB Applications, CORBA Applications, Web Services layers, HTTP, FTP, EMAIL and other enterprise applications." The suite consists of five main components.

XAware Designer is a tool for defining bi-directional XML views, which are known as business documents, or BizDocs. BizDocs are made up of one or more business components, or BizComponents. Each BizComponent maps data from a particular data source to a part of the XML document. Thus, a given BizDoc can contain data from multiple data sources. BizComponents can be used in more than one BizDocs, which is useful because it means that data from a particular source needs to be mapped only once. In addition, data retrieved by one BizComponent can be used as a key to retrieve data with another BizComponent.

BizDocs are deployed to XAware Engine, which is the integration engine. XAware Engine integrates outbound data from multiple sources into a single document according to the rules in the BizDoc. It also decomposes inbound XML documents according to these rules and sends the data to the designated sources. It appears that XAware Engine supports two-phase commits, as "any failure causes the entire operation to be rolled back from all systems." In addition, users can define workflow using XML-based business rules. XAware Engine can be run on a J2EE server, a Web server, or with .NET.

Applications communicate to XAware through XAware Connectors. These are available for SOAP, JMS, EJB, servlets, CORBA, HTTP, CGI, COM, and ISAPI, as well as Java and C++ APIs. In addition, a toolkit is available for building custom connectors.

XAware Engine connects to back end data sources through XAware Adaptors. XAware Adaptors are available for a large number of data sources, including relational databases (ODBC, JDBC, OLE DB), native XML databases (NeoCore XMS, Tamino, Ipedo), XML over FTP and HTTP, mainframe databases, various enterprise applications (SAP, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards), and so on. In addition, a toolkit is available for building custom adaptors.

The final component is XAware Enterprise Runtime Management, which is used to manage the system.