Inside Documentum

Set XML Store Free

The x-hive purchase by EMC is potentially one of the great buys. However I think EMC are missing a trick. One of the things that EMC has done with the x-hive xml database is make it an optional content store for the content server. The standard content store enabled out of the box is a single file store and all your content goes there (bar a few oddities like turbo storage that ends up in the RDBMS).

With D6 you can create an additional content store, the XML Store, which is the XML-DB integrated into content server. Instead of having XML content stored in the filesystem they go into the XML Store with lots of potential useful features like using XQuery to query for parts of the document.

The problem is you have to license it in addition to the Content Server. You can guarantee that very few people will do this. There are all sorts reasons why I think this is the case but the mostly boil down to ignorance due to unfamiliarity with the technology. If EMC bundled XML Store as part of the Content Server, out-of-the box, no license you can bet people will start playing around with it. People will start using it. And people will start to understand that an XML database can ‘fly’.

Believe me when I mention XML databases to people they immediately state that it will be a performance dog! With a bit of vision EMC can have loads of reference sites available and real-life experience that can help drive sales of the other x-hive products.

As the old saying goes ‘familiarity breeds content’.