Current XML parsers are not very effective. The APIs (define) have just as much trouble reading large file types in an efficient manner as they do reading multiple small file types.

This stresses out current processors, which power the application server to deliver content. Research firm ZapThink said this poses a problem because it believes corporations will continue to ramp up the amount of XML they employ in their networks, expanding from 15 percent today to almost 50 percent by 2008.

With the glamour of Web services steeped in the possibility of processing thousands or even millions of transactions on a network, the threat that insufficient XML consumption could tie up computer systems is very real. ZapThink analyst Ronald Schmelzer said customers and vendors have expressed concern about XML’s ability to underpin Web services.

He admitted the problems with XML processing put a damper on the research company’s prognostication for the multi-billion-dollar growth for service-oriented architectures and distributed computing.

ZapThink’s Schmelzer said the glut of XML is thick enough to bear a large market in which the likes of DataPower and Rogue Wave can sell their wares. He predicted the XML performance optimization market will reach $1.2 billion by 2010.

Read more at: InternetNews