The ZapForum has now moved to an audio Podcast format! ZapThink’s ZapForum Podcast for January 2006 features

Guest Experts: Jerry King, VP of XML Products, DataDirect Technologies, and Patrick Smith, Director, Product Line Management, Xenos.

Listen to this Podcast and you will:

• Learn about XQuery and current data integration challenges
• Understand why SOA doesn’t solve the semantic challenge
• Learn about new approaches for data integration in the context of SOA
• Dive into a deep discussion of the data integration “shell game”
• Get a deep understanding of the hard work that’s still necessary for successful data integration

Setting the Stage: ZapThink Analysts

ZapThink analysts Jason Bloomberg and Ron Schmelzer set the stage by explaining the connection between data integration and SOA.

Next, Jerry King joins the discussion and explains how the demands of today’s data integration problem are increasingly being met by XML standards for data aggregation and transformation. The latest entrant – XQuery – is designed to allow developers to aggregate XML with relational and legacy data sources, as well as Web services.

Then Patrick Smith takes his turn and discusses how B2B data integration has changed from the EDI days to today’s XML-based Web Services world. He discusses how it’s possible to aggregate and transform diverse data sources via a federated view of the data.

Ron, Jason, Patrick, and Jerry then have an open discussion of various issues surrounding data integration in the context of SOA, including a deep dive into data integration expenditures and buying behavior, as well as how companies can save money by taking Service-oriented approaches to data integration.

The Podcast is presented as a 21 megabyte MP3 file that you are welcome to download to your favorite MP3 player or listen to via your browser’s player or any other MP3 application. The running time for the Podcast is 1:01:17.

Featured Guest Expert: Jerry King

Vice President, XML Products
DataDirect Technologies

Jerry King leads DataDirect’s XML Products group and is responsible for bringing the company’s innovative XML technologies to market including the DataDirect XQuery