SQL/XML and the SQLX Informal Group of Companies

For many years now, the SQL standard has been maintained and enhanced by NCITS Technical Committee H2 on Database in the US and by the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC32/WG3 Database Languages Working Group internationally. After the publication of SQL:1992, the groups began to publish SQL as a base document (SQL/Foundation) and a number of independent parts. These parts began with SQL/CLI (Call-Level Interface) and SQL/PSM (Persistent Stored Modules) in 1995 and 1996, respectively. Interest in XML has been growing in the last several years among software vendors, user companies of all sizes, and within the standards community. NCITS H2 and SC32 both approved a project for a new part of SQL, part 14, XML-Related Specifications (SQL/XML), in the second half of 2000. After this new project was approved, a small number of companies began to meet in order to explore the technology and develop proposals to begin fleshing out this new part of SQL. This informal group of companies has come to be known as The SQLX Group. In roughly a year’s time, several pieces of what might be termed “infrastructure” have been progressed and are included in the initial working draft of SQL/XML [2].