JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a popular way for servers and clients to exchange information. It uses serialized text to represent objects (or data structures). If you are interested in using JSON when you work with DB2 pureXML, there is a new series of articles you should check out.

These articles teach you how DB2 pureXML can store, manage, and query JSON. The articles include downloadable sample code and step-by-step instructions. They also describe the benefits of using pureXML to store JSON.

• Part 1: Store and Query JSON with DB2 pureXML
• Part 2: Create Universal Services for pureXML that Expose JSON
• Part 3: Coming soon!

Part 3 will focus on the creation of the presentation layer with Open-Social Gadgets that rely on the JSONx Universal Services as a back-end.

The adoption of XML-based standards in many industries has had a significant impact on native XML database adoption. After all, the processing efficiencies offered by a native XML database like DB2 pureXML are vital as systems scale up and out. Readers of the blog will also know that IBM has made it easy for DB2 users to work with many XML-based industry standards by freely distributing working sample implementations of these standards.

Of course, IBM supports such standards by making its industry experts available for participation in many of the standards committees. This week IBM further demonstrated its support for the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD) and its insurance and financial services standards by donating technology assets including its Insurance Application Architecture (IAA) Business Object/Data Model and the IAA Product Specification Diagram (PSD) to ACORD.

This represents a significant contribution of intellectual property associated with IBM’s insurance industry models. The donated models are from IBM’s Insurance Application Architecture (IAA), the company’s insurance business and IT architecture framework. IAA is continually developed by IBM in collaboration with 100 leading insurance companies around the world, and the IAA model has been licensed by more than 200 insurers worldwide. IAA Business Object/Data Model, coupled with the existing ACORD Information Model, will form the building blocks for the next version of the ACORD Information Model.

This announcement builds on efforts to encourage collaboration and drive innovation in the insurance industry. The adoption of standardized business processes and models will make it easier for insurers to work with agents, brokers and other data partners.

You can read more about this announcement at IBM Contributes Technology Assets to Help Drive Standards in Insurance Industry. You can read more about implementing ACORD standards in DB2 pureXML at Storing and Retrieving ACORD Data for Insurance

Bryan Patterson has written an excellent step-by-step article about creating an electronic forms solution on Adobe Developer Connection. The article guides you through creating a simple yet powerful eForms solution based on Adobe LiveCycle Designer ES and IBM DB2 pureXML. The article includes links to download all software needed to automate:

• The collection of user data using electronic forms
• The transmission of user data using XML, and
• The storage of user data using a database.

Because all parts of the solution use XML, there is no need for complex data mapping or conversion steps between components. The XML data format used in this example implementation is a very simple structure but you can easily expand the format to meet specific needs or even base the format on one of the many XML-based industry standards for data exchange such as NIEM for government, ACORD for insurance, or FIXML for financial markets. You can read more at Creating an XML electronic forms solution with an Adobe PDF form and IBM DB2 pureXML.

The IBM Information on Demand conference is upon us again. It is being held next week in Las Vegas. Once again, if you are interested in native XML databases, there is an exciting line-up of activities and sessions. Here are some of the highlights:

• Ask The Experts
• You can freely schedule 1×1 sessions with DB2 pureXML experts from IBM.
• Business Track
• How Verizon Business Streamlined their Order Management System, featuring Andrew Washburn (Verizon)
• How BJC HealthCare? is Using IBM DB2 pureXML to Improve Medical Research, featuring Tom Holdener (BJC Healthcare)
• Technical Track
• Developing DB2 pureXML Applications with COBOL, Java, and .NET: Techniques and a Use Case, featuring Kal Mirza (Barclays Wealth)
• Implementing an Enterprise Order Database with DB2 pureXML at Verizon, featuring Andrew Washburn (Verizon)
• Taking XML to the Data Warehouse with Intel and DB2, featuring Agustin Gonzalez (Intel)
• Querying Large Medical Data Sets using IBM DB2 pureXML, featuring Tom Holdener (BJC Healthcare)
• XML and DB2 pureXML for Beginners
• SOA and IBM DB2 pureXML: The Role of DB2 in an Innovative Architecture
• IBM DB2 pureXML in DB2 for z/OS: Exciting Enhancements and New Features
• Customer Experiences and Case Studies of IBM DB2 pureXML in DB2 9 for z/OS
• Hands on Labs
• Introduction to IBM DB2 pureXML
• New and Advanced Features of IBM DB2 pureXML

I am enjoying several “email conversations” after last week’s Electronic Health Records for Smarter Healthcare Webinar. In one of those threads, Paul Grundy is sharing his experiences with the patient-centered medical home movement. (You can find Paul blogging at Healthnex.) The patient-centered medical home involves leveraging technology to improve the efficiency and quality of patient care. It is a great example of transforming healthcare from the ground-up, and something I would love to see in my community because I genuinely believe that it would improve the quality of healthcare my family receives. Of course, XML standard-based formats and technologies make this movement possible. You can see great videos about patient-centered medical home at:

• http://www.emmisolutions.com/medicalhome/transformed
• http://www.transformed.com/pcmh_video.cfm

The organization promoting this concept are the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative. They are a coalition of more than 600 major employers, consumer groups, organizations representing primary care physicians, and others who have joined to advance the concept of a patient-centered medical home. I genuinely hope that their efforts bear fruit.

Electronic Health Records are a hot topic at the moment. The US federal government has set aside $19 billion in an economic stimulus package to create an electronic health record for every American by 2014. The government is not only using incentives to encourage adoption; they are also using penalties. Between using the carrot and the stick, the US federal government is determined to bring this wave of technology into mass adoption in the healthcare industry.

Next week, I will join Robert Abate to deliver an ‘Espresso Webcast’ about the advantages of implementing standards-based infrastructure for Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). We will also discuss the considerations you need to be aware of as you work with the infrastructure for electronic health systems. Espresso Webcasts are slightly shorter than typical Webcasts, lasting about 35 minutes or so.

The Webcast will be on Tuesday 01 September at 12pm ET. You can register at Electronic Health Records for Smarter Healthcare.

I have previously covered how DB2 9.7 supports native XML data with hash partitioning (database partitioning), range partitioning (table partitioning), and multi-dimensional clustering. These new features make it feasible to analyze information in native XML format, side-by-side with relational data, in a data warehouse. And, of course, being able to work with native XML data in such scenarios offers many efficiencies and advantages.

In reality, many data warehouse projects involve pulling different types of information from disparate data sources around an organization. My colleagues have published the first in a series of two articles that provide step-by-step instructions for integrating information from such disparate sources into a data warehouse. The first of those articles is now available at IBM InfoSphere DataStage and DB2 pureXML, Part 1: Integrate XML operational data into a data warehouse.

This article tells you how to use IBM® InfoSphere™ DataStage to extract and transform XML data managed by DB2® pureXML®. It also explores how DataStage can load this data into a table with traditional SQL data types, and a table with both relational and XML columns. The article includes sample scripts and data that you can download.

The second part of this article series will explore another important scenario: using DataStage to read information from a flat file, convert the data into an XML format, and load this XML data into a data warehouse that contains a table with a DB2 pureXML column.

In the past, I discussed the DB2 pureXML Cookbook. This book is very valuable for all DB2 pureXML users, from novice through expert.

If you are interested in buying this book, please be aware that International DB2 User Group (IDUG) members get a 45% discount on IBM Press books. IDUG membership is free. For information about how to get the discount, visit the following Web page: http://www.idug.org/public-spotlights/45-book-discount.html

Also, as a special promotion, IDUG have a competition where they are giving away 3 copies of this book as prizes. For information about entering to win a free copy of the book, visit the following Web page: http://www.idug.org/public-spotlights/free-db2-book.html

If you are implementing a SOA environment, Solitaire has a very interesting finding for you. Solitaire authored a whitepaper where they analyze database operations at more than 4,100 production systems. As part of their analysis of database operations on IBM System p, they looked at the correlation between the success rate of SOA projects and the choice of database software.

To classify a SOA project as successful, they asked the organization if they now enjoy a 25% or more increase in resource utilization and a 30% or more increase in the speed of provisioning. Here is a chart that shows the relative success rates for SOA projects that involve IBM DB2 and Oracle Database. Solitaire do not say why DB2 does so much better. Perhaps DB2’s superior native XML storage is a factor?

You can read the full Solitaire Report at Whitepaper: DB2 Performance on IBM System p® and System x®.

Almost 24 million people in the US are diagnosed with diabetes. If you know someone with diabetes, you know about the hassles that constant monitoring imposes. MyCareTeam and IBM have collaborated to improve continuous monitoring in such situations, with a solution that both reduces costs and improves the quality of healthcare. I am particularly interested in this collaboration because it involves the use of XML data. IBM and MyCareTeam have written a great paper that covers a number of topics that will be of interest to those in the diabetes and healthcare technologies fields. For instance, there is information about the use of technologies like XML storage and Web services in the context of continuing care. There is also information about related initiatives such as the Continua Health Alliance’s role in selecting appropriate standards. You can read more at Healthcare in the Home: Continuing Care for Diabetes with Collaborative Technologies.