Enterprise Information Integration -- XML to the Rescue! Michael J. Carey   View Paper (PDF)   Return to Keynote Speakers Abstract The database field has been struggling with the data integration problem since the early 1980s. Weve named and renamed the problem – heterogeneous distributed databases, multi-databases, federated databases, mediator systems, and now enterprise information integration systems – but we havent actually solved the problem. Along the way, weve tried data model after data model– functional, relational, object-oriented, logical, semi-structured, you name it, weve tried it – and query language after query language to go with them – but we still havent solved the problem. A number of startups have died trying, and no major software vendor has managed to hit a home run in this area. Whats going on? Is the problem too hard? Should we just declare it impossible and give up? In this talk, Ill explain why I believe now would be exactly the wrong time to give up. After a brief look at history, Ill make the case that we are finally on the verge of finding a real solution to this problem. Ill define the enterprise information integration problem as I see it and then explain how the XML and Web Services revolutions that are in progress – based on SOAP, WSDL, XML Schema, XQuery, and so on – relate to the problem and its solution. Ill describe the path that we are on at BEA to deliver a solution, and finally Ill leave the audience with my thoughts on some open problems where the database field, especially the modeling crowd, can contribute. ©2005 Association for Computing Machinery