XML-J: Tell us about HiT Software and how you got into the XML business?
Lorenzin: HiT Software was incorporated in California in 1994 and started out developing SQL middleware. A year ago, as we thought through new product plans, it was clear that XML showed strong justification for developer acceptance. We saw our SQL middleware customers accessing data from XML-based development projects, so we've developed an XML database infrastructure product that meets this common need. It's specialized to access databases, any database. We have both a Java and a Windows version, but HiT Allora is the name of the product line.

Our products address the need to integrate databases as you move forward in the XML environment, which is very important. Corporations don't really want to take the risks involved in migrating databases to XML. They want to layer XML on top of existing solutions. So our Allora product is a great way to do that and still get the full integration into the XML development world going forward.

XML-J: You said your product supports any database. Can you provide some examples of the databases you've tested it with?
Smith: We work with all relational databases and have tested with Oracle, Microsoft, and IBM databases. We support Java and Microsoft standards for database access: JDBC, OLE DB, and ODBC.

XML-J: There are already many other vendors in the XML-RDBMS space. In addition, the traditional RDBMS players such as Oracle and SQL Server are already offering adapters for the RDBMS world. [See SYS-CON Radio Interviews with InfoShark and B-Bop in December's XML-J, Vol. 1, issue 7.] How is your approach different from these companies?
Lorenzin: Allora is a single platform to access all major relational databases. It also offers maximum XML interface flexibility to this data. Where Oracle focuses on XML-to-Oracle, Allora supports equal access to any database. Most important, Allora also supports write-backs to the underlying RDBMS via XML interfaces.

Allora focuses on XML programmatic interfaces to relational data. Rather than just returning XML stream data, Allora returns a choice of standards-based interfaces, including DOM, SAX, or data binding. We can deliver better performance and more powerful features to developers via interfaces. Allora is aimed at developers who are building their own XML solutions rather than relying heavily on consulting organizations. It's an XML-RDBMS platform for the masses that you can download from our Web site and begin working with right away.

With other vendors you can't just download their products and try them. They expect to handhold their customers through their solutions. We assume there's enough XML knowledge and educational resources available, and we believe the developer community is ready for runtime infrastructures.

XML-J: Do you also work with OODBMS vendors? Where do you see the OODBMS market going in relation to XML?
Lorenzin: Our architecture is flexible enough to accommodate OODBMS. Of course, the bulk of the market is RDBMS. Developers have yet to ask us for such support. We think that XML data-binding interfaces to RDBMS can accomplish what OODBMS vendors have tried to sell.

XML-J: What XML standards do you support? Have you faced any problems or shortcomings with the DOM model? How have you solved them?
Lorenzin: We support DOM 2, SAX 2, data binding, XPATH, JDOM, and JAXP. DOM is right for certain development requirements, not others. This is exactly why Allora offers multiple interfaces.

XML-J: Could you give us a brief overview of how Allora works? For example, where will it fit into a distributed application?
Smith: In the Java environment Allora is a set of classes that are called by the application. Allora retrieves the requested data or metadata via JDBC and returns the requested XML interface to this data. Applications can then move through the data, update it, update the underlying database with the changes, then transform it or direct it to stream output, a binary DOM, or JMS queues. Allora can be used by servlets or applets.

In Windows the use is the same except that Allora is a COM object that communicates through OLE DB providers.

XML-J: I've noticed that you work with some of the major application server vendors like BEA and SilverStream. How does that relationship work? How do your products tie into Java environments?
Lorenzin: HiT also develops SQL middleware for IBM DB2 access. We've developed type 4 JDBC drivers to enable these platforms direct access to DB2 servers. Our XML middleware can also be used in these environments.

XML-J: Performance is a big problem in database to XML conversions. How do you address this?
Smith: We move data as intelligently as we can between the SQL and XML interfaces. We think this is a key competitive strength of Allora.

XML-J: What platforms does your software run on?
Smith: We have two versions of Allora: Allora for Windows, which runs on Windows NT Server 4.0 and later, and Allora for Java, which runs on JDK 1.2.2 and later.

Our product is licensed on a server basis depending upon the number of microprocessors in the server, which makes it pretty simple and easy to deploy.

XML-J: What do you have planned for future versions?
Lorenzin: We're looking forward to integrating more mapping technology into the products, so customers can work more seamlessly with databases as XML documents without having to rely on or shift gears into an SQL programming model. Everything in the world will look like XML documents. Right now we're adding some message-queuing to our products and we're talking to some vendors to incorporate message-queuing products with our product. For the Java, of course, it'll be based on the JMS.

XML-J: Who are some of your current customers and clients?
Lorenzin: HiT has lots of products. Having been in business since 1994, we were able to acquire very large customers throughout North America as well as Europe: UPS, Toyota, Honda, General Electric, and IBM.

XML-J: Which of these customers are using Allora, and how are they
using it for developing business applications? What typical business application is developed using Allora?
Smith: We've just recently released Allora, and many customers are evaluating it. Most customers have run into the major problem of having to write the conversion infrastructure to make database access transparent, and it's a large task. Allora can solve this. We have one portal customer using Allora to access multiple back-end databases, but they work with the data in a common XML Schema. This saves them from having to drive multiple SQL syntaxes and data conversions.

XML-J: Where do you think the market for XML is going in the database world? What do you think the future holds for XML in business applications?
Lorenzin: Databases must be designed for maximum performance. XML is a great format for data exchange between the database and its clients. SQL was designed around RDBMS optimizations. We believe that companies will want both SQL for internal performance and XML for data access. XML will be the common denominator for all business application data interchange.

XML-J: What are some of the challenges you're facing in this technology?
Lorenzin: The biggest challenge we're facing now and in the future is to make products that are easy to use, built according to standards, and able to empower developer teams who use them. We want to demonstrate that a company doesn't necessarily need to spend millions of dollars and hire dozens of consultants to get a B2B project going.

XML-J: How can our readers find out more about your product? Is there a trial or evaluation copy?
Smith: We have full working versions of our products available off our Web site, www.hitsw.com, and we provide technical support during that evaluation period at no cost.
robert @ Sys-con.com
smnayak @ yahoo.com