The XML Extension provides the XML type, an abstract data type that lets you use data directly in XML format, which is a standard format for exchanging content and interfacing to services.

Because the XML type does not require data structure definitions, you do not need to change table definitions even if you change the XML type data structure. This extension facilitates management of data by letting you take advantage of the high flexibility of XML. It allows you to minimize system changes and thus reduce the impact on business operations even when changes are made to the massive stocks of documentation owned by companies and various kinds of research institutes as intellectual property or to the data structures of content that is used on a regular basis.

Furthermore, with respect to searching, the extension supports key features of SQL/XML that use XQuery, the standard XML query language.