The software delivers enhanced XML and Web services capabilities that Big Blue promises will make it easier for customers to use information as a strategic asset. The path to those benefits means evolving existing business applications to service-oriented architectures (SOAs).

Arvind Krishna, vice president for IBM's data servers division, said IMS 10 marks a first. It's the first time, he said, that standard XML query language will be available to hierarchically structured data. "This will help customers simplify their development environments while continuing to realize the proven performance benefits and data integrity of IMS," Krishna said in a statement.