Informix's Universal Server, an object relational database introduced in December, can be extend ed by third-party or corporate developers to support virtually any data type. Many of those assets are well defined and understood, but many are not. Despite the ability of universal databases to handle many kinds of multimedia data, text management plays an especially important role in knowledge-management schemes. Oracle, for example, points to its Context Cartridge, a text-management server that works with the Oracle8 database. Also, several Oracle partners are integrating Context with their applications packages, hoping to create somet hing akin to knowledge-management systems for vertical markets.
Companies use the bundles to store information in a secure central repository.
Other linkages are in the works, according to Oracle's Litman.