MetaMatrix, data service management systems provider, announced MetaMatrix Dimension 5, a new product for data service design and execution, that helps application teams quickly make relational and file-based data available as XML schema-compliant Web services for service oriented architecture (SOA)-based applications.

MetaMatrix Dimension helps application teams meet data requirements of Web services more quickly. It enables rapid, model-driven design, execution, and performance optimization of data services that bridge the gap between existing data sources and the XML-based data requirements of new applications.

Unlike simply wrapping a data source with a Web Service interface, which is labor-intensive and adds no real abstraction, semantic mediation, or performance optimization, MetaMatrix Dimension enables development teams to use proven, model-driven tools to visually design, execute, and optimize a collection of higher-level data services.

These data services conform to Web services standards (SOAP) and to required XML schemas, hide data source complexity from applications, resolve semantic gaps between existing data and new applications, and are optimized for enterprise performance. At runtime, MetaMatrix dimension optimizes data access and provides a Web service interface though which applications can exchange data in XML format.

MetaMatrix Dimension provides an attractive option for projects in certain service-oriented architecture initiatives, where efficient completion of the project requires creation of Web services that mediate between diverse existing data sources and new required data structures that use a standard XML schema (XSD).