I have to be honest: I've found XML's place in the database world a bit confusing. I guess it's kind of cool to store XML in a database column, but that's really not much more than storing text in a BLOB. In the world of middleware messaging and B2B data exchanges, XML's benefits are easily perceived and instantly tangible. But XML in the database...? I dunno. As usual, I found enlightenment from one of our peers. Robert Bourret has written an article titled "XML Database Products." Check it out here:

XML Database Products