Applying a semantic style to a relational database design leads to a uniform, general-purpose database structure that's independent of the data model. These equal format databases let relational database servers manage any complex data in a standardized way, with the flexibility previously reserved for XML systems. Reusable structures, in turn, lead to reusable software, lessen the impact of changes, and provide a common data platform for development. Moreover, equal format containers are scalable and improve the ability to merge and integrate databases, such as in healthcare, bioinformatics, manufacturing, engineering, data mining, and other data-intensive applications.