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DataChannel Accelerates the Pace of Building Real World XML Applications DataChannel provides free online toolkit for XML developers

BELLEVUE, Wash. - December 9, 1997 - At SGML/XML 97 in Washington, DataChannel(R), the leader in enterprise webcasting software, today announced the availability of their XML (eXtensible Markup Language) toolkit, the DataChannel XML Development Environment (DXDE). With the availability of the XML toolkit, developers are able to save development time in real world applications of XML This is DataChannel's first step in delivering on the promise of the commercialization of XML.

"XML offers a powerful solution for passing 'real' objects between applications running on heterogeneous platforms. These tools from DataChannel will help jumpstart developers looking to embrace this new direction," said J. P. Morgenthal, Founder/Network Computing Analyst for NC.Focus, a technology research firm.

"The DataChannel XML Development Environment allows developers to get an early competitive start into the next generation web market," said Dave Pool, president and CEO, DataChannel, "With the XML toolkit, DataChannel is helping XML move out of the laboratory phase and toward real commercial use."

Features of DXDE will include:

DataChannel XML parser (DXP) - based on Mikula’s validating NXP parser, one of the most widely adopted in the industry. Enhancements over NXP include performance improvements as well as expansion of the API support.

Pax Syntactica - a lightweight well formed XML parser authored by John Tigue.

DataChannel XML Viewer - an applet that uses the Pax Syntactica parser and includes a tree-walker and viewer for XML documents. There have been over 5000 public downloads of the XML Viewer since its release in July 1997.

XML Server - a platform-independent server that supports a database schema for managing and distributing meta-data.

CDF Viewer demo - a demo of the upcoming DataChannel CDF_Viewer client, an example of XML in action. (Current version supports Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 only). The CDF_Viewer client will be fully supported in ChannelManager 2.0 available Q1 1998.

DXDE also provides a set of APIs supporting several popular object models, including the Document Object Model (DOM), Grove (used by HyTime and DSSSL) and ESIS (Element Structure Interface Standard, the SGML object model). Support of these multiple object models allows flexible integration based on different application needs

Pricing and Availability

Beta versions of all DataChannel XML tools are available for free to all that register on the DataChannel website. A preview of the DXDE Toolkit components, including free downloadable software and online demos, is available at http://www.datachannel.com/products/xml/index.html release of DXDE will be available Q1 1998.

The Building Blocks for Commercial XML Applications

The XML components DataChannel provides are the raw building blocks for application developers. Developers are able to build applications, such as interactive web guides and document management solutions. As described in Jon Bosak’s seminal article, "XML, Java and the Future", some of the applications of XML include:

Mediating between two or more heterogeneous databases.

Redistributing the processing load from the Web server to the Web client.

Enabling different Web views of the same data to different users.

Tailoring information discovery to personalized needs.

About DataChannel
Based in Bellevue, Washington, DataChannel is a pioneer in enterprise content routing solutions, focused on instant distribution of organized content. Their flagship product, ChannelManager, is one of the industry’s first applications which enables corporations to rapidly create and manage relationships between employees and information. ChannelManager’s XML-driven database engine combines real-time TIB notification (NASDAQ: RTRSY) working with Netscape's Communicator (NASDAQ: NSCP) or Microsoft's Active Channels (NASDAQ: MSFT).

ChannelManager is the first and only corporate Webcast solution that allows IS managers to manage: Web channels; external newsfeeds such as Data Broadcasting Corp. (NASDAQ: DBCC), Desktop Data (NASDAQ: DTOP) and Individual (NASDAQ: INDV); search engines such as Yahoo!, Excite (NASDAQ: XCIT), InfoSeek (NASDAQ: SEEK), and Lycos (NASDAQ: LCOS); relational databases from companies such as Informix Software (NASDAQ: IFMX), Sybase (NASDAQ: SYBS), and Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL); and PC applications and legacy corporate data from companies such as Wall Data (NASDAQ: WALL) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) - all within a customizable employee desktop environment.

DataChannel's tools enable corporations to get "The Right Information to the Right Person at the Right Time". The company was reviewed by Forrester Research and positioned as one of the few webcast vendors providing "full, intelligent, interactive suites", along with Microsoft and Yahoo! [Nasdaq:YHOO]. Additional information about DataChannel and its products can be found at www.datachannel.com.

DataChannel and ChannelManager, are registered trademarks of DataChannel Corp. All other brands and products and service names mentioned are trademarks or registered service marks of their respective owners.