An announcement from RIXML.org reports that version 1.0 of the RIXML specification is now available for public comment. RIXML.org is a "consortium of buy- and sell-side financial industry leaders who joined forces to develop an open, global standard for the tagging and delivery of investment research" and has created a schema for the Research Information Exchange Markup Language. The primary goal of the Version 1.0 release of the RIXML specification is to improve the process of categorizing, aggregating, comparing, sorting, and distributing global financial research; it will provide extensive capabilities to tag any piece of research content, in any form or media, with enough meta-data information for consumers to search, sort and filter through publisher research, and quickly provide highly relevant information to their decision makers. The W3C XML Schema for RIXML defines the relationships and components as defined by the object model; it is available online, together with a supporting User Guide. The RIXML User Guide describes the design approach taken in creating the RIXML standard, and explains some fundamental concepts such as XML, object modeling, schemas, etc. It includes diagrams of the RIXML object model which serve as definitions for the elements and attributes. The RIXML version 1.0 specification will be available for public comment over the next 30 days [through 2001-04-26] and feedback can be provided through the new RIXML.org website.

From the web site overview: RIXML.org, a consortium of buy- and sell-side firms, is committed to the development of the first open standard for investment and financial research. Its mission it "to define an open protocol to improve the process of categorizing, aggregating, comparing, sorting, and distributing global financial research Benefits: (1) Maximize value of research by making it more manageable; (2) Reduce information overload; (3) Increase efficiency of distribution; (4) Improve access to research by standardizing sorting and filtering criteria; (4) Provide flexible approach for distributing and acquiring research. RIXML.org is creating a standard based on industry needs. We are not a distribution service or application vendor, instead, we are creating an open specification that can be freely used by application vendors, research providers and their clients."

The founding members of RIXML.org include (1) Asset Managers: American Century Investments; American Express Financial Corporation; Capital Group; Fidelity Investments; Putnam Investments; The T. Rowe Price Group. (2) Broker-Dealers: Credit Suisse First Boston; Deutsche Bank; Goldman, Sachs & Co.; JPMorgan; Lehman Brothers; Merrill Lynch; Morgan Stanley Dean Witter; Salomon Smith Barney; UBS Warburg.