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09 March 1998

Contacts:

John R. Falk
JRF & Assoc.: Public Relations
jrfintel@sierra.net
(530) 546-8828

Doug Greenwood
OpenMLS
(530) 583-1775
greenwd@inreach.com

Tahoe City, CA - OpenMLS revolutionizes Real Estate software. The increasingly complex real estate industry is no longer well served by the cumbersome software of the past. Today's technology savvy real estate practitioner needs to replace the MLS systems of the past with Internet based software. Clients demand an Internet presence and it is now essential to build an information technology platform for the future. With the introduction of the OpenMLS software system, a tool based on new XML technologies, Real Estate professionals get what they need. Doug Greenwood, Senior V.P. of Technology and Development at OpenMLS, explains this shift as being, "revolutionary rather than just another evolution of current MLS software. Real estate professionals will be rewarded with new ease of use in all aspects of their business."

The excitement surrounding the release of OpenMLS is due to its use of the open standard XML, as contrasted to the current closed proprietary systems. On the Web, eXtensible Markup Language (XML) will be to data what HTML was to layout. HTML (HyperText Markup Language) determines the appearance of a web page; XML defines the data it displays. To adopt XML standards for a market, community members create what is called an XML vocabulary for that market. Using these defined vocabularies, web developers create pages for XML compliant browsers that display the data. Harnessing the power of XML, OpenMLS is the one to watch.

From his experience in the initial phases of development of XML vocabularies for the real estate market, Greenwood believes that this approach will quickly become the "gold standard" to define information for the Real Estate Multiple Listing Service. OpenMLS's Greenwood opines, "After viewing the many database models designed for the MLS market, it was obvious that an open standard for electronic publishing and data exchange is a pressing need." He continues, "The time is ripe to embrace a new standard, and XML is the only way to go."

Looking to the future of XML technology, OpenMLS envisions all aspects of the real estate process being amenable to XML integration, including disclosure forms; listing and sales contracts; title reports and county assessor data. Real estate listing information in XML is just the tip of the iceberg. The vision of an entire real estate transaction processed electronically is just over the horizon.

In concluding this interview Greenwood offered, "to fulfill the promise of adopting an open standard, we will collaborate with organizations with special interests in the real estate industry. Our goal is to eliminate incompatibilities and create a universally accepted format." OpenMLS integrates seamlessly with Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.01, at this time the only web browser having XML capabilities built in. Utilizing the XML standard, OpenMLS is revolutionizing Internet based real estate applications software.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) ratified XML 1.0 last month. To obtain additional information on XML you can reach W3C on the web (http://www.w3.org/xml). The OpenMLS product will be shown at the "Real Estate Connect 98" conference, held March 12-14 in San Francisco (http://www.inman.com/summit). At that time, it will be made available on the World Wide Web (http://www.openmls.com). To find out more concerning the OpenMLS product you can contact Doug Greenwood of OpenMLS via e-mail at greenwd@inreach.com.