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Last modified: December 30, 2002
XML Industry News: 2002 Q4

XML News

This XML Industry News section consists mainly of links to company press releases announcing support for XML/XSL/XLink/XQuery etc. Other documents with reference collections:

Major articles on XML in the trade magazines, as well as the more substantive refereed articles on XML in technical publications, are listed in the dedicated database sections: Current XML Surveys and Overview Articles

Search: [Indexed Search]

  • [December 30, 2002] "Dow Jones Newswires Launches Test Feed for Dow Jones NewsPlus. Thomson ONE Will Be the First Platform to Integrate Dow Jones' New XML Feed." - Dow Jones Newswires has announced "that a test feed for Dow Jones NewsPlus, a new XML feed that will provide an interactive, convenient interface for Newswires' market-leading news, commentary and analysis, is now available to market-data vendors to integrate into their products for financial professionals. Thomson Financial, a leading provider of information and technology solutions to the worldwide financial community, will be the first distributor to integrate Dow Jones NewsPlus into Thomson ONE, its open framework desktop application. The full Dow Jones NewsPlus XML feed is scheduled to be released by the end of the first quarter of 2003. The first release of Dow Jones NewsPlus will be a major enhancement for Dow Jones News Service subscribers, available first to Thomson ONE customers. Dow Jones editors will select and rank the most critical, market-moving stories for Dow Jones NewsPlus, with summaries on the home page and links to the complete story and related information such as press releases, industry news and fundamental company data. The home page will also provide stock and bond market updates, direct links to critical topics like politics and economic indicators. The interface also highlights select features, such as columns, analysts' comments and DJ Market Talk. Users of the Thomson ONE platform will be able to access Dow Jones NewsPlus directly... Dow Jones Newswires is working with other distributors on integrating the new XML feed into their platforms. Dow Jones NewsPlus will eventually be available on a Web site hosted by Dow Jones. The feed is also flexible enough to support versions for other Dow Jones Newswires' products, integrate into other sites, and to create custom versions for large users with links to users' proprietary information..."

  • [December 30, 2002] "OpenTravel Alliance Announces Publication of OTA Specification Version 2002B." - "The OpenTravel Alliance (OTA) is pleased to announce the publication of the 2002B Specification that provides the travel industry and travel related services the ability to deliver new features and enhanced capabilities to travelers, through enhanced XML transactions. The 2002B release enhances messages previously released, as well as, introduces new messages across all of the work groups. The Air, Car, Hotel and Travel Integration Work Groups have each provided an introduction to highlight new features and enhancements offered in the 2002B Specification. OTA would like to thank all its 120 member companies, project teams, working groups and committees that worked so diligently to provide a richer, more robust specification and further travel technology and XML development. Thanks to this effort, the OTA is one step closer to its goal to create a common and complete XML dialect for the travel industry. To view and download OTA's Version 2002B including informative text and XML specifications, please visit www.opentravel.org/2002b.cfm... The OpenTravel Alliance develops communications specifications to allow for the efficient and effective exchange of travel industry information via the Internet. With over 120 members representing influential names in all sectors of the travel industry, OTA is comprised of representatives from the airlines, car rental firms, hotels, leisure suppliers, service providers, tour operators, travel agencies, and trade associations. OTA working groups, together with an OTA interoperability committee to coordinate their efforts, develop open Internet-compatible messages using XML..." See: (1) "OpenTravel Alliance (OTA) Publishes XML Specification Version 2002B" [details for the public review draft]; (2) general references in "OpenTravel Alliance (OTA)."

  • [December 24, 2002] "OGC Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Web Coverage Service Specification." - "Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) Technical and Planning Committee meetings, the Coverage Working Group, the OGC Technical Committee, and the OGC Planning Committee voted to release the proposed Web Coverage Service (WCS) Implementation Specification, for public comment, as a Request for Comment (RFC). The RFC details draft interfaces that allow gridded and certain non-gridded geospatial data on a server to be accessed and used by client software as input into spatial model, local rendering and other uses... The Web Coverage Service (WCS) provides access to intact, raw data while WMS provides a static 'picture' of a map. WCS' three key operations, GetCapabilities, GetCoverage, and DescribeCoverageType are designed to work with coverages (imagery, TINS and other types of gridded and non-gridded intelligent data). The GetCapabilities operation returns an XML document from the server that describes the service and the data collections available. The GetCoverage operation of a Web Coverage Service returns values or properties of geographic locations, bundled in a well-known coverage format. Jeff Labonte, Director of the Canada's GeoConnections Program, stated that the Web Coverage Service is an important element that will further development of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure by promoting interoperability of important sources of information such as earth observation satellites and imagery... NASA is the lead submitter on WCS. The submission team also includes BAE Systems, PCI Geomatics, IONIC Software s.a, George Mason University, Polexis, Inc., Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions, Cubewerx, Inc., Natural Resources Canada, and German Aerospace Center DLR. Request for Comment is a key method to integrate public input into OGC's consensus process in the creation of its OpenGIS Specifications. After the Request for Comment period ends, and comments are assembled and addressed, the WCS RFC may be brought to a vote to become an Adopted OpenGIS Specification. OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 230 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS Specifications support interoperable solutions that 'geo-enable' the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. The specifications empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications..." See details in the news story "Open GIS Consortium Issues RFC for Web Coverage Service Implementation Specification."

  • [December 23, 2002] "XAware Announces RIXML Components for Financial Services Integration. Integration Building Blocks Enable Financial Services Firms, System Integrators and Software Vendors to Rapidly Adopt RIXML." - "XAware, Inc., a leader in XML-based information exchange and data integration, announces the availability of a suite of software components to help system integrators, corporate IT groups and software vendors implement RIXML for financial services applications. First launched in April 2001, RIXML (Research Information Exchange Markup Language) is an industry-standard dialect of XML that enables the assimilation and distribution of research information. The benefits of RIXML include increased efficiency of research distribution, more effective targeting, personalization and overall usability. XAware's RIXML Components are targeted to financial services firms such as brokerage houses, asset management companies, mutual fund managers and securities houses. XAware's 'building block' approach allows firms to rapidly connect within an existing framework, manage and integrate data and technology from multiple vendors, and progressively incorporate more data into the RIXML standard. The XAware solution enables common information models leveraging XML-based standards for interoperability, and is an engine for compliance with the RIXML standard. 'After successfully completing a RIXML integration project with OppenheimerFunds, XAware is leveraging this experience by packaging a set of RIXML-based integration components,' said Bill Miller, chief executive officer of XAware. 'These new building blocks reduce the complexities of adopting the RIXML standard, while allowing companies to migrate research data over time with an immediate ROI'..." See: (1) the White Paper "Challenges and Solutions for Leveraging RIXML. Application of XAware Technology."; (2) general references in "Research Information Exchange Markup Language (RIXML)."

  • [December 23, 2002] "ADL Releases the Technical Repository Investigation Report." - "The Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative is preparing for a world where communication networks and personal information delivery devices are widespread, inexpensive and transparent to users in terms of ease of use, bandwidth and portability. ADL envisions the creation of repositories, or learning 'knowledge' libraries where learning objects may be accumulated and catalogued for broad distribution and use. These objects must be readily accessible across the World Wide Web or whatever forms our global information network takes in the future. There has recently been much effort to advance repository technologies. Current efforts in the development of repository standards and software are broad and varied, with players coming from nearly every major sector. This diversity of interest has resulted in an impressive number of competing standards and supporting technologies. ADL is aware of the important role repository systems play in facilitating content storage, delivery and reuse. Repository systems provide key infrastructure for the development, storage, management, discovery and delivery of all types of electronic content. SCORM content packaging, with its inclusion of mandatory self-descriptive meta-data, plays an important role enabling advanced functionality for repository systems. As such, SCORM packaging plays a key role in accomplishing ADL goals for e-learning interoperability and in advancing the repository state-of-the-art. Paul Jesukiewicz, Director of the ADL Co-Laboratory in Alexandria, has commented that: 'The ADL Repository Technical Investigation Report is the first step in a long process to get a handle on the various repository efforts that could contribute to a potential application profile for SCORM. We are in about the same place today with repositories as we were three years ago with LMSs. We look forward to continuing the investigation into repositories and hope to continue as a catalyst in bringing the various communities together.' The ADL Repository Technical Investigation Report summarizes a number of major specification and standards efforts that may affect future repository architectures and be useful for managing SCORM conformant content..." See: "Shareable Content Object Reference Model Initiative (SCORM)."

  • [December 18, 2002] "Liquent Announces Availability of Two New eCTD Solutions for eCTD Submissions and a Free eCTD Viewer. Products Quickly and Efficiently Produce, Manage, and View Compliant eCTD Submissions." - "Liquent, Inc., global leader in regulatory publishing, intelligence, and intellectual property solutions, today announced three new products to produce, manage, and view compliant electronic Common Technical Document (eCTD) submissions for multiple regions: Liquent eCTD Assistant 2.0, Liquent Submission Accelerator for eCTD, and the free Liquent eCTD Reviewer. These new products ensure that life sciences organizations will be well prepared to take advantage of the benefits of the eCTD, an XML-driven specification designed to simplify the creation and review of regulatory submissions. Liquent's new publishing solutions quickly and easily generate eCTD submissions compliant with International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) and regional specifications complete with the requisite XML backbones that can then be easily managed and updated throughout the submission lifecycle. eCTD Assistant 2.0 supports the final ICH Step 4 eCTD specifications and draft specifications from the FDA and EMEA to enable the assembly of submission-ready documents, create the appropriate file/folder structure, assign leaf document attributes, and then build the required XML backbone and regional XML required in eCTD submissions... Also compliant with ICH's Step 4 specifications, Submission Accelerator is a new module for Liquent's CoreDossier publishing software that enables automated eCTD publishing. Available immediately, it ships with a set of pre-defined eCTD templates that are updated as ICH and regional specifications change -- ensuring that submissions are always compliant with ICH standards and the regional specifications provided by regulatory authorities in the United States, Europe, and Japan. The eCTD Reviewer is a free tool that provides a comprehensive view of a submission as it is being built and after completion. The eCTD Reviewer is bundled for free with eCTD Assistant 2.0; an advanced version with editing capabilities and a conformity checker is included with Submission Accelerator..." See: "Electronic Common Technical Document (eCTD) for Pharmaceuticals."

  • [December 18, 2002] "BEA, IBM, Microsoft, RSA Security, SAP and VeriSign Deliver Advanced Specifications to Help Meet Security and Business Policy Needs of Companies Building and Implementing Web Services. New Group of Specifications to Build on Industry Work for Web Services." - Microsoft Corp. and IBM Corp., along with BEA Systems Inc., RSA Security Inc., SAP AG, and VeriSign Inc., today announced the publication of a new set of advanced Web services specifications to help businesses share information securely between applications and organizations in a standard way. Using broadly accepted standards and specifications around Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), security, transactions and discovery, the new specifications represent the next step in delivering a comprehensive model of advanced Web services capabilities that integrate currently available technologies with the evolving requirements of emerging applications. IBM, Microsoft and industry partners are now delivering against a previously announced road map with six new specifications. Providing a framework that is extensible and flexible and maximizes existing investments in a Web services infrastructure, these new specifications make it easier to apply business policy and implement security for a wider range of applications. The specifications fall into two key groups. The first helps address key technical concerns in the area of security and build on the work outlined in Microsoft and IBM's co-authored road map, 'Security in a Web Services World.' The second group focuses on streamlining the implementation of business policies in a Web services environment..." See details in the 2002-12-18 news item: "Microsoft and IBM Publish Six New Web Services Security and Policy Specifications."

  • [December 17, 2002] "OpenHSF v8.0 Specification Released by the OpenHSF Advisory Council. First Membership-driven Extension for Document/Assembly Structure Included." - "The OpenHSF Initiative announced today the availability of v8.0 of the openly published HSF specification. This latest specification also includes the first open extension to the specification, which was proposed, reviewed and ratified by the OpenHSF Advisory Council (OAC). Thus it delivers on the OpenHSF Initiative's promise to not only establish a common format for visual interoperability but, through the cooperation of the membership, to "raise the bar of interoperability" beyond simple visual information. The OpenHSF Initiative was launched in Q4 2001 to establish an open, common visualization format for the efficient exchange of rich 2D/3D and meta-data between disparate applications and includes many leading engineering software and end-user organizations. The core HSF format contains 2D/3D & textual data for visualization, while the OpenHSF membership defines and implements open extensions that allow software developers to embed additional meta-data within their HSF files and exchange this information seamlessly with other HSF-compliant applications. The Document/Product Structure extension consists of XML tags, which describe the structure of assemblies, parts or drawings that may be embedded within an HSF file. These tags are fully associative with the graphical objects. This extension is of particular value to applications wishing to express how a particular assembly is structured and how sub-elements of the assembly and drawings relate to one another. In addition to the Document/Product Structure extension, highlights of the latest HSF specification include: (1) XML Tags to facilitate the embedding of XML data directly into an HSF file; (2) New PolyCylinder primitive, which is of particular value for applications that deal with many pipe-like objects such as power plants or factories; (3) Support for scale-independent lines, edges and marker-weights for embedding information into a scene, which maintains its size, independent of the scaling of other geometry in the scene; (4) Additional Transparency options; (5) Descriptions of compression algorithms for 2D and Raster data... The OpenHSF Initiative supplies the complete solution for engineering visualization interoperability. It is an industry-wide effort to establish a common, open and robust format for sharing visualization data between users of disparate engineering applications through the publishing of the HOOPS Stream Format (HSF) specification. With the publication of the OpenHSF Specification document, the entire industry now has complete access to the robust HOOPS Stream Format (HSF), which allows for the intelligent, stream-capable sharing of visualization data between disparate engineering applications. The OpenHSF Advisory Council has been established to ensure the OpenHSF Specification continues to address the needs of the OpenHSF community and remains open and available to all interested parties. OpenHSF Membership includes software vendors such as SolidWorks, Dassault Systems, PTC, MSC.Software, ANSYS, TranscenData, Actify, Informative Graphics, Hitachi Zosen, COADE, CADKEY and dozens of others. End users who help to drive requirements include Boeing and Daimler Chrysler, with input and support from others such as Intel, AMD and the Web3D Consortium..."

  • "World Wide Web Consortium Issues User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 as a W3C Recommendation. Third in Set of Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Guidelines Helps Developers Make Accessible Browsers and Multimedia Players." - "The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has issued the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (UAAG 1.0) as a W3C Recommendation, representing consensus among developers and the disability community on accessibility features needed in browsers and multimedia players used to access the Web... 'Web browsers and media players serve people as the front door to the Web. But when those tools aren't usable by people with disabilities, it's akin to locking the door and leaving no key,' noted Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. 'For the past five years, the technical and disability experts in the Web Accessibility Initiative have provided definitive guidelines for making accessible Web content and designing authoring software that does the same, automatically. Today, with the announcement of the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines, developers have the specific guidance they need to make Web browsers and media players more useful to more people.' The Web is for Everyone -- Content, Authoring Tools, Browsers, and Multimedia Players Must Be Accessible The Web has created unprecedented opportunities for people around the world to learn, work, shop, play, and communicate with others; and even more so for people with disabilities, who have frequently been excluded from many of these activities. Access to the Web for people with disabilities, however, presumes that Web developers choose accessible design over inaccessible design; these guidelines explain how to make accessible design choices when developing browsers and media players. UAAG 1.0 is written for software developers, and addresses requirements such as accessibility of the user interface, rendering of accessibility information, and user choice in configuring browsers and media players. These guidelines also address interoperability of mainstream browsers and multimedia players with assistive technologies used by people with disabilities. UAAG 1.0 is third in a complementary set of Web accessibility guidelines which already include the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0) and the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (ATAG 1.0)..." See other details in the 2002-12-17 news item "W3C Publishes User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 as a Recommendation."

  • [December 17, 2002] "OASIS Members to Develop Web Services Standard for Translation. DataPower, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and Others Collaborate on Localization Specification." - "Members of the OASIS standards consortium have formed a technical committee to develop standards to automate the translation and localization process as a Web service. The effort brings together DataPower, IBM, the Localisation Research Centre, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and others in a collaboration that will use Web services as the backbone to a workflow linking the tasks that comprise a complex software localization project... The new OASIS Technical Committee will concentrate first on defining service types that are relevant to the software/content localization and translation industry. Their specification will drive the development of Web Services Definition Language (WSDL) documents that will ultimately be published in a Universal Description and Discover Integration (UDDI) registry and potentially also in an ebXML registry... The OASIS Translation Web Services Technical Committee joins another localization effort at OASIS -- one that works to develop an XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF). The two groups plan to coordinate their efforts. Tony Jewtushenko of Oracle, chair of the OASIS XLIFF Technical Committee explained the relationship, 'The OASIS Translation Web Services Technical Committee will define standard interfaces between the disparate actors that work together in a distributed software localization process. As localizable data moves through the localization actors, XLIFF-aware tools can be used with minimal implementation cost. We expect our experience with XML-based localization technology will result in close relations and shared membership with the OASIS Translation Web Services Technical Committee'... 'The OASIS Translation Web Services Technical Committee is a clear example of how industry players can come together to jointly develop Web services standards for their critical business interactions,' stated Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS. 'Industries that conduct their Web services standards development within OASIS have the opportunity to interface directly with developers of key foundational Web services efforts, such as UDDI, WS-Security, SAML, and more than 45 others'..." See other details in the news item of 2002-11-26: "New OASIS Translation Web Services Technical Committee."

  • [December 17, 2002] "Creative Commons Unveils Machine-Readable Copyright Licenses." - "Creative Commons, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the creative reuse of intellectual works, launched its first product today: its machine-readable copyright licenses, available free of charge from creativecommons.org. The licenses allow copyright holders to easily inform others that their works are free for copying and other uses under specific conditions. These self-help tools offer new ways to distribute creative works on generous terms -- from copyright to the public domain -- and are available free of charge. 'People want to bridge the public domain with the realm of private copyrights,' said Stanford Law Professor and Creative Commons Chairman Lawrence Lessig. 'Our licenses build upon their creativity, taking the power of digital rights description to a new level. They deliver on our vision of promoting the innovative reuse of all types of intellectual works, unlocking the potential of sharing and transforming others' work'... After the copyright holder chooses their license or public domain dedication, it is expressed in three formats to easily notify others of the license terms: (1) Commons Deed: A simple, plain-language summary of the license, with corresponding icons; (2) Legal Code: The fine print needed to fine-tune your copyrights; (3) Digital Code: A machine-readable translation of the license that helps search engines and other applications identify your work by its terms of use... Various organizations and people have pledged their support for Creative Commons, including Byrds founder Roger McGuinn, DJ Spooky, iBiblio, the Internet Archive, MIT Open Courseware project, O'Reilly & Associates, People Like Us, the Prelinger Collection/Library of Congress, Rice University's Connexions project, Stanford Law School, and Sun Microsystems. Implementers include musicians, writers, teachers, scholars, scientists, photographers, filmmakers, publishers, graphic designers, Web hobbyists, as well as listeners, readers, and viewers..." See technical details on the use of RDF/Dublin Core in the 2002-12-16 news item: "Creative Commons Project Offers RDF-Based Licenses for Rights Expression."

  • [December 16, 2002] "Microsoft Delivers Latest Developer Tools for Building Advanced, More Secure Web Services. Web Services Enhancements 1.0 Available for Visual Studio .NET. Developers, With Support From Companies Such as F5 Networks, WestGlobal and WRQ." - "Highlighting industry demand for the latest Web services capabilities, Microsoft Corp. today announced key companies, including F5 Networks, WestGlobal and WRQ Inc., that are taking advantage of Web Services Enhancements 1.0 (WSE) for Microsoft .NET, which gives Visual Studio .NET developers support for the latest Web services specifications, such as WS-Security, WS-Routing and WS-Attachments. The news coincides with Microsoft's announcement of the release to Web (RTW) of WSE 1.0, following the technical preview delivered in August 2002. Available via download, WSE works with Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework so developers can quickly add a few lines of code to their Web services applications to keep pace with the latest industry advancements. In addition to its ability to quickly build new Web services solutions, WSE has been embraced by customers and industry partners as an important tool for connecting to existing systems... Since the introduction of the technical preview in August 2002, WSE has gone through rigorous testing and customer review to reach the milestone of RTW of WSE 1.0. WSE is built on existing XML Web Services standards such as XML and SOAP, while providing the following advanced capabilities: Security. It can help secure XML Web services across platforms and trust domains, including digital signing and encryption of SOAP messages that are compliant with the WS-Security specification, jointly introduced by Microsoft, IBM Corp. and VeriSign Inc. in April 2002 and submitted to OASIS in June 2002. Routing. It can route an XML Web service through intermediaries using the WS-Routing specification, which describes how to place message addresses in the SOAP message header and enables SOAP messages to travel serially to multiple destinations along a message path. The route a SOAP message takes to an XML Web service can be transparently delegated among Web servers. Attachments. Communication between XML Web services can contain attachments that are not serialized into XML. The WSDK provides the ability to add attachments to SOAP messages following the WS-Attachments specification. WS-Attachments was jointly submitted to the IETF by Microsoft and IBM. Extensible framework. WSE is an extensible pipeline for SOAP message processing. Developers can extend the built-in functionality of the system to customize its encryption and signing capabilities to support proprietary security infrastructures. Custom logic also can be incorporated into the pipeline to provide additional functionality such as auditing, logging, or store and forward..." See: (1) the main page Web Services Enhancements for Microsoft .NET; (2) Programming with Web Services Enhancements 1.0 for Microsoft .NET"; (3) "WS-Security Authentication and Digital Signatures with Web Services Enhancements," by Matt Powell; (4) Inside the Web Services Enhancements Pipeline.

  • [December 16, 2002] "PostX Announces Plan to Support and Integrate New Liberty Alliance v1.1 Specification for Federated Identity Management Standard. Leading Secure Messaging Company first to Embrace Powerful New Open Standard. Also Announces Support of SAML v1.0 (Security Assertion Markup Language)." - PostX has announced 'support and planned integration of the Liberty Alliance v1.1 specifications for federated network identity management. These standards will be integrated into the next generation of the PostX Enterprise secure messaging platform due for release in Q1 2003... PostX has also announced support of SAML in their upcoming release. SAML is the OASIS standard XML schema for security assertions and protocols. It enables security interoperability through the exchange of authentication and authorization information among disparate Web access management and security products. It addresses the need for secure single sign-on across diverse Web access management environments implemented across various organizations, applications, Web sites, and portals. The standard defines standardized exchanges of identity and access management (IAM) information, leveraging Web services standards such as XML and SOAP. 'Liberty Alliance, through its broad membership and high industry profile, has clearly established itself as an important group addressing Web services security through federated identity standards. Liberty is leveraging industry momentum surrounding the new OASIS standard, SAML 1.0, upon which the Alliance has built its specifications,' said James Kobielus, senior analyst at Burton Group. 'Concurrently, several industry vendors publicly announced commitments to implementing the Liberty Version 1.x specifications in their products over the coming year. PostX's support for Liberty Version 1.1 is encouraging, because it shows deepening vendor support for the standard throughout diverse product niches, such as secure messaging.' PostX is the only secure messaging company that plans to implement a federated authentication model based on the Liberty Alliance v1.1 specification. In PostX's implementation, users authenticate with their preferred authentication mechanism, which can be passed within a circle of 'trusted' entities. This allows the promise of single sign-on to be delivered to end users with no reduction in usability or security implementations; it is transparent to the sender and recipient... PostX was founded in 1996 with a mission to maximize ECommunications value for organizations by enabling secure electronic delivery of information vital to business and customer relationships. PostX delivers powerful, secure EStatements, EConfirms, EPaystubs, Ecustomer Service, and EMarketing direct to any computer desktop or wireless device, unleashing real value in the form of significant cost savings, powerful marketing opportunities, and deeper recipient loyalty..." See: "Liberty Alliance Specifications for Federated Network Identification and Authorization."

  • [December 16, 2002] "OSS Nokalva Announces XML Support." - "OSS Nokalva, Inc., the world's leading developer of ASN.1 software for building data communications applications, announced today the immediate availability of the OSS ASN.1 Tools for C and Java with XML support. A C++ beta version is also currently available. 'We are very excited because our new software allows ASN.1 application developers to effortlessly encode data in XML,' commented Bancroft Scott, President of OSS Nokalva. 'This creates an exciting opportunity for developers to maximize their return on investment in robust ASN.1 technology with the added benefits of XML. The addition of XML encoding enables XML to be used in places that are bandwidth constrained such as cell phones, PDAs and embedded systems. Developers can now view binary encoded data in human readable format using XML without sacrificing ASN.1's simple and efficient message description.' The OSS ASN.1 Tools support the XML addition to ASN.1 as described in ASN.1:2002. The tools generate fully XML-standards compliant XML encodings, giving developers a means of representing ASN.1 values using XML with the ASN.1 type definition as the schema. The generated XML is governed by the XML Encoding Rules (XER) and Canonical XML Encoding Rules (CXER), providing the user with control over the visual quality of the generated encoding. It also allows for the viewing and editing of the encoded data using any tools that recognize XML independent of ASN.1... The software completely shields the user from the intricacies of the encoding rules and complexities of manual coding and debugging. All software supports the full ASN.1 syntax as described by the ASN.1:1990, ASN.1:1997 and ASN.1:2002 standards and the following encoding rules: Basic Encoding Rules (BER), Packed Encoding Rules (PER) (aligned and unaligned), Distinguished Encoding Rules (DER), Canonical Encoding Rules (CER), Canonical XML Encoding Rules (CXER), and XML Encoding Rules (XER)..." See: (1) "ASN.1 Markup Language (AML)"; (2) "XML Encoding Rules for ASN.1 (XER)."

  • [December 12, 2002] Veridocs Announces Beta Release of XMLdocs at XML 2002. Small to Mid-sized Firms to Benefit from Affordable XML Content Management Solution. Beta Release Available Free Through January 2003." - "Veridocs, a provider of XML software, consulting and development services, today announced the upcoming availability of XMLdocs Beta Release. XMLdocs is a Web-based system for creating powerful, user-friendly XML content management solutions. The Beta Release will be available free at http://my.xmldocs.com. XMLdocs Version 1, slated for release in February 2003, will be available on a hosted basis, an important option for organizations seeking affordable XML content management. Veridocs made the announcement at the XML Conference and Exhibition 2002 in Baltimore, where Veridocs CEO Nat Dunn presented 'XMLdocs: Hosted XML Content Management' -- 'XML is ideal for most content management challenges. Yet to date, XML solutions have been far too expensive for many companies,' says Dunn. 'XMLdocs' subscription-based pricing model and easy-to-use interface makes XML content management affordable -- and useable -- for virtually any organization.' With XMLdocs, organizations can create XML document templates for everything from press releases and product descriptions to knowledge-based articles and help documents. Using these templates, non-technical users write and edit XML documents in XMLdoc's intuitive XML word processor. Documents can then be exported for publication on a Web site or elsewhere through a simple Web Service... Founded in January 2002, Veridocs provides the software and services organizations need to build and maintain XML-based Web sites and applications. The company's flagship product, XMLdocs, is a software service that allows content contributors to collaboratively author XML documents. In addition, Veridocs provides XML consulting and development services, and customized training workshops. Veridocs is a wholly owned subsidiary of Summit Software..."

  • [December 11, 2002] "Novell Adds Secure Identity Management to Key Web Services Standard." - "On December 11, 2002 Novell announced the availability to developers of a new Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) server that adds secure identity management to the UDDI standard. Novell Nsure UDDI Server is based on Novell's market-leading eDirectory software and is the first deliverable of the company's Destiny roadmap for eDirectory. Novell has extended its secure identity management expertise to a key Web services standard to help businesses more easily and confidently deploy Web services. The company today announced the availability to developers of a new Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) server that adds secure identity management to the UDDI standard, bolstering the security and simplifying the management of Web services registries. Novell Nsure UDDI Server is based on Novell's market-leading eDirectory software and is the first deliverable of the company's Destiny roadmap for eDirectory. Since its inception in 2000, adoption of the UDDI standard has been limited, partly because initial Web services deployments have been relatively small, but also because the standard lacks adequate provisions to ensure the security and management of registered services. With the delivery of a UDDI server based on eDirectory, Novell is attacking those limitations head on... Novell Nsure UDDI Server allows businesses to register Web services and make them available to internal or external users, while leveraging the security and management inherent in eDirectory. Users, whether publishing or consuming services, can be required to first authenticate to the directory and verify their identity. Equally important, those users, their access rights, and the registered Web services can be easily managed with eDirectory tools like Novell iManager, which are familiar to most network administrators... Novell Nsure UDDI Server will be available December 17, 2002 for free download..." See: "Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)."

  • [December 11, 2002] "Vordel to Launch New XML Security Suite for Distributed Security and Management of Web Services." - "VordelSecure 2.0, high performance, enterprise-class security suite, uses new distributed architecture to protect Web Services using open standards Vordel, the Web services security company, today announced VordelSecure 2.0, the first enterprise-grade XML security suite to respond to the security needs of organizations that are taking advantage of XML for software integration. VordelSecure 2.0 provides organizations with a high performance, scalable security management solution to secure their XML communications. It provides both XML firewalling and XML access control, and does not rely on a monolithic architecture deployed at a single point. Instead, it may be distributed across all Web Services exposed by an organization, at multiple entry and exit points. Companies deploying Web Services are using VordelSecure to deliver highly secure and highly scalable security. British American Tobacco (BAT) is one company that has adopted Web Services technology as a key building block of its internal business process integration strategy. Kevin Poulter, Head of the Application Technology Group at BAT said, 'BAT chose Web Services technologies such as SOAP and WSDL to streamline integration of our business systems. Security is a key component of our integration architecture and requires the capabilities provided by a specialist XML security product. To ensure the integrity of our architecture it is important for us to maintain a distinction between the security application infrastructure and the enterprise business systems... Derek O'Carroll, CEO of Vordel, explained that VordelSecure is the result of more than three years of development and detailed customer interaction. 'We are offering companies greater flexibility and choice in the way they deploy security for their XML communications,' he said..." [From the VordelSecure 2.0 datasheet: "VordelSecure secures Web Services, filtering XML traffic based on content and identity. SOAP connections to certain Web Services can be blocked, or filtered. SAML, WS-Security, and X.509 digital signatures are used to protect XML traffic within and between organizations. VordelSecure authenticates a consumer using an X.509 certificate obtained from the SSL session or from within the SOAP message. The identity of the user can be established using local directories or XKMS trust services from vendors such as VeriSign and Entrust. SAML Authentication Assertions are also consumed by VordelSecure. VordelSecure performs authorization based on security tokens enclosed in SOAP messages using WS-Security, and also interfaces with LDAP directories and with website authorization systems..."]

  • [December 11, 2002] "Corel to Preview New Tools for Smart Content Creation at XML 2002. Company to Unveil New Technologies for Creating XML and SVG Applications." - "Corel Corporation today announced its plans for the XML Conference and Exposition 2002 in Baltimore, MD. Corel will preview two new technologies designed to power and simplify the creation of XML and SVG applications. 'XML 2002 is an extremely important event for Corel. We are pleased to be unveiling the evolution of Corel's XML solution set to this growing community,' said Derek Burney, president and CEO of Corel Corporation. 'Corel is on the cutting edge in delivering the essential tools that will drive the adoption of open standards for both text and graphical content.' Corel will offer technology previews of its upcoming SVG-based smart graphics studio and the soon-to-be-released upgrade to its award-winning XML editor, Corel XMetaL. Smart Graphics: Building on the strength of SVG, this new studio will enable enterprise customers to create dynamic, data-driven graphical applications. SVG-based smart graphics are the ideal solution for building powerful, enterprise-class visual interfaces for delivering the data and content generated by XML Web services... Corel XMetaL 4: Corel will preview Corel XMetaL 4, the evolution of XML content creation. Corel XMetaL 4 is a platform designed to simplify the implementation of customized XML applications and features tight integration with content management systems. This new platform continues to build upon the strengths of Corel XMetaL 3, enabling anyone to create valid XML content and streamlining the process of distributing information to the Web, print and other media. 'Corel is continuing the tradition of launching important technology at this conference. XMetaL 1 was launched here in 1998, and I'm sure many people will be excited to see the new features added to XMetaL 4. Conference attendees will be equally interested in Corel's smart graphics technologies that enable the creation of SVG-based data driven graphics,' said Lauren Wood, Conference Chair, XML 2002. 'Together, these products show how far XML has come as an enabling technology in supporting enterprise-wide solutions to address business needs'..." See also from the Corel Smart Graphics Solutions White Paper: "The adoption of XML has given text and data the ability to interact with each other. Until now, however, the promise of interactivity has not extended to graphics. To address this problem, Corel Corporation has developed smart graphics solutions. Smart graphics are based on Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), which is a standard for describing vector graphics in XML. Corel smart graphics solutions enable developers and designers to create personalized, interactive graphics for both print and the Web. Corel smart graphics solutions allow companies to bring together different content types into a common, seamless workflow. They make it easy to integrate text, graphics, data, and business processes from across the enterprise. They reduce content creation costs, increase productivity, and open up new revenue opportunities. Corel smart graphics solutions provide enterprises with the edge they need to maximize efficiency and meet the cross-media demands of the future..." On SVG, see: "W3C Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)."

  • [December 10, 2002] "XML Cup Award 2002 Presented to Jon Bosak and Tim Bray. Industry Leaders Recognized for Their Achievements and Work on the XML Standard." - "IDEAlliance, today awarded the XML Cup to Jon Bosak and Tim Bray, for outstanding contributions to XML. The presentation was part of the opening session of the XML Conference and Exposition 2002, being held this week at the Baltimore Convention Center, in Baltimore, Maryland. 'Jon Bosak was the Chair of the W3C Working Group that created XML, while Tim Bray was one of the co-editors of the XML specification as well as writing the first XML parser. Both have been energetic evangelists for XML and both are worthy recipients of the XML Cup', said Lauren Wood, Chair of the XML 2002 Conference, who awarded the Cup. 'The biggest decision the XML 2002 Planning Committee had to make was which of them should get the Cup this year, and which next year, so we decided to give it to both.' 'Jon and Tim are well respected within the XML community, as well as the IT community at large, for their innovative contributions. It is an honor for us to present them with the XML Cup this year. They have been inspirations to us all,' stated Marion Elledge, Executive VP, IDEAlliance. 'Our XML conference and exposition has been in existence since the standard was first announced at one of our IT events over five years ago. The XML Cup Award was created to honor talented individuals whose vision and contributions have made a lasting impact on XML technology. We think that this year's recipients more than meet these requirements.' Jon Bosak organized and led the working group that created XML, subsequently serving for two years as chair of the XML Coordination Group of the World Wide Web Consortium. He is a long-time member of OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, and he chaired the committee that developed the OASIS process for the definition of industry-specific XML markup standards. He also served on the Advisory Board of the Electronic Business XML initiative (ebXML), a joint project of OASIS and the United Nations body for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT). He currently chairs the OASIS Universal Business Language Technical Committee and serves as the Sun Microsystems representative to the RosettaNet Solution Provider Board. Tim Bray has been in the software profession since 1981. He managed the New Oxford English Dictionary Project 1987. In 1989, Mr. Bray co-founded Open Text Corporation. He built one of the first popular commercial Web Search Engines in 1995 and in 1996-99, as an Invited Expert at the W3C, he co-invented XML and XML Namespaces. Mr. Bray is the author of Bonnie, a file system benchmark widely used in the Linux community and Lark, the world's first conformant XML processor. In 1999 he founded Antarcti.ca Systems Inc. and is currently employed there. He also serves on the W3C Technical Architecture Group. 'We at Antarctica and our customers have been fortunate to work with Tim,' said Barry Yates, CEO at Antarctica Systems Inc. 'His significant past contributions to XML and search engines we believe will pale next to his vision for the next generation of the enterprise user interface. Our customers and the technology world at large will continue to benefit from Tim's work and we know that many more awards like this one today await Tim in the future. 'In a dynamic and changing marketplace, the IDEAlliance XML Conference and Exposition is becoming the premier XML event. With the key leaders in attendance, we are pleased to recognize the innovations in the industry', said David Steinhardt, President of IDEAlliance. 'Next year's XML Cup will be presented during the XML 2003 Conference, being held December 7-12, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We look forward to honoring another visionary at that time and to seeing what advancements are made in the upcoming year'...". See also: "First XML Cup Award Presented to Industry Pioneer James Clark. Recognized for Achievements and Work on the XML Standard."

  • [December 10, 2002] "WfMC Announces Release of Workflow Standard XML Process Definition Language (XPDL 1.0)." - "The Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) is pleased to announce the release of the Workflow Standard -- XML Process Definition Language -- XPDL 1.0. Together with other WfMC standards, XPDL provides a framework for implementing business process management and workflow engines, and for designing, analyzing, and exchanging business processes. XPDL is the culmination of a 15-month effort by multiple vendors and users to provide a standard that satisfies the needs of diverse organizations... Edited and coordinated on behalf of the WfMC by Mike Marin (FileNET), Roberta Norin (Terrace Software), and Robert Shapiro (Cape Visions), XPDL 1.0 offers the following features: (1) XPDL is based on the WfMC workflow reference model, a recognized workflow standard; (2) It includes application integration and resource specification; (3) XPDL is extendable, allowing the addition of elements and attributes as well as the import of datatypes and operations that are defined in other specifications; (4) It provides a natural fit with graphical representations of business processes; (5) It offers continuity with earlier versions of the specification... XPDL 1.0 uses the popular XML language to describe a business process. A process defined in XPDL (a set of XML statements) can be imported into any workflow engine that supports XPDL. The related objects and attributes (data associated with the process) are now also included in the XPDL process definition. The XPDL process definition can be generated by workflow modeling and simulation tools, or can be manually coded, or can be exported from another XPDL-compliant workflow engine..." See details in the 2002-12-10 news item: "Workflow Management Coalition Publishes XML Process Definition Language (XPDL) Version 1.0."

  • [December 10, 2002] "VeriSign Offers Open Source WS-Security Implementation and Integration Toolkit to Help Developers Integrate Security Into Web Services. Effort Continues VeriSign's Commitment to Driving Trusted Web Services With Royalty-Free Implementation." - "Furthering its commitment to trusted Web services, VeriSign, Inc., the leading provider of digital trust services, announced today the royalty free availability of technology that will allow companies to integrate digital signatures and encryption into Web services. Based on the recently announced WS-Security specification and Addendum, which was co-written by IBM, Microsoft and VeriSign, this implementation provides enterprises, software developers and systems integrators with code they can use to achieve higher levels of trust and security when designing Web services applications and services. Offering this code as open source is intended to accelerate widespread adoption of Web services by making them even easier to secure. In addition, VeriSign announced that it has made available a version of its VeriSign Trust Service Integration Kit (TSIK) with security features for Web services, such as XML Signature, XML Encryption, and XML Key Management Services (XKMS). VeriSign TSIK is a Java-based developer toolkit for integrating security capabilities into Web services. 'Companies simply will not implement Web services until the industry adequately addresses the issues of trust and security,' said Dr. Phillip Hallam-Baker, VeriSign's Principal Scientist and Web Services Security Architect. 'We are helping to address those critical issues by taking a leadership role in providing customers and developers with some extremely useful code that they can implement in their Web services applications today to alleviate those concerns'... VeriSign will provide an open source implementation of WS-Security through its open source libraries, providing resources for building interoperable, trusted Web services using the proposed WS-Security standard. The VeriSign libraries can be deployed to provide protocol support for both client and server applications. In a typical situation, a Web service will rely on these libraries to add secure messaging to whatever business logic the Web service supports. The Trust Service Integration Kit includes three basic components: the messaging framework, the trust layer and XML resources. (1) The messaging framework brings together various VeriSign Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to provide a robust environment for developing secure, trusted, interoperable Web services. The Java libraries enable developers to create Java objects for sending and receiving XML messages in conjunction with a customer Web service API. (2) The trust layer provides APIs for security XML messages using public key infrastructure (PKI), and includes implementations of two key specifications, W3C XML Digital Signature and XML Encryption. These implementations emphasize ease-of-use over feature coverage... The Trust Verifier provides several mechanisms, including real-time XML Key Management Specification (XKMS) lookups, for establishing whether a public key or certificate chain is trusted. (3) The API also includes low-level resources for directly manipulating XML, building data types, navigating through document structures, validating the format of schemas and interfacing with parsers..." See: (1) "Web Services Security Specification (WS-Security)."; (2) "XML Digital Signature (Signed XML - IETF/W3C)."; (3) "XML and Encryption."; (4) "XML Key Management Specification (XKMS)." Other references at XML Security.

  • [December 10, 2002] "HP Expands Web Services Alliance with Microsoft. HP Provides Additional Support for Microsoft .NET and XML Web Services Development. Joins Visual Studio .NET Integration Program." - "Continuing its leading role in the development of manageable XML Web services, HP today announced that it has joined the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Integration Program. Specifically, HP will build and integrate XML Web services developer tools and components into Visual Studio .NET, an industry-leading application development environment. As part of HP's overall strategy to increase the return on its customers' IT investments, the new offerings will be designed to enable developers to improve productivity, reduce development time, increase return on application and infrastructure investments, and deliver enhanced XML Web services applications on multiple platforms. HP's participation in the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Integration Program expands the global initiative the two companies launched in September to accelerate the next generation of computing with .NET and Web services. This initiative builds upon the companies' longstanding relationship, combining HP's expertise in IT infrastructure technology and services with Microsoft's .NET development capabilities. As the first technology partner to be endorsed by Microsoft Corp. as a "worldwide prime integrator" for Microsoft .NET technologies, HP provides technology and expertise that can significantly improve the developer experience across the development lifecycle of applications as far ranging as XML Web services, enterprise and service provider infrastructure technologies, applications and services, and printing and imaging... For HP, the future of XML Web services application development lies at the intersection of Java and .NET interoperability -- where HP is working to support developers by integrating value-added technologies in the development environments they prefer. Combined with HP's support for Java-based initiatives, this integration with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET provides developers with a rich management fabric, expediting the design, development, deployment and support of XML solutions based on HP technology and services... By providing a range of enterprise platform offerings, such as tooling support for high-end, continuous-availability HP NonStop servers, HP enables customers to consolidate many existing application development activities. HP NonStop server customers and partners can leverage the HP Enterprise Toolkit (ETK)-NonStop Edition within the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET integrated development environment to edit, compile, build and deploy mission-critical applications for HP NonStop servers written in a variety of programming languages..."

  • [December 10, 2002] "OASIS TC Call For Participation: Extensible Resource Identifier Technical Committee (XRI TC)." - [Excerpted from the proposal:] "Increasingly, there is a demand for distributed directory services that enable the identification of resources (including people and organizations) and the sharing of data across domains, enterprises, and applications. There are currently no transport- and application-neutral identification schemes to support this infrastructure. The purpose of this committee is to define a URI scheme and a corresponding URN namespace that meet these requirements. This TC will also define basic mechanisms for resolving the identifiers in these schemes and for exchanging data associated with these identifiers. This work will enable the creation of Web-like collections of resources (including, but not limited to, data, systems, services, organizations, and people) that extend the WWW's current generalized addressing and linking capabilities. The URI scheme will conform to RFC 2396. It will also accommodate human-readable names as a subset of the compliant identifiers. The TC will also produce an interoperable URN namespace specification compliant with RFC 2141 and guided by the requirements in RFC 1737 for resources that need the ability to be persistently identified and linked. The TC will also define an XML schema to associate metadata with resources and a service to manipulate this metadata and data associated with the resources. Specifically, this service will reflect the simple transactional nature of the WWW, i.e., it will use a small set of REST (Representational State Transfer) or CRUD-like operators on an infinitely extensible set of XRI-addressable resources. This data exchange service will provide a platform for integration with directory-related specifications such as LDAP, DSML, and SPML. This TC's work will be influenced by the general architecture described in XNS and specifically by the XNS Addressing Specification. The XNS specifications published by the XNS Public Trust Organization (XNSORG) will be contributed to the TC for consideration in the committee's work. XNS is licensed under RF terms..." General references in "Extensible Name Service (XNS)."

  • [December 10, 2002] "Intel Conducts $5 Billion in RosettaNet e-Business, Web Services. e-Business Technology Provides Productivity Gains and Faster Supply Chain Throughput." - At the Beijing Intel RosettaNet Interoperability Fest, Intel Corporation "announced that it has achieved a significant e-Business milestone and that the computing industry has progressed to the third phase of e-Business, business-to-business integration. The industry first focused on establishing individual companies' web presences and selling products online. Intel has processed more than 10 percent of its revenues and supplier purchases this year using RosettaNet e-Business technology standards. Intel has transacted more than $3 billion in customer orders and $2 billion in supplier purchases on RosettaNet this year, increasing the amount of business processed by almost seven times in one year... Introduced in 1998, RosettaNet is a standard that enables electronics industry companies to conduct e-Business more efficiently and provide greater supply chain visibility. The extensible markup language-based (XML) standard enables suppliers and customers to easily automate supply chain tasks like collaborative demand forecasting, order management, shipping and receiving logistics, invoicing and payments. 'RosettaNet-enabled e-Business is a practical and robust example of web services at work across the enterprise,' said Intel Chief Information Officer Sandra Morris. 'The underlying XML-based technology is invisible to the company or person using it, but it vastly improves a company's business processes. For example, as a result of deploying RosettaNet with one of our direct materials suppliers, Intel will achieve savings this year by eliminating the auto-faxing of purchase orders and has decreased order transaction time from 24 hours to less than one hour. This translates into significant increases in operational efficiencies when multiplied across our supply chain.' Morris was speaking at the launch of the Intel RosettaNet Interoperability Fest (IOF) in Beijing, where Intel will host a three-day testing session among 28 companies operating in China. The IOF event is designed to accelerate the adoption of RosettaNet standards between IT, semiconductor and electronic component B2B trading partners in China... Intel conducts more than 30,000 RosettaNet-based transactions per month with more than 90 customers and suppliers who are based in 17 countries. More than half of Intel's RosettaNet-enabled business was conducted with companies in Asia. Intel's RosettaNet efforts play an important role in Intel's mission to be a worldwide, 100 percent e-Corporation. This five-year effort began with Intel selling products online, ramping to more than $1 billion in online sales per month within the first year. Since then, Intel has expanded this initiative, and using Web-based resources is the core way Intel operates and conducts business with its customers, suppliers and employees worldwide. The company has achieved significant operational improvements and cost savings, including improvements in sales processes, employee productivity and inventory management..." See also "Accelerating RosettaNet Implementation: Key learning from the Intel RosettaNet Interoperability Fest" (November 2001). General references in "RosettaNet."

  • [December 10, 2002] "Systinet Announces New Release of Web Services Platform with Support for Latest Standards and Proven Interoperability with Microsoft .NET. Systinet WASP Web services platform for Java & C/C++ includes enhanced security and Active Directory support for Microsoft .NET endpoints." - "Systinet has "announced a new release of its Java and C/C++ based Web services product suite with support for the latest standards, enabling seamless interoperability and security with Microsoft .NET. The new Systinet WASP (Web Applications and Services Platform) Version 4.5 is a direct response to strong market acceptance of the Microsoft .NET Framework. Through support of the latest Web services standards and rigorous interoperability testing, Systinet can ensure interoperability with Web services built using Microsoft .NET. WASP 4.5 includes numerous standards-based features to ensure seamless interoperability with .NET and to leverage Windows servers as the underlying security provider for all Web services-based applications. (1) Standards Support and Testing for Proven .NET Interoperability: WASP 4.5 includes new and unique features that allow for seamless translation of complex data types, such as collections, between Java and .NET environments. These standards-based features and Systinet's extensive interoperability testing make it easy for Java applications to seamlessly interoperate with .NET applications. (2) Support for SOAP Attachments over DIME: WASP 4.5 adds support for DIME (Direct Internet Message Encapsulation), an emerging standard that streamlines the processing of binary attachments in Web services. (3) Integration with Microsoft Active Directory and Kerberos via Web services: WASP 4.5 now provides unique support for Microsoft Active Directory, which enables WASP to authenticate users against Microsoft Active Directory. In addition, WASP 4.5 supports Kerberos, an essential security feature of Windows 2000 and Windows .NET Servers. Using Active Directory's Kerberos technology, a successful user logon to Windows can be securely and seamlessly reused by WASP - eliminating the need for additional logon actions for Web services applications. Systinet provides Web services infrastructure software. Systinet's products make it easy for enterprises to build, deploy, secure and manage Web services. The Systinet WASP suite of products is based on industry-standards such as XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI. WASP products are available for Java and C/C++, interoperate seamlessly with other Web services implementations such as Microsoft .NET, and are portable across a wide variety of platforms and servers..."

  • [December 10, 2002] "VeriSign Announces General Availability of Online Consumer Identity Verification Service. XML-Based Web Service Enables Enterprises to Conduct Real-Time, Identity Verification for Risk Management and Fraud Prevention." - "VeriSign, Inc., the leading provider of digital trust services, today announced general availability of its Consumer Authentication Service (CAS), the industry's first standard Web service for online identity verification and management. VeriSign's CAS provides e-businesses with automated, real-time, 24x7 access to multiple sources of consumer data as well as optimized scoring models that will enable enterprises to quickly and easily determine whether a potential buyer is who they claim to be. Verifying the identity of customers before beginning an online business relationship is critical for any e-business. According to the Federal Trade Commission, 42 percent of all consumer complaints in 2001 involved identity theft. And the risk of exposure to ID theft for companies increased 80 percent between 2000 and 2001. Some studies reveal that one out of every 50 consumers has suffered identity theft. VeriSign's CAS addresses these issues by offering customers, including eBay, Inc., a fully managed identity verification and management service that can be implemented quickly, seamlessly and cost-effectively into any legacy environment... CAS uses a predefined set of XML standards to connect to an enterprise's customer-facing Web application. The authentication data entered by the consumer is automatically routed using XML and encryption through VeriSign's services and checked against a wide variety of best of breed data sources to cross-verify and risk-rank consumer identity in real time. Verification of identity is then automatically communicated back to the enterprise application and to the consumer using underlying XML data. The communication between the enterprise, VeriSign and the data sources is secured with SSL encryption that already is built into standard Web servers and browsers..."

  • [December 09, 2002] "Design Science Announces MathFlow for Arbortext, Supports MathML 2.0 Markup. Supports Creating, Editing, Publishing of MathML-Based Equations Within Arbortext Products." - "Design Science, Inc., the developers of the Equation Editor in Microsoft Office, MathType, WebEQ and MathPlayer, today announced that its MathFlow for Arbortext software will be demonstrated in booth #537 at the XML Conference 2002, December 10-12 in Baltimore, Maryland. MathFlow for Arbortext provides organizations with a WYSIWYG environment where users can import, edit, maintain and publish MathML-based equations to multiple types of media, including print, PDF, HTML and HTML Help. MathML is the XML-based language for encoding mathematics developed by the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Math Working Group. MathML is quickly becoming the mathematical representation of choice for the scientific, engineering, pharmaceutical and aerospace industries, as well as the education community, and STM publishers (Science/Technical/Medical)... Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Long Beach, California, Design Science, Inc., develops software used by scientists, engineers and educators, including MathType, Equation Editor in Microsoft Office, WebEQ, MathPlayer, TeXaide and MathFlow for Arbortext, to communicate on the web and in print. Design Science has played a leading role in developing MathML and continues to be actively involved in the W3C Math Working Group...Arbortext is the only global provider of XML-based multichannel software that enables the creation, editing and publishing of information to multiple media types -- web, print, CD-ROM, wireless -- from a single source of content. Shipping since 1991, Arbortext's standards-based software supports technical publishing, reference publishing and business publishing applications that enable enterprises to provide more accurate, cost-efficient, complete, timely, consistent and usable information on all media..." See: "Mathematical Markup Language (MathML)."

  • [December 09, 2002] "OASIS Members Form Tax XML Technical Committee." - "Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, Inland Revenue of the United Kingdom, United States Internal Revenue Service, IBM, Oracle, Republica, SAP, Software AG, Vertex, and other OASIS Members Collaborate on Tax Information Exchange Standard. Members of the OASIS interoperability consortium have formed a technical committee to advance an open, international standard for the exchange of tax-related information. The new OASIS Tax XML Technical Committee brings together representatives from government agencies in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States, as well as global businesses and financial institutions, to develop a common vocabulary that will allow tax reporting and compliance information to be unambiguously identified and exchanged. 'Everyone stands to gain from Tax XML,' stated Gregory Carson of the United States Internal Revenue Service, chair of the OASIS Tax XML Technical Committee. 'Software vendors and tax agencies will no longer need to maintain jurisdictionally specific applications and interchange standards. CRM, payroll, and financial developers will be able to reduce their system integration costs. Even taxpayers will benefit from the increased services that will be made possible by more flexible Tax XML interchange formats.' The products of Tax XML will include a vocabulary of terms, a repository of artifacts including XML templates, documents exchanged for tax compliance, best practices, guidelines and recommendations for practical implementation. The OASIS Tax XML participants will evaluate and build their new specification on existing XML standards for business information, including the Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) and others. Participation in the OASIS Tax XML Technical Committee remains open to all organizations and individuals. OASIS will host an open mail list for public comment, and completed work will be freely available to the public without licensing or other fees. Information on joining OASIS can be found on the OASIS website. The first meeting of the OASIS Tax XML Technical Committee will be held at the IDEAlliance XML 2002 Conference in Baltimore on 12 December 2002..." See other details in: (1) "OASIS Members Form Tax XML Technical Committee"; (2) "XML Markup Languages for Tax Information."

  • [December 09, 2002] "Microsoft Empowers Developers to Build Smart Business Solutions With 'Office 11'. Developers Gain Enhanced XML Support and New 'Visual Studio Tools for Office'." - "Microsoft Corp. today announced a new set of technologies designed to enable developers to build business solutions based on the next version of Microsoft Office, code-named Office 11. Among the technologies is a new set of tools, code-named Visual Studio Tools for Office, which enable Visual Studio .NET developers to use Microsoft's premier professional application development tool to build solutions based on Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel documents, as well as several new XML development experiences. In addition, Microsoft will continue to support Visual Basic for Applications... Developers will have complete access to all the features of Visual Studio .NET 2003, including the powerful editor and debugging environment to write code that is robust, maintainable and less prone to errors. Developers also will benefit from easy-to-use designers for creating user interfaces, working with data and XML, and building server-side code and components. Built-in security features of the .NET Framework offer developers and network administrators greater control and flexibility to allow only trusted code to run in Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. The no-touch deployment feature of the .NET Framework also makes it easier for developers to deploy and maintain code running on servers or end-user systems... In October, Microsoft unveiled the first beta release of Office 11, which features enhanced support for XML, including improved object model programmability, the ability to use XML schemas, built-in support for XML Web services and a new smart document solution model... Word and Excel templates can be designed with an underlying customer-defined XML structure, based on corporate, departmental or industrywide schemas, enabling developers to build a document-based application with context-specific help and supporting information. This ensures that end users can enter and view valid data without having to understand or work directly with XML. Integrated support for XML Web services in Office 11, along with support for Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) and XPath, helps developers leverage their existing Office and Web development skills to build solutions that bring XML Web services data into the Office environment, enabling them to create new and more-productive user experiences. Companies can take advantage of industry-leading technologies that yield a competitive advantage through improved use of corporate information at the desktop. Other features of Office 11, such as smart documents and smart tags, ensure that applications will be built with rich user interfaces. Smart documents facilitate the creation of XML-based applications that provide end users with contextual data, help content and workflow, enhancing productivity by presenting information through a programmable task pane when a user needs it. Custom smart tags have been improved in Office 11 to better streamline cumbersome tasks for users, such as reviewing data from a back-end system, by providing content-specific actions or dynamically modifying a document's content. These advancements enable developers using Office 11 to build entirely new solutions or enhance existing solutions to take advantage of rich user interfaces..." See: "Microsoft Office 11 and XDocs."

  • [December 03, 2002] "IBM Advances Pervasive Computing Strategy With New Software. Voice Portal Technology and Tools Extend IBM Momentum With Device Manufacturers, Service Providers and Enterprises." - "Building on a continuing wave of pervasive computing customer deployments and industry alliances, IBM today announced new software products and tools that make it easier for developers to build and manage voice portals -- as well as extend enterprise applications, such as mobile databases, to new devices. Today's announcement underscores IBM's ongoing commitment to help customers extend computing to new devices using an infrastructure built on a foundation of open, integrated and scalable technologies. IBM has built momentum helping enterprises extend capabilities to their mobile workforce, assisting service providers find new ways to decrease costs and increase revenue streams, and enabling device manufacturers to provide intelligent access to the enterprise. 'Pervasive computing plays a significant role in the on-demand era,' said Rodney Adkins, General Manager, IBM Pervasive Computing Division. 'Over the past year, we've been aggressively laying the foundation that gives people the flexibility to access and interact with information when they want it, where they want it and how they want it. Today's announcement adds to what is quickly becoming an extensive portfolio of technology, hardware, software and services that span the pervasive computing ecosystem.' Adding to its portfolio, IBM unveiled the new WebSphere Voice Application Access product: middleware that simplifies building and managing voice portals and more easily extends web-based portals to voice. Leveraging the scalability, personalization and authentication features of IBM's WebSphere Portal, it enables mobile workers to more easily access information from multiple voice applications -- using a single telephone number. This new offering includes IBM's WebSphere Voice Server as well as ready-to-use email, personal information management (PIM) functions, and sample portlets. It also supports VoiceXML and Java -- including development tools based on Eclipse, the open-source, vendor-neutral platform for writing software -- and uses open-standard programming languages to create voice-enabled applications that will interoperate with a range of web servers and databases. In keeping with IBM's strategy to provide solutions across multiple platforms, IBM will be working to make WebSphere Voice Application Access interoperable with offerings from third party VoiceXML vendors, such as Nuance and Cisco. In addition, IBM is also working with independent solutions vendors including V-Enable, Voxsurf and Viecore to extend their current solutions..." For a beta version of the WebSphere Voice Application Access product, see alphaWorks Voice Portal.

  • [December 03, 2002] "Extended Systems' SyncML SDK Compliant with New SyncML Standard. Company Returns From SyncFest 9 With v1.1.1 Certification." - "Extended Systems, a leading provider of mobile information management solutions for the enterprise, today announced that the company's SyncML software development kit, which enables mobile device manufacturers to implement the SyncML client protocol into a wide range of devices including smart phones, cell phones and PDAs, has undergone SyncML Interoperability testing and is now certified compliant with SyncML v1.1.1. Extended Systems' XTNDAccess SyncML SDK underwent the rigorous SyncML Interoperability testing at SyncFest 9 in Sophia Antipolis, France. In addition to being compliant with v1.1.1, noted features of the software kit include portable source code, easy-to-use APIs and comprehensive, easy-to-follow documentation, all of which allow developers to reduce development costs and shorten time-to-market. Specifically designed for embedded client devices, Extended Systems' SyncML SDK also features small code size (less than 40k ROM) optimized for memory limited devices and includes support for large objects, allowing developers to use a smaller message buffer resulting in saved RAM space on the device. Extended Systems Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Don Baumgartner said maintaining SyncML compliance is an important initiative for Extended Systems because the standard, and the interoperability and testing processes that drive it, enable device manufacturers to accelerate the introduction of SyncML compliant products by dramatically increasing the number of data capable products in the market. 'In addition,' he said, 'our unique relationships with leading device manufacturers and standards organizations allow us to bring a greater level of knowledge and expertise to enterprise customers.' SyncML is the common language for synchronizing all devices and applications over any network. SyncML leverages Extensible Markup Language (XML), making SyncML a truly future-proof platform. With SyncML, networked information can be synchronized with any mobile device, and mobile information can be synchronized with any networked applications. With SyncML any personal information, such as email, calendars, to-do lists, contact information and other relevant data, will be consistent, accessible and up to date, no matter where the information is stored." According to a recent OMA announcement, "Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) has finalized the integration of the Location Interoperability Forum (LIF), the MMS Interoperability Group (MMS-IOP), the SyncML Initiative, and the Wireless Village Initiative." See "The SyncML Initiative" and the list of SyncML compliant products.

  • [December 03, 2002] "OMG Announces Integrate 2003. January 28-29 in Burlingame, CA, USA." - "The Object Management Group (OMG) announces Integrate 2003, an event that will focus on the business and technical aspects of application integration using many different infrastructure standards -- OMG's own and other key industry standards including Web Services, XML/SOAP, C#/.Net, Java, CORBA, and more. Sponsored by Rational Software's Power Pack Program, Integrate 2003 is the second event in a new series from OMG and will be held January 28 - 29, 2003 in Burlingame, CA. Attendees will learn how to maximize ROI from integration projects, hear about the latest integration tools and techniques -- what works and what doesn't -- and listen to first-hand accounts of what it takes to steer enterprise integration strategy in the right direction for smart, profitable results. Integrate 2003 targets senior level technical managers who address business and technical issues concerning application integration. A sampling of sessions includes: XML Web Services as an Information Architecture by Alan Nugent, Novell Corporation; Data Integration Issues for the Large Enterprise by Michael Lang, Metamatrix; Enterprise Integration for the 21st Century by Petter Graff, Inferdata Corporation; and a CIO Roundtable discussion. Integrate 2003 will be jointly located with the Burlingame OMG Technical Meeting... With well-established standards covering software from design and development, through deployment and maintenance, and extending to evolution to future platforms, the Object Management Group (OMG) supports a full-lifecycle approach to enterprise integration which maximizes ROI, the key to successful IT. Based on the Model Driven Architecture (MDA), OMG's standards cover multiple operating systems, programming languages, middleware and networking infrastructures, and software development environments. OMG's Modeling standards, the basis for the MDA, include the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and Common Warehouse Metamodel (CWM). CORBA, the Common Object Request Broker Architecture, is OMG's standard open platform with hundreds of millions of deployments running today. OMG's well-established CORBAservices and industry-specific standards are being re-issued under the MDA in many popular middleware environments. OMG domain (industry-specific) standards cover vertical markets including healthcare, telecommunications, biotechnology, transportation and a dozen other areas. The OMG is headquartered in Needham, MA, USA, with a U.S. government representative in Washington, DC, and international marketing offices in Japan, the UK, and Germany." See also OMG Integrate 2003 in the events calendar.

  • [December 02, 2002] "Adobe Ships Server Products to Automate Document Processes in the Enterprise. Based on Adobe Acrobat and Adobe PDF, New Server Products Enable Organizations to Reduce Document Production Costs." - "Adobe Systems Incorporated, leader in network publishing, today announced the immediate availability of its new server products designed to fully automate document and forms processes that companies rely on to run their businesses. Adobe Document Server and Adobe Document Server for Reader Extensions enable companies to integrate enterprise applications with document workflows throughout an organization, improving document generation, collaboration and process management across the enterprise... Adobe Document Server and Document Server for Reader Extensions utilize Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) technologies to address the growing need for global enterprises and government agencies to extend their business processes. The server products, combined with nearly half-a-billion copies of the free Acrobat Reader distributed by Adobe, give companies a platform to collaborate with their customers and partners via secured documents in on-line and off-line environments. Adobe Document Server lets customers dynamically assemble customized Adobe PDF files from a variety of data sources to create documents such as technical manuals, electronic forms, contracts, business reports and invoices. The software enables enterprises to tap into existing ERP, CRM and CMS systems, document management systems, and industry-standard databases to instantly generate custom one-to-one business communications in PDF. Adobe Document Server also accepts XML commands, and supports Extensible Style Language Formatting Objects (XSL-FO), an industry standard for describing how an XML document should be formatted for a variety of media. Adobe Document Server for Reader Extensions offers businesses and government agencies the ability to assign usage rights to Adobe PDF documents and forms. Once these rights have been assigned, users of the free Adobe Acrobat Reader version 5.1 software will be able to save, fill and route PDF forms, add electronic sticky notes for comments or questions, and digitally sign completed forms. These features were previously available only with the full Adobe Acrobat 5.0 software. Companies and government agencies can then easily integrate completed Adobe PDF forms and data in XML with back-end systems for round-trip transactional workflows... Adobe server products are available direct from Adobe, through Adobe-authorized corporate licensing centers and authorized VARs and System Integrators... Acrobat Reader 5.1 is available free-of-charge in English for Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 5 or 6, Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional and Home, and Mac OS 9.1 and 10.1..." See "Enhanced Adobe Document Servers Support XML-Based Workflow and Digital Signature Facilities."

  • [December 02, 2002] "ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement Ratified as OASIS Open Standard. New Version of OASIS UN/CEFACT Work Enables E-Business Collaboration." - "The OASIS interoperability consortium today announced that its members have approved the ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement (CPPA) v2.0 as an OASIS Open Standard, a status that signifies the highest level of ratification. ebXML CPPA defines business partners' technical capabilities and documents agreements between partners, enabling organizations to securely engage in electronic business collaboration... 'ebXML CPPA ensures interoperability between two parties, even organizations that use software from different sources. The CPP defines a party's message-exchange capabilities and the business collaborations that it supports. The CPA defines the way two business parties will interact in performing the chosen business collaborations,' explained Dale Moberg of Cyclone Commerce, chair of the OASIS ebXML CPPA Technical Committee. 'The OASIS Open Standard also facilitates the migration of both traditional EDI-based applications and other legacy applications to ebXML-based platforms.' ebXML CPPA was developed by Commerce One, Cyclone Commerce, E2open, Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM, Intel, IONA, Mercator, SAP, SeeBeyond, Sterling Commerce, Sun Microsystems, Sybase, TIBCO, Vitria, webMethods, and other members of the OASIS ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement Technical Committee... In related news, the ebXML OASIS UN/CEFACT Joint Marketing Team published version 1.0 of the ebXML Adoption Update, a listing of ebXML implementations, projects, products, and industry initiatives from around the world..." See: (1) OASIS ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement TC; (2) "The Significance of CPPA v2," by Jon Bosak; (3) "Electronic Business XML Initiative (ebXML)."

  • [November 27, 2002] "New Data Modeling Technology Speeds Integration Projects Across and Beyond the Enterprise. Contivo's EIM Solution Extends Reach to Legacy and Web Services Integration." - "Contivo, Inc., leading provider of automated data integration, today announced the release of the Contivo Enterprise Integration Modeling (EIM) Solution 3.7 to help enterprises manage data integration more quickly and effectively. The Contivo EIM Solution 3.7 features enhanced capabilities to model and integrate data across and beyond the enterprise by supporting legacy systems, packaged applications, industry standards, and open standards such as Web services... Contivo EIM Solution 3.7 features include: (1) Contivo Legacy Integrator: A standalone Java utility that is seamlessly integrated into the Contivo EIM Solution that supports flat file to XML and XML to flat file processing and transformation. Supported flat file structures include COBOL Copybooks, EDI files, SAP IDoc files, delimited (CSV) and fixed-length record files. (2) Schema Namespace Editor: Enables users to edit and preserve the XML Schema namespace prefix within the target document of transformations, a necessary feature to support XML transformation for business processing. (3) In-Line Comments for Mapping Rules: A new command in the Contivo Analyst Mapping Studio allows users to include comments when defining mapping rules, enabling teams to retain valuable contextual information in the body of the transformation code. (4) New Map Simulation: Provides an integrated design, test and debug environment with the ability to simulate transformations, trace rules and variables for "debugging" and view input and output test data. This function supports testing either XSLT or Java transformations and ensures that maps are accurate and will work inside the runtime environment as expected prior to deployment. (5) Contivo Enterprise Vocabulary Manager: Offers tools and reports to assist in managing and maintaining a semantic vocabulary and its relationships to the modeled interfaces. Available reports include semantic concept usage reports and a fit-gap analysis capability to assist in defining and maintain canonical data models. (6) Java Transformation for BEA WebLogic Integration: Enables users to generate Java transform code based on maps defined within the Contivo Analyst that can be deployed and invoked from within BEA WebLogic Integration..."

  • [November 27, 2002] "Proposed XML-based Standard to Allow Journals and Publishers to Exchange. In-Process Manuscripts Between Different Online Submission and Tracking Systems." - "Aries Systems Corporation today announced the launch of an initiative to formulate a publishing industry standard that would allow the exchange of scientific manuscripts between differing online manuscript tracking systems. In the past two years, Scientific, Technical and Medical (STM) journals have identified that the Internet provides an excellent medium for the submission and tracking of scientific manuscripts. While some large societies have developed in-house systems, many journals have also adopted solutions sold by commercial vendors. Aries' proposed XML-based 'Submission and Manuscript eXchange Format' (SMXF) would provide a system-neutral standard for the exchange of manuscript metadata and content. The broad adoption of such a standard would provide key benefits to STM publishers. For example, a journal would be able to download SMXF data from one conforming system, and upload it into another -- thereby ensuring continuity of service and data security. The SMXF standard could also be used to build functionality, enabling cooperating journals to 'share' in-process manuscripts even if they use systems from different vendors. Richard Wynne, the VP of Sales and Marketing at Aries Systems Corporation commented: 'This marketplace will undergo numerous technical and business changes during the next few years. Journals are justifiably concerned about locking their data into incompatible proprietary systems. An open standard like SMXF is the only real way to address fundamental concerns about continuity of service, as well as providing an exciting platform for cooperation between journals. We are committed to making our Editorial Manager system SMXF compatible.' It is anticipated that the SMXF standard would build on top of existing XML initiatives such as PRISM and the Dublin Core, by making additional provisions for in-process manuscript data such as reviewer commentary, status terms and editor decision letters..." See the 2002-11-27 news item "Aries Systems Proposes Submission and Manuscript Exchange Format (SMXF) for STM Publishing."

  • [November 26, 2002] "Vendors to Unveil New Solutions at XML Conference and Exposition 2002. More Than 50 Vendors to Showcase Offerings and Present Latest Innovations." - "The industry's top providers of software, systems and solutions will showcase their latest innovations this December at XML 2002, the world's leading XML conference and exposition. This year's lineup of XML notables includes sponsors Corel and Microsoft, co-sponsor Adobe Systems, as well as Arbortext, Documentum, empolis, Exegenix, Veridocs, XyEnterprise, and many others. Many participating companies will also deliver technical presentations throughout the event in the Vendor Track portion of the conference program. XML Conference and Exposition 2002, produced by IDEAlliance, will take place Sun., Dec. 8, through Fri., Dec. 13, at the Baltimore Convention Center, in Baltimore, MD. The XML 2002 exposition will take place December 10 through 12, 2002. 'This year's exposition features several companies that are new to the XML Conference, as well as some that have returned after a few years' absence,' said Marion Elledge, Senior VP at IDEAlliance. 'This shows a positive turn in the IT industry and that XML continues to grow and play a vital part in meeting today's business challenges.' Featured once again on this year's Expo floor is the cutting-edge Incubator Area, which showcases pre-released commercial tools, free tools, and shareware tools. Users will have the opportunity to preview future products and free tools, while developers capture their feedback. By providing this venue, IDEAlliance is helping to nurture the XML tools of tomorrow. 'Many of the key players in XML will be represented at the conference, talking about and showing the latest XML solutions,' says Lauren Wood, Chair of the Conference. 'Attendees will be able to see and evaluate the new tools and services, speak to senior architects and designers, and find out what the pieces are that they need to put together to solve their business needs'..." See "XML Conference and Exposition 2002" in the events calendar.

  • [November 25, 2002] "Core Integration Automates Data Warehouse Construction. Firm's Suite of Rapid Deployment Solutions Can Cut Development Time up to 70 Percent." - "Core Integration Partners, Inc., a leading provider of business intelligence and data integration services, today introduced its rapid deployment suite of solutions: RapidMAP and RapidMODEL. These 'Wizards' automate the building of baseline data flow diagrams and data models, tedious processes in the construction of a data warehouse that previously could be done only by hand. By using these solutions, Core Integration estimates it can shave up to 70 percent or more off development times. 'The savings in time and money related to design and implementation are quite significant,' said Daniel Linstedt, chief technology officer of Core Integration, who developed the automated processes, or 'Wizards.' These rapid deployment solutions allow developers to produce in a matter of minutes what takes from days to even months to do manually. RapidMAP helps developers automatically create basic source-to-target mappings that can be integrated into Informatica's PowerMart and PowerCenter data integration platforms. Once source systems are identified, RapidMAP will generate XML that contains mapping information for all identified source-to-target relationships. At a recent web seminar, Core Integration demonstrated that RapidMAP can create 1,100 Informatica mappings in approximately three minutes. It would normally take around two weeks to produce the same results manually. 'About 60 percent of a data warehouse project is spent doing the ETL (extraction, transfer and load) portion,' said Linstedt. 'By using RapidMAP, we have shortened this piece dramatically so we can spend more time doing business analyses and other, more important, project functions.' RapidMODEL can be automatically applied in stage area modeling, data warehouses and data marts. And, when new modeling efforts are required, the same, consistent, repeatable process can be utilized... RapidMAP and RapidMODEL are compliant with several major software products that utilize XML to define process flows, including Informatica, the most widely used tool in ETL, Oracle, and MSSQLServer that read XML database schemas..."

  • [November 21, 2002] "Hyperion, Microsoft and SAS Release New Specification of XML for Analysis. New Specification and New XMLA Advisory Council Members Help Drive XMLA as an Industry Standard." - "Hyperion, Microsoft Corp., and SAS today announced a new release of the XML for Analysis (XMLA) specification. XML for Analysis Specification Version 1.1 provides an updated specification and API standard for vendors to access multidimensional databases as a Web service. It is the first version of the XMLA specification to be created in conjunction with members of the XMLA Advisory Council, a standards group that was formed after Hyperion and Microsoft released XML for Analysis Specification Version 1.0 in 2001. XML for Analysis Specification Version 1.1 is available for Web download... In addition to the new release of the XMLA specification, the XMLA Advisory Council announced that it has added seven new members. The new council members -- Crystal Decisions, INEA, MIS AG, MJM Consultant Corp., Panorama Software Systems, SAP AG and Silvon Software, Inc.-- bring additional analytics expertise to the group. The new council members join a growing group of industry leaders that have previously announced their support for XMLA. The primary drivers of the XMLA specification include Hyperion, Microsoft and SAS. XMLA Council members also include Alphablox, ANGOSS Software Corp., Applied OLAP, Applix, Inc., Aspirity, ArcPlan, Inc., Brio Software, Business Objects, Cognos, Comshare Inc., DSS Lab, Inc., Lawson Software, MicroStrategy, ProClarity, Inc., Simba Technologies, SPSS Inc.,Temtec and Vigilance, Inc. The XML for Analysis (XMLA) advisory council is made up of a number of leading business intelligence software vendors that have announced their support and backing of XMLA, a set of XML message interfaces that use the industry standard Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) to define data access interaction between a client application and an analytical data provider working over the Internet. The council has jointly published an XMLA specification that allows corporate developers, third party tool vendors and other partners to query analytical data providers in a standard way. The new standard is expected to accelerate the adoption of Internet business intelligence software and increase the market for those technologies..." See: (1) the 2002-11-21 news item: "XMLA Advisory Council Announces XML for Analysis Specification Version 1.1"; (2) general references in "XML for Analysis."

  • [November 21, 2002] "TextCafe Version 3.0 Now Supports SVG. Generates Scalable Vector Graphics, Enhanced Navigation XML, Document Indexes." - "Texterity, Inc., a leading provider of electronic publishing services, today announced TextCafe Version 3.0, providing conversion of PDF into SVG pages, XML-based table of contents, and XML document search indexes. SVG provides customers with an XML-based representation of pages that appear identical to the original printed page. TextCafe already provides automated, volume conversion for materials that need traditional XML and Open eBook (OEB) format. With TextCafe 3.0, publishers can now easily publish on-line and off-line versions of materials using standard web browsers for Windows, Macintosh and other platforms. TextCafe 3.0 provides the following key features: (1) Automatic conversion from PDF to SVG pages, page-based word lists for indexed searches, and structural Table of Contents in XML format; (2) Ability to view SVG pages within any HTML page, using the Adobe SVG Viewer for either web-based (connected) or standalone (offline) use; (3) Full support for embedded fonts, including ability to create SVG standard font drawing instructions or Adobe Compact Embedded Fonts (CEF); (4) utomatic extraction and optimization of all raster and bitmap images into standard PNG or JPEG formats; (5) Translation of line-drawing and vector images into SVG vector formats; (6) Matching between reflowable XML/OEB output, word indexes and SVG pages, enabling word highlighting and relevancy searching... The full suite of TextCafe 3.0 SVG services include: (1) Conversion: generation of SVG pages, image extraction, search indexes, and XML table of contents from PDF input; (1) Enhancement: automatic generation of links into SVG pages based on part numbers, key words, or structural elements; metadata extraction, linking and highlighting; and deep XML TOC level creation; (3) Hosting: website development, integration, custom look-and-feel documents, links to existing site locations, and authenticated access; (4) Custom: website integration, development, and graphical user interface design for "custom skins" for on-line or off-line electronic books... Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an XML-based language for Web graphics developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). TextCafe 3.0 is supported by the Adobe SVG Viewer 3.0, which supports Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers. In addition, TextCafe 3.0 SVG is compatible with the new Adobe Graphics Server 2.0, enabling flexible deployment of SVG to any web browser without a plug-in. Founded in 1991, Texterity is a leading provider of electronic publishing services enabling fast, cost-effective automated transformation of published pages into multiple electronic formats. Texterity's electronic publishing solutions include web catalog development, repurposing content and distribution of electronic files to multiple electronic retail channels. Texterity manages the electronic publishing life cycle, including automated conversion and distribution of existing content into XML, SVG, HTML, e-book, wireless, and print..." See: "W3C Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)."

  • [November 20, 2002] "OASIS Members Collaborate to Advance Open XML Format for Office Applications. Arbortext, Boeing, Corel, Drake Certivo, Sun Microsystems, and Others Develop Open Office Standard at Global Consortium." - "Members of the OASIS standards consortium have formed a technical committee to advance an open, XML-based file format specification for office applications. The new OASIS Open Office XML Format Technical Committee brings together representatives throughout the industry committed to establishing standard data interoperability for office applications. Their work will be suitable for documents containing text, spreadsheets, charts, and graphs and will retain high-level information for editing. Although the initial work of the technical committee will focus on standardizing data for content creation and management applications, subsequent phases will address simplifying the exchange of data between any application that utilizes XML, which may include business processes, Web services, databases, search engines, and other applications. 'Our goal is to achieve consensus on an open standard that will protect content -- whether it is a 800-page airplane specification or a legal contract -- from being locked into a proprietary file format,' explained Michael Brauer of Sun Microsystems, chair of the OASIS Open Office XML Format Technical Committee. 'A standard method for processing and interchanging office documents will enable companies to own their data and freely choose tools to view and edit information long after originating applications have come and gone.' Sun Microsystems intends to contribute the XML file format specification utilized in the OpenOffice.org 1.0 project to the new OASIS Technical Committee under reciprocal Royalty Free terms. OpenOffice.org is an Open Source full-featured office productivity suite that works transparently with a variety of file formats to enable users of varying office suites to exchange documents freely with one another..." See details in: (1) the 2002-11-04 news item "OASIS Technical Committee for Open Office XML File Format"; (2) "XML File Formats for Office Documents."

  • [November 19, 2002] "Open Mobile Alliance Announces New Specifications, OMA Release Program, and Additional Industry Forum Consolidation." - "The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), committed to driving open standards and interoperable mobile services across the world, today introduced the OMA Release Program including new technical specifications. Additionally, OMA announced the completed consolidation of key industry forums. The OMA specifications will follow the OMA Release Program. Through the program, OMA facilitates and accelerates the creation of mobile services that comply with open specifications and operate across a wide range of networks, countries, and mobile devices. The program requires thorough interoperability testing to ensure that products and services work together seamlessly -- a prerequisite for success in the global mobile services market. The OMA Release Program initially includes seven new enablers, comprised of specifications that are the building blocks for mobile services worldwide. These enablers are mobile browsing, Multimedia Messaging (MMS), Digital Rights Management (DRM), Domain Name Server (DNS) lookup via mobile devices, mobile content download, e-mail push notification, and user/device profiles. The industry can incorporate these enablers into their product road maps and plan for interoperability testing. Additionally, OMA introduced the Instant Messaging and Presence Services (IMPS) enabler. This enabler has already successfully passed interoperability tests with several implementations... OMA has finalized the integration of the Location Interoperability Forum (LIF), the MMS Interoperability Group (MMS-IOP), the SyncML Initiative and the Wireless Village Initiative. Mobile standardization efforts continue to integrate into OMA. The Mobile Wireless Internet Forum (MWIF) and the Mobile Games Interoperability Forum (MGIF) have announced intention to integrate into OMA. Both initiatives are committed to driving global standards that improve interoperability of mobile technologies..." See: (1) "The SyncML Initiative"; (2) "WAP Wireless Markup Language Specification (WML)."

  • [November 19, 2002] "Liberty Alliance Releases Version 1.1 Specification Draft for Public Review. Version 1.1 Draft Provides Maintenance Updates to Existing 1.0 Specifications." - "The Liberty Alliance Project, a business and technology consortium formed to develop open specifications for federated network identity, today released for public review a draft of the version 1.1 specifications, a maintenance update to the version 1.0 specifications released in July. Version 1.1 includes editorial changes that clarify the version 1.0 specifications, as well as fixes and minor enhancements. The update is the result of feedback that the Liberty Alliance has received from members and non-members during the last three months. The version 1.1 document is the first to be issued by the Liberty Alliance for public input, prior to final approval. 'The Liberty Alliance is striving to address the requirements of a wide range of businesses and industries, and as part of this effort we are encouraging non-members as well as members to provide feedback regarding the version 1.1 specifications, which are works-in-progress,' said Simon Nicholson, chairman of the Liberty Alliance Technology Expert Group. 'Because so many organizations are involved in the work of the Alliance, we have a unique opportunity to understand the business issues companies want to solve and the end-user benefits they want our specifications to provide.' The majority of the updates in the version 1.1 specifications are focused on reducing barriers for implementers, by improving flexibility and clarifying some ambiguities in the version 1.0 specifications... The Liberty Alliance is taking a phased approach to the release of its specifications and anticipates that the next major release of specifications, version 2.0, will be issued in 2003. Version 2.0, which will build upon version 1.1, will provide an infrastructure for developing and supporting identity-enabled Web services from companies, organizations or government entities. The infrastructure will include a framework for permissions-based attribute sharing and will allow groups of organizations, often referred to as 'circles of trust' or authentication domains, to be linked together, as opposed to operating as separate islands..." See details in the 2002-11-19 news item: "Liberty Alliance Releases Draft Version 1.1 Specifications for Public Review"

  • [November 19, 2002] "Mindreef Announces Availability of SOAPscope Personal 1.0 at SD East. Industry's First Web Services Diagnostics System Helps Solve Common Web Services Problems." - "Mindreef, LLC announced today at SD East the availability of Mindreef SOAPscope Personal 1.0, the first offering in the company's flagship product family and the industry's first Web Services Diagnostics System. This emerging category of products addresses the challenges of isolating and solving problems of applications built with Web Services. SOAPscope Personal 1.0 is an easy-to-use, platform-independent diagnostics aid for developers, testers and application support technicians. It provides a scalable logger and intelligent viewer for SOAP-based Web services, enabling users to quickly track and troubleshoot problems such as errant data, performance issues and interoperability issues... Debugging XML Web services is different than debugging other types of applications, even classic distributed systems. When components are running on disparate systems spread across departmental or corporate boundaries, even simple problems can be very difficult to isolate. Web services are driving the need for deeper, more specialized tools that focus on the connections between loosely coupled components rather than the code in the components... SOAPscope Personal stores the log in an embedded relational database. This gives users greater flexibility when slicing, dicing and filtering to quickly locate the target messages. By embedding the database Mindreef has made installation and administration simple... SOAPscope Personal offers two ways to hook into the SOAP stream for logging. Sniffer mode allows for quick and easy start-up without any code modification. For finer grained data collecting or for situations where users don't have access to a sniffable network entry point, SOAPscope Personal also supports proxy mode... A Pseudocode View simplifies the interpretation of XML in a SOAP packet or a WSDL file. It can reduce pages of tedious, complex XML to a few lines of pseudocode. Most of the time, viewing raw XML gets in the way. At other times, users need to see the raw XML to find a subtle problem. SOAPscope Personal provides both views... With Modify/Resend users can quickly try new values and re-send the SOAP packet to the service without leaving SOAPscope. Modify/Resend also allows for ad hoc testing of boundary and error conditions. And since the endpoint can be modified, it can be used to quickly test a service that has just been updated... SOAPscope's Debugging Annotations feature puts debug output statements in the log, providing message context and eliminating the need to identify what client or thread was active when the debug statement was output..." General references in "Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)."

  • [November 19, 2002] "FpML.org Founder Announces World's First FpML Tools Community. Gem Soup Launches Collaborative Software Development for OTC Derivatives." - "Brian Lynn, a driving force behind the creation of FpML.org and formerly VP of eTrading Systems at JPMorgan Chase and Co., announced today the formation of Gem Soup LLC, the world's first organization devoted to collaborative development of software tools supporting FpML communications between firms. From 1999 until this month Mr. Lynn was co-chair of and JPMorgan's representative to FpML's important Standards Committee... Gem Soup LLC will develop or acquire initial versions of its products, and will provide its members with a collaboration environment, product strategy guidance, an automated testing suite, a rigorous release control process, and product documentation and support. Gem Soup members will contribute enhancements and fixes, provide input on priorities, and incorporate the tools into their own systems and business processes. Products that are currently planned include an FpML viewer/editor, a simple FpML API, a matching tool, a trade archive, and message validators and converters. Many of these will be based on simple product templates, which will make them easy to customize for new financial products. Several will be available in low-cost versions to support application development... Financial Products Markup Language is the official protocol of ISDA (the International Swaps and Derivatives Association) for describing privately negotiated financial derivative transactions... Gem Soup LLC is the world's first collaborative development community for FpML..." See "Financial Products Markup Language (FpML)."

  • [November 18, 2002] "Enosys Powers New Class Of Enterprise Information Integration Applications. Selection of Enosys as BEA Systems Partner Endorses XQuery. New XQuery Products from Microsoft, IBM and Oracle Mark Growing Demand for XQuery-based EII." - "Enosys Software, an XML-based information integration software provider, today announced a technology partnership with BEA Systems, the latest evidence of the technology industry's adoption of XQuery as the new standard for enterprise information integration (EII). The announcement follows recent news of XQuery-based products from Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM, as the increasing need for information integration catalyzes XQuery adoption. XQuery is a W3C standard that provides a vendor-neutral method for accessing, transforming, and integrating data from disparate sources. According to IDC, the number of discrete data sources storing mission-critical information has increased exponentially, with an average of four dozen applications and 14 databases deployed throughout the typical Fortune 1000 company. With the introduction of the XML standard, data from these systems and applications can now be made available for easy access and integration, and XQuery-based EII is the only solution that leverages the XML standard. Enhanced information access can enable more accurate, timely decision-making, shorten sales cycles, and improve customer service and supply chain effectiveness, among other benefits... Enosys technology has deep roots in research from Stanford and University of California, where query-able real-time XML views of multiple data sources were first proposed and researched by the founders and key members of the Enosys team. Enosys was the first to harness the power of XQuery for enterprise information integration. With an XQuery-based EII offering, users spend significantly less money and less time to achieve real-time integration of data from disparate sources. Enosys also served on the W3C committee that designed and reviewed the XQuery language specifications and was the first to market with an XQuery-compliant enterprise integration server and a hands-on XQuery training course..." See "XML and Query Languages."

  • [November 13, 2002] "BPMI.org Releases Final Draft for BPML 1.0 and First Public Draft for the BPMN Notation. Specification Duo Enables Standards-Based Business Process Management for the Enterprise." - The Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI.org) today announced the release of the final draft for the Business Process Modeling Language (BPML 1.0) and the first public draft for the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN 0.9), making BPML the first business process modeling language to provide a graphical notation that can be used by business analysts for the modeling of executable and manageable business processes. With the public availability of BPML and BPMN, organizations will benefit from a royalty-free stack of standards for business process management (BPM) that gives them access to best-of-breed solutions for managing enterprise-class business processes. 'The level of public feedback incorporated in the final release of BPML and the degree of participation in the development of BPMN indicate BPMI.org's commitment to achieving accepted, open and inclusive standards to support the growing number of companies who see their future in building upon a business process management foundation,' said Howard Smith, co-chair of BPMI.org. After more than two years in the making, BPML 1.0 is a mature language for the development of end-to-end business processes that support complex transactions, human interactions and interoperability with the Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS). BPML 1.0 leverages the Web Service Choreography Interface (WSCI) for the definition of public process interfaces, and is designed to support the emerging WS-Security, WS-Transaction and WS-Coordination specifications for the secure and reliable execution of collaborative business processes within and across organizations..." See: (1) details in the 2002-11-13 news item "BPMI.org Publishes BPML 1.0 and Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) Working Draft"; (2) "Business Process Modeling Language (BPML)."

  • [November 13, 2002] "eXcelon Announces Release of XIS Lite. New Version of Native XML Database Provides Key Benefits of Full-Scale Offering at Lower Cost Point of Entry." - "eXcelon Corporation today announced the availability of XIS Lite, a fully functional version of the company's native XML database management system, eXtensible Information Server (XIS). XIS Lite is designed to enable customers with less extensive data requirements to achieve the benefits of dynamic, extensible and highly reliable data management at a lower cost of ownership. eXcelon developed XIS Lite for companies that are using XML business documents to build the foundation for web services applications and standards-based integration networks where resilience to change is required. With XIS Lite, companies can now fully and cost effectively harness the extensibility and flexibility of XML to create, audit and continuously change applications that store and manipulate limited amounts of XML data. XIS Lite Features: (1) A fully functional version of eXcelon's eXtensible Information Server (XIS), providing extensible, schema-agnostic XML storage and document and subdocument data manipulation support (e.g., updates, inserts, XPath/XQuery, XSLT transformations); (2) Limited only by database size (maximum of 500 MB total storage) and high-availability options; (3) Intended for deployment in production-quality applications; (4) Comparatively low cost to deploy and maintain; (5) Supported by Stylus Studio, eXcelon's award-winning XML/XSLT Integrated Development Environment... XIS Lite provides additional ROI to developers and architects who deploy applications on XIS Lite by providing them with the ability to re-deploy those applications on full-scale XIS without requiring modifications to application-level code. This migration path allows companies to efficiently scale their XML data management solution as their web services mature and their data storage needs grow. As with the full-scale XIS, XIS Lite also facilitates XML-based interoperability across .NET and J2EE environments, providing support for XML business documents as the foundation of composite business applications that integrate systems based on both J2EE and .NET architectures..." See also the XIS datasheet. General references in "XML and Databases."

  • [November 12, 2002] "World Wide Web Consortium Publishes XForms 1.0 as a W3C Candidate Recommendation. W3C's Next-generation Forms Technology Ready for Implementors." - "The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announces the release of the XForms 1.0 Candidate Recommendation. XForms 1.0 is the foundation for next-generation Web-based forms, by combining the ability to separate purpose, presentation, and results with the Extensible Markup Language (XML). Advancement of this document to Candidate Recommendation is a statement that the specification is stable. The W3C XForms Working Group invites the Web development community at large to implement the specification and demonstrate interoperability... XML is at the core of the XForms model, and delivers key advantages to the XForms technology: (1) Data received from an XForm is already strongly typed, well-formed, easy to validate, and process - in other words, it's XML. This also speeds up form filling since it reduces the need for round trips to the server for validation. (2) XML Schemas may be reused and updated by XForms, which allows one form to remain useful and functional even if there are changes in the Schema. (3) Using XML 1.0 for the description of results - called 'instance data' - ensures that the submitted data may be easily internationalized. Moreover, XForms, while initially designed to be integrated into XHTML, may be adopted by any suitable markup language, such as Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). By defining XML-based declarative event handlers that cover common use cases, the majority of XForms documents can be statically analyzed, reducing the need for imperative scripts for event handlers... By splitting traditional HTML forms into three parts -- XForms model, instance data, and the XForms user interface -- it cleanly separates presentation from content. This separation brings new advantages: (1) Reuse: XForms modules can be reused independent of the information they collect; (2) Device Independence: as the User Interface controls are abstract -- that is, their generic features are the only thing indicated -- they can easily be re-presented on different devices with different capabilities; (3) Accessibility: separation of presentation from content leaves information more readily available for users of assistive technologies; in addition, the User interface controls encapsulate all relevant metadata such as labels, thereby enhancing accessibility of the application when using different modalities. Practically speaking, XForms technologies make it possible to use forms from a PDA, a cell phone, screen reader or conventional desktop machine - without loss of functionality for the end user..." See "W3C XForms 1.0 Advances to Candidate Recommendation Status."

  • [November 12, 2002] "Novell to Provide Visual Application Development Tools Based on Emerging XForms Standard." - "Developed by the W3C with active participation from Novell, XForms enables information to be presented as XML to provide a next-generation approach to building interactive Web applications. Novell is unveiling an XForms technology preview, marking the first milestone in Novell's plans to provide visual page designers based on XForms for rapid application delivery in future releases of Novell exteNd. Novell's support for XForms underscores the company's commitment to leading the market in standards-based Web application development. To help developers of all skill levels rapidly build today's advanced Web applications, Novell today announced plans to provide visual tools based on the emerging XForms standard in the next major release of Novell exteNd, its J2EE-based Web application development suite. Also today, Novell has released a preview of XForms technology for developers... Novell will be providing drag-and-drop tools based on XForms in future releases of Novell exteNd that will dramatically reduce the amount of programming necessary to build interactive Web applications, a task that previously required specialized skills. As a result, developers of all skill levels will be able to visually develop standards-based Web applications with Novell exteNd, reducing time to market for business-critical applications. Moreover, Novell's commitment to standards such as XForms ensures that applications built using Novell exteNd will run on all major platforms and operating systems, so that customers will not get locked into a single vendor solution..." See: (1) "W3C XForms 1.0 Advances to Candidate Recommendation Status"; (2) "XML and Forms."

  • [November 12, 2002] "PureEdge Announces Support for XForms. Internet Commerce System to Provide Secure 'Wrapper' for Auditable XForms Transactions." - "PureEdge Solutions Inc. congratulates the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the XForms Working Group on its release today of XForms 1.0 as a Candidate Recommendation. The next generation of PureEdge e-forms will enable XForms transactions to be signed and archived as a complete document, while passing XForms data to business processes. 'XForms standardizes the dynamic data and processing needs of complex forms and will hasten their migration from paper, and result in web applications that are more robust, interoperable and maintainable than is possible with HTML systems,' said Dr. John Boyer, Senior Product Architect, PureEdge Solutions. Dr. Boyer is an active member of the Working Group, and the author of the computation engine featured in XForms 1.0. XForms 1.0 does not support digital signatures, but is designed to allow host languages to add valuable functionality. By using PureEdge's unique XFDL as a host language, XForms applications will be able to scale up to any level of security any time. In the next version of PureEdge's Internet Commerce System, XFDL will act as an XML 'wrapper' or 'envelope' for XForms, to enable single, multiple or overlapping signatures, and to facilitate the processing of form data. PureEdge offers three types of electronic signatures - digital signatures that enable secure transaction with unknown parties using PKI; PureEdge's own 'Authenticated ClickWrap', for inexpensive and easily implemented PKI-like security with known parties; and ClickWrap signatures, a 'self-sign' technology for low-risk, internal applications... PureEdge electronic forms are 100% native XML. XFDL, the original XML e-forms language, provides a secure and auditable equivalent to paper transactions. It binds together questions, answers, presentation format, logic, attachments, and metadata in a single, signable XML file. XFDL has been published as a W3C Note..." See: (1) "W3C XForms 1.0 Advances to Candidate Recommendation Status"; (2) "XML and Forms."

  • [November 12, 2002] "Comcare Working Group Submits Vehicular Emergency Incident Data Set To Other Groups." - "The ComCARE Alliance today formally submitted the [XML-based] vehicular emergency incident data set recommendation developed by its multi-party Automatic Crash Notification (ACN) Data Set Working Group to a wide variety of other safety, standards, business and related organizations for their comment, endorsement and use. Once implemented by users, the data set will enable efficient, national electronic transmission of crash and other emergency information from telematics service providers to emergency response agencies, as well as other data from those agencies and private sources related to vehicular emergencies... The first use of the data set is in the Northern Shenandoah Valley ITS Public Safety Initiative, a project sponsored by Virginia's Department of Transportation (VDOT). Late last fall the leading telematics service providers, OnStar and ATX, pledged their cooperation with the Initiative, and the data set effort was launched, with VDOT providing support for ComCARE's work in facilitating the effort. Some companies are already using this version of the data set to simulate data created in emergency incidents as part of safety technology demonstrations... Currently, when telematics service providers (TSPs), such as OnStar and ATX Technologies, receive data about an emergency from one of their customers' cars, they verbally relay the information to a public safety agency. TSPs, and emergency agencies such as 9-1-1, EMS systems, and hospitals currently do not electronically share incident data. The new draft vehicular emergency incident data set is the first step in a process to enable the electronic flow of emergency information from a TSP, such as ACN data, or a commercial vehicle operator, including hazmat information, to and among multiple public safety agencies, including 9-1-1 centers, other public safety entities, hospitals, transportation agencies and EMTs dispatched to the incident scene. The data set recommendation was sent to organizations including the American College of Emergency Physicians, Department of Justice, Department of Transportation, International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Association of Police Chiefs, ANSI, ITS America, Society of Automotive Engineers, IEEE, OASIS, Institute of Transportation Engineers, National Association of EMS Physicians, Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International, and others..." See from October 18, 2002: "ComCARE Alliance Publishes XML-Based Emergency Incident Data Set Recommendation"

  • [November 11, 2002] "Worldwide Sports Data Language Is Launched." - "A new computer language to describe sports results was released to the public at the 'Sports Media & Technology' trade show sponsored by Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal. The Sports Markup Language, or SportsML, gained preliminary approval at the International Press Telecommunications Council's autumn meeting. Sports Markup Language, or SportsML, is a standard created by the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC), an association of the world's major news agencies. SportsML breaks sports data into bite-sized pieces and allows publishers to completely describe the how, what, when, where and why of sports. Documents in SportsML can be as simple or as complex as needed, drawing from a wide range of available descriptions for sports scores, schedules, standings and statistics. Team and player names, results, standings and other important information are handled in a standardized way, greatly reducing the tedious editing process that is often required to prepare sports results for publication. League data can also be stored in SportsML, making standings and playoff results easier to handle. The IPTC approved SportsML version 1.0 draft at its October meeting in Amsterdam. Final ratification of the standard is expected at the next regular IPTC meeting in March 2003 in Nice, France. Members of the IPTC include: The Associated Press, UPI, Reuters, The New York Times, Agence France-Presse, Deutsche Press-Agentur, Reuters, Sweden's Tidningarnas Telegrambyra, and Pinnacor (formerly Screaming Media)..." See: "SportsML."

  • [November 11, 2002] "IETF Approves XMPP Working Group. Jabber-Based Open Instant Messaging and Presence Technology on Internet Standards Track." - The Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) has announced "the approval of an XMPP Working Group within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the group that sets the technical standards for the Internet. The Working Group has been formed to adapt the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) for use as an IETF instant messaging and presence technology. XMPP is the core protocol used in the popular Jabber open source and Jabber, Inc. commercial instant messaging systems and is the result of the collaborative efforts of a worldwide group of software architects, developers and companies that comprise the Jabber community. Managed and organized by the non-profit Jabber Software Foundation (www.jabber.org), XMPP is an open XML-based protocol for near real-time extensible messaging and presence. It has enjoyed widespread popularity and adoption and is currently deployed on thousands of servers across the Internet and used by millions of people worldwide. 'Progress and work towards a common, open IM standard on any front will benefit the entire emerging IM marketplace,' said Jabber founder Jeremie Miller, now a Jabber Software Foundation board member. 'Jabber.org has always been a collaborative project driven by those interested in creating open, interoperable IM technologies based on XML. For those protocols to have gained enough popularity and use to warrant a standards effort is a sign that openness and interoperability are still deeply valued attributes on the Internet.'... Interoperability has always been a core objective of the Jabber project. Prominent individuals within the Jabber community have been involved in the IETF standards process for the last three years. The formation of a dedicated working group provides an opportunity to include the broader Internet community in adapting XMPP to IETF established standards for security, internationalization and inter-domain message exchange... In a related effort, the Messaging and Presence Interoperability Consortium (MPIC) is considering the XMPP as a key interoperability technology. The MPIC initiative is being driven by a group of carriers and service providers to establish interoperability standards for instant messaging and presence. Frustrated with the lack of workable interoperability standards from instant messaging and presence providers, the group intends to embrace emerging open standards like XMPP and collaborate towards interoperability among their respective systems..." See: (1) the 2002-11-04 news item "IETF Charters Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) Working Group"; (2) general references in "Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP)."

  • [November 06, 2002] "Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) Ratified as OASIS Open Standard. Authentication and Authorization Standard Enables Single Sign-On for Web Services." - "The OASIS interoperability consortium today announced that its members have approved the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) v1.0 as an OASIS Open Standard, a status that signifies the highest level of ratification. SAML is an XML-based framework for Web services that allows the exchange of authentication and authorization information among business partners. SAML enables Web-based security interoperability functions, such as single sign-on, across sites hosted by multiple companies. 'SAML 1.0 is an important industry standard for federating diverse security domains across Web services environments,' said James Kobielus, senior analyst at Burton Group. 'SAML 1.0 supports secure interchange of authentication and authorization information by leveraging the core Web services standards of Extensible Markup Language (XML), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), and Transport Layer Security (TLS). Most vendors of Web access management solutions have committed to SAML 1.0 and are currently implementing the specification in their products.' 'SAML lets companies implement single sign-on solutions that allow users to visit various Web sites without being repeatedly challenged for credentials,' explained Joe Pato of HP, co-chair of the OASIS Security Services Technical Committee. 'In addition, SAML makes it possible to include security information in documents used in business transactions. This is particularly relevant for Web services, where security is critical.' SAML incorporates industry-standard protocols and messaging frameworks, such as XML Signature, XML Encryption, and SOAP. The specification can be easily integrated in standard environments such as HTTP and standard Web browsers. Likewise, other security environments can use SAML as an authentication and authorization layer. SAML complements Web services standards, such as SOAP, which lack inherent security features. The OASIS Web Services Security Technical Committee, for example, is profiling SAML as one of its set of security tokens. 'SAML allows vendors to interoperate for the benefit of their customers,' said Jeff Hodges, Sun Microsystems, co-chair of the OASIS Security Services Technical Committee. 'The standard is easily implemented by companies in existing environments, and SAML-aware security applications are already being introduced. Related security initiatives, such as Liberty Alliance's Version One Specification, are leveraging SAML in order to more quickly realize their goals.' The SAML OASIS Open Standard was developed by Baltimore Technologies, BEA Systems, Computer Associates, Entrust, Hewlett-Packard Company, Hitachi, IBM, Netegrity, Oblix, OpenNetwork, Quadrasis, RSA Security, Sun Microsystems, Verisign, and other members of the OASIS Security Services Technical Committee..." See: (1) "Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)"; (2) "Digital Signatures"; (3) "XML and Security."

  • [November 04, 2002] "Microsoft Enables Financial Institutions to Cut Cost Of Straight-Through Processing. Microsoft Works With Key Financial Institutions and Partners to Launch BizTalk Accelerator for Financial Services, an Open and Integrated Financial Messaging Infrastructure." - "Microsoft Corp. has "announced the launch of the BizTalk Accelerator for Financial Services, a software solution that enables financial organizations to rapidly integrate financial messaging with internal business systems, support the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) ISO 15022 and new XML-based industry standards, and rapidly manage and repair messaging and trade errors. Working with SWIFT and other key technology partners and customers in the financial services industry, Microsoft aims to lower the cost of entry into the financial middleware market by providing a low-cost, highly scalable infrastructure solution, based on BizTalk Server 2002, that can be implemented quickly and easily to facilitate straight-through processing (STP)... The BizTalk Accelerator for Financial Services will assist financial institutions in deploying STP solutions, thereby reducing the risks and costs associated with errors and failed trades. It provides financial industry-specific messaging capabilities that enable financial institutions to manage exceptions, rationalize reference data, detect and repair faulty messages, and build new SWIFT- and Financial Information eXchange (FIX)-compatible systems. In addition, the Financial Services Accelerator provides integral tools to enable support for further industry-standard advancements, ensuring the system is future-proof. It is the fourth accelerator to be released by Microsoft since 2000; the others are RosettaNet (high-tech supply chain), HIPAA (healthcare) and Suppliers (supplier enablement). The first version of the BizTalk Accelerator for Financial Services focuses on payments processing and capital markets trading, settlement, and delivery processes. Built-in features include more than 90 document specifications, or schemas, which describe SWIFT and International Securities Association for Institutional Trade Communication (ISITC) messages for payments, foreign exchange, securities trading and reporting. Microsoft has joined the SWIFT partner program and is providing an immediate solution for institutions to become ISO 15022 compliant. It also offers support for ISO 7775 messaging standards and the new SWIFT Secure IP Network and Gateway..." See the related Presspass interview with Kenny McBride and Derek LaSalle in "For Financial Services, Goal Is STP, Tool Is XML." See: "swiftML for Business Messages."

  • [November 04, 2002] "New Software from BEA Greatly Simplifies Getting Fast Answers To Complex Business Questions. Available Immediately, BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic Integrates Real-Time Information Across Enterprise Applications and Data Sources." - BEA Systems, Inc., "leading application infrastructure software company, today announced the general availability of BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic, a product that makes it possible to get fast answers to business questions that were prohibitively difficult to answer before. BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic works by providing integrated views of enterprise information from virtually any data source: databases, XML files, Web applications, integration adapters and more. These logical views of information are reusable, and they can quickly aggregate the latest real-time information from both inside and outside large organizations. Before BEA Liquid Data, organizations may have faced complex programming or enterprise application integration projects to get answers to critical business questions, and in many cases the answers would not be based on real-time information... BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic can provide real-time information visibility to front-office applications, such as customer self-service portals, customer service and support, and supply chain applications. BEA Liquid Data uses extensible mark-up language (XML) technology, designed to provide a cost- effective, standard way to easily aggregate and expose logical views of business information inside and outside firewalls, regardless of the location, format, or type of data source. BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic also extends BEA's application server, integration and portal products by reducing the amount of custom development needed to access back-office systems, or provide a cost-effective and quick mechanism to access and aggregate information into a portal... BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic can provide a standard way to access customers' existing IT systems through the use of XML standards. The primary technology behind BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic is XQuery, an XML-based query technology. XQuery is designed to allow BEA Liquid Data to query multiple, disparate data sources across an enterprise and return XML results. Key features to BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic include: (1) Real-time universal data access allows businesses to retrieve data from legacy and Web applications, databases, integration adapters, flat files, XML files and more; (2) Ability to leverage corporate assets through reusable and flexible data views by different applications to help businesses adapt to changing requirements; (3) Investment protection by leveraging a standards-based solution built on J2EE, Web services and XML; (4) Highly optimized real-time data access and data processing inside and outside firewalls, regardless of source location, format, or type, designed to increase developer productivity..."

  • [November 01, 2002] "[IBM Infoprint XML Extender Supports XSL-FO.] IBM Unveils Fastest and Firsts at Xplor 2002. Teams with Pitney Bowes on Demonstrations." - "At Xplor 2002, IBM is announcing new hardware and software offerings that will address operational efficiency and cost savings associated with output. Among the introductions are new models that join the Infoprint 4100 family of continuous forms printers, enhancements to the Infoprint 70 and the release of Infoprint XML Extender. IBM has also teamed with Pitney Bowes to demonstrate the benefits of an automated document factory (ADF) solution that includes IBM's Infoprint Workflow and Pitney Bowes' DFWorks and the value in 3-up statement printing... Infoprint XML Extender: Extensible Markup Language (XML) has emerged as the standard data format for platform-independent data interchange. XML has become a key corporate infrastructure technology, just as Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) has become the foundation for output management infrastructure in many large enterprises. Infoprint XML Extender is the only software that produces AFP from XML documents with companion Extensible Style Sheet Language (XSL) style sheets, or documents with XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO). Infoprint XML Extender provides the ideal solution for customers who already depend upon AFP for their production and mission-critical distributed printing, and who are using XML as the strategic technology to support business initiatives such as business process integration, content management, supply chain management, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and Web services applications. Benefits of converting XML to AFP include: (1) Helping accelerate business transformation by leveraging the investment companies have already made in output management systems based on AFP print and presentation technology; (2) Connecting new and re-engineered XML data and applications to your existing AFP print system using standard XSL formatting; (3) Complementing and extending support of Print Services Facility V3.3 (PSF) for formatting XML data with AFP page layouts; (4) Providing both XML for platform-independent data interchange, and AFP for highly reliable, system-managed printing, without having to create and maintain two separate data formats... IBM Printing Systems specializes in e-business printing solutions. The company focuses on information and output management products and offerings that enhance print operations, maximize efficiencies and reduce print and related costs for companies and department of all sizes. A leader in production print solutions, print-on-demand technologies, distributed print technologies, one-to-one marketing initiatives and print management software, IBM Printing Systems' offerings include printers, software, consultation, systems integration, supplies, service and support." See details in the news item.

  • [October 31, 2002] "Microsoft Releases New Features, Enhancements to .NET Speech SDK. Announces Technical Preview of .NET Speech Platform And Joint Development Program. Ongoing Product Development Efforts Ready Market for Mainstream Adoption Of SALT-Based Applications and Solutions." - "Today at the eighth annual SpeechTEK International Exposition and Educational Conference, Microsoft Corp. announced a series of developments related to its .NET Speech family of products, putting the company a step closer to its goal of making speech technology mainstream in the enterprise and providing a solution that makes it faster, easier and more economical for enterprises to build and deploy speech-enabled applications. Microsoft announced the availability of the beta 2 release of the Microsoft .NET Speech Software Development Kit (SDK), as well as a technical preview of the Microsoft .NET Speech platform and a newly established Joint Development Program (JDP). This builds on previously announced strategic alliances with SpeechWorks, Intervoice Inc. and Intel Corp. that will offer customers solutions and leading hardware and software components that integrate with the Microsoft .NET Speech platform. The beta 2 of the Microsoft .NET Speech SDK includes a complete tool set for the creation and testing of Speech Application Language Tags (SALT)-based voice-only telephony applications. It also supports the development of multimodal speech applications on clients such as desktop PCs or Tablet PCs using Internet Explorer browser software. The .NET Speech SDK 1.0 beta 2 offers new enhancements to grammar and prompt creation and editing tools, and debugging tools for both telephony and multimodal applications. New features, such as World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards-compatible formats for grammar authoring, a prebuilt library of reusable speech telephony and application controls, and grammar libraries, will provide Web and speech developers with the tools they need to build and test robust speech applications that will soon be viable for enterprise deployments. Additional information about the complete set of new features and enhancements in the Microsoft .NET Speech SDK 1.0..." See: (1) the product sheet "Microsoft .NET Speech SDK 1.0 Beta 2: New Features and Enhancements."; (2) general references in "Speech Application Language Tags (SALT)."

  • [October 30, 2002] "Global eXchange Services Adds E-settlement Capability for E-commerce Customers. Customer Reduces Invoice Rework by 75 Percent in Nine Months, Projects $900,000 Annual Cost Savings." - Global eXchange Services (GXS), a leader in business-to-business Internet commerce, today announced that it now offers advanced payment and expense management capabilities through its Electronic Commerce Service Center. GXS's integration of EC Service Center capabilities and the ePcard XML electronic settlement tool helps purchasing professionals simplify the purchasing process, reduce costs and speed payment... GXS's EC Service Center facilitates the entire process by enabling buyers and suppliers to interface with the ePcard XML service in virtually any data format, including eXtensible markup language (XML), electronic data interchange (EDI), proprietary formats or facsimile. ePcard XML, developed by GE Capital Financial Inc., the corporate card unit of GE Consumer Finance, is an electronic settlement tool that digitizes the purchase order handling process. The tool allows suppliers to accept and process orders, while automatically reconciling transaction costs. Dollar- and date-range limits on the transaction reduce potential payment mistakes or abuse. GE Transportation Systems - one of the world's leading suppliers to the railroad, transit, and mining industries - is the first customer to use the combined services, automating processes associated with the 100,000 invoices it processes annually. In just nine months using ePcard XML, the business has seen the amount of work associated with incorrect invoice reconciliation drop by 75 percent and projects an annual savings of $900,000. According to the customer, many of its suppliers are signing up for the new payment method, in part due to faster payment. The combined ePcard XML and EC Service Center solution enables companies to improve the purchasing process in the following five ways: (1) lower purchase order processing costs by reducing the time that purchasing professionals spend on clerical tasks; (2) speed payment of vendor invoices through the elimination of manual processes - enabling buyers to take advantage of fast-payment vendor discounts; (3) control maverick purchases, which lead to companies paying more than necessary for goods and services; (4) broaden the base of suppliers able to participate in electronic trading through any-to-any data translation, thus reducing costs throughout the supply chain; (5) capture process savings quickly through ease of implementation..." See also the ePcard XML case study document.

  • [October 30, 2002] "Corel Corporation Introduces Corel XMetaL-Central. New Server Application Drives XML Adoption by Simplifying the Management of Customized XML Authoring Environments." - "Corel Corporation today announced the upcoming availability of Corel XMetaL-Central, a new server-based application that works with Corel XMetaL to manage and maintain customized XML applications. By simplifying this process for enterprise and government IT professionals, Corel XMetaL-Central further enables the widespread adoption of XML for content creation. Creating documents in XML offers organizations tremendous flexibility and efficiencies for reusing content for Web, mobile and professional print publishing. IT professionals manage this process and roll out customized XML-creation environments for every department and individual within their organization. As part of this process, IT departments must efficiently manage a variety of XML-related files and customizations including, Document Type Declarations (DTD), Style Sheets (CSS), XSLT, macro files, and virtually any other type of XML file... Corel XMetaL-Central is designed for organizations with tens to thousands of XML document creators and editors. When used in conjunction with Corel XMetaL, Corel XMetaL-Central deploys personalized customizations or 'packages' to these end users based on their identity, the content they are working with, and factors in their environment. Invisible to the end user, these packages can be versioned, rolled back, or staged for future deployment. Corel XMetaL-Central automatically delivers the right package to the right person at the right time. Corel XMetaL-Central is highly efficient for deploying a new XMetaL application to small or large groups of users, adding new functionality to an existing deployment, and updating elements in an existing XMetaL deployment. Corel XMetaL-Central features and functionality includes: (1) Browser based interface to manage XMetaL-Central server objects including user profiles, customizations and associated relationships and server operations; (2) IT-defined rules for matching packages with documents and users; (3) Integration with third-party workflow through adaptor objects; (4) Versioning of packages for controlled deployments; (5) Use of the enterprise network login mechanism to access services; (6) Off-line Corel XMetaL authoring mode; (7) Server support for Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Professional and Solaris 9. Corel XMetaL-Central will be available in November 2002..." See also the Reviewer's Guide.

  • [October 30, 2002] "WS-I Publishes Basic Profile Working Draft. Now Available for Public Comment." - "Today [2002-10-29] at the Gartner Group Application Integration and Web Services conference, Tom Glover, chairman of the Web Services Interoperability Organization ('WS-I') announced the availability of the WS-I Basic Profile Working Draft. The WS-I Basic Profile Working Group has made this working draft public in order to solicit feedback from the Web services community, with the goal of releasing a final version in early 2003. The WS-I Basic Profile Working Draft can be accessed at www.ws-i.org. 'We've met a major milestone by releasing the working draft ahead of schedule,' said Glover during his keynote address at the Gartner Group conference. 'hile the Basic Profile is composed of detailed guidelines aimed at helping developers build interoperable Web services, we expect that broad adoption of the profile will provide a level of confidence for executives making investment decisions about Web services and Web services products.' The Basic Profile consists of implementation guidelines recommending how a set of core Web services specifications (SOAP 1.1, WSDL 1.1, UDDI 2.0, XML 1.0 and XML Schema) should be used together to develop interoperable Web services. The following Web (1) Messaging: the exchange of Web service protocol elements, usually over a network (2) Description: the enumeration of the messages associated with a Web service, along with implementation details (3) Discovery: metadata that enables the advertisement of a Web service's capabilities (4) Security: mechanisms that provide integrity, privacy, authentication and authorization..." See detailed references in the news item of 2002-10-18: "Web Services Interoperability Organization Publishes Basic Profile Version 1.0.". [PR source .DOC]

  • [October 28, 2002] "Sun Microsystems Radically Changes Application Server Market With Release of Sun One Application Server 7. Free Platform Edition With New Integrated Java Tools Makes Creating Web Services Faster and More Economical. Sun ONE Application Server 7 is More Than 50 Percent Faster than IBM WebSphere in JSPs, Servlets, and JDBC." - "Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced another major milestone in its strategy to dramatically change the economics of delivering Web services. Building on recent successes, including the increasing ubiquity of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE platform), Reference Implementation and widespread adoption of the Java WSDP, the company today released two new editions of the Sun ONE Application Server 7. The product is now tightly integrated with the new Sun ONE Studio for Java, Enterprise Edition 4.1 set of web services tools. It also introduces a new business model that makes the core version (Platform Edition) free to enterprises and independent software vendors (ISVs) on all leading platforms for development and deployment. With its new modular architecture, the application server provides customers and developers with increased choice and ROI in rapidly building and deploying Sun ONE Java Web Services... Sun is offering the first complete product implementation of the J2EE platform, version 1.3 and the Java WSDP. The Java WSDP is an integrated toolset that allows Java platform developers to build, test and deploy XML applications, Web applications and Web Services, providing Java standard implementations of Web services standards including WSDL, SOAP, ebXML, and UDDI. The core Platform Edition is available now as a free download on the Solaris and Windows platforms and is expected to be tightly integrated into the Solaris 9 Operating Environment in January. Sun Linux, HP-UX and AIX versions are also expected to be available in 60-90 days. Maintenance and support are available at an additional cost of $795/CPU annually... The second offering, Standard Edition, is available now for an additional $2,000 per CPU, adding operations management capabilities such as remote administration and monitoring for larger scale administrative domains. In comparison, IBM does not have an offering in this price range and pricing of IBM WebSphere starts at $8,000/CPU..." For more information about the Sun ONE Application Server 7 product, please refer to the online press kit.

  • [October 28, 2002] "Alcatel Makes It Easier to Integrate Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 Features into Web Applications and Communication Portals. XML Telephony Software Development Kit ushers in new generation of applications for Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 IP-PBX." - "Alcatel today announced that it is offering third-party application developers a software development kit based on Extensible Markup Language (XML) that allows them to integrate Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 IP-PBX telephony features into any Web environment. Promoted and supported by the Alcatel Applications Partner Program, this XML Software Development Kit demonstrates Alcatel's commitment to strengthening its IP communications offering through partnerships and innovation. Alcatel's XML Telephony Software Development Kit includes an XML Telephony Application Programming Interface (API) that enables Web developers to create custom Web services that optimize the Alcatel OmniPCX 4400's capabilities in an IP setting. For example, Web developers can create XML telephony-based applications such as a 'make call' button for users viewing the online corporate Web client directory. Another example would be to directly integrate telephony services into Web-based e-business applications for Customer Relationship Management or Enterprise Resource Planning. Alcatel's XML Telephony Software Development Kit targets partners such as independent software vendors, integrators, and Web developers as well as end-user customers who have in-house Web developers or Webmasters. The XML Telephony API is platform-independent and does not require the developer to have expertise in traditional telephony APIs to create Web-based applications for the Alcatel OmniPCX 4400. Moreover, the Alcatel XML Telephony API is based on the XML standard from the World Wide Web Consortium, so developers are assured that this interface will be familiar to them and can be easily integrated into new or existing Web environments... Alcatel launched its first desktop web application with the new XML Telephony API earlier this month when it announced the Alcatel WebSoftphone. The XML Telephony API is based on the XML standard utilizing Web services technologies such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Web Services Description Language (WSDL 1.1), and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP 1.1). Using an HTTP transport, XML Telephony services can be made accessible to users from anywhere on the intranet or Internet. SOAP and WSDL support allow easy service creation with standard development tools like Visual Studio .Net or Apache SOAP (Tomcat, Java)." See the Alcatel Applications Partner Program Web Site."

  • [October 28, 2002] "Special Information Days on Financial Services, Transportation, C4I and Systems Engineering Highlight Upcoming OMG Standards Meeting Members to Form Model Driven Architecture (MDA) User Group." - "Members of the Object Management Group (OMG) from around the world will meet in Washington, DC, USA from November 18 to 22, 2002, at a meeting sponsored by IONA. Domain Task Forces (DTFs) in Finance, Transportation, and Systems Engineering will report on their work at Information Days open to members and non-members alike.... The Analysis and Design (AD) Platform Task Force (PTF) will hear progress reports from the submitting teams on all aspects of the UML 2.0 upgrade, and will start final votes on adoption of Object Constraint Language (OCL) for UML 2.0. The MOF is also undergoing an upgrade, with drafts scheduled for evaluation for MOF Query/Views/Transformations module, the MOF to IDL mapping, and MOF Versioning. The CWM will see evaluation of Metadata Interchange Patterns and CWM Web Service definitions. A related effort, scheduled to start at this meeting, will map OMG's Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Profile for UML to J2EE. The MARS Platform Task Force which standardizes the infrastructure for distributed computing, will advance two new specifications related to Web Services: One standardizes interworking between CORBA and Web Services Definition Language (WSDL); the other advances Web Services for Enterprise Collaboration. OMG's Realtime, Embedded, and Specialized Systems (RTESS) PTF will advance standards mapping the two standard versions of Realtime Java (one from the J-Consortium, the other defined by the Java Community Process) to Realtime CORBA. They will also adapt OMG's Notification, Naming, Event, and Time services to Realtime demands; standardize a high-performance CORBA environment; advance a standard that enables Realtime CORBA middleware to use an alternative network transport; and start work defining a lightweight version of the CORBA Component Model to bring the advantages of component-based development to small-footprint environments. The Manufacturing Technology and Industrial Systems (ManTIS) Domain Task Force will evaluate submissions for a standard for Historical Data Access from Industrial Systems, and start a new effort on Product Lifecycle Management Services. The Telecommunications DTF will work on CORBA GIOP tunneling over Bluetooth. The Life Science Research DTF will define requirements for a new Gene Expression Identifier model and Gene Expression Query Service, and vote to adopt a standard for Chemical Structure Access and Representation (CSAR)."

  • [October 28, 2002] "Microsoft XML Architect to Unveil XML in 'Office 11' At XML Conference & Exposition 2002." - "Jean Paoli, XML architect at Microsoft Corp., will give a plenary session this December at XML Conference & Exposition 2002, the world's largest event on XML-based products and services. Paoli will talk about XML on the desktop and will give the XML community its first look at the technical architecture of XML in Microsoft 'Office 11,' the code name for the next version of Office, scheduled for final release in mid-2003. Microsoft also will give the first in-depth public technical demonstration of the product at a booth on the show floor. Jean Paoli, XML architect at Microsoft, [was] one of the co-creators of the XML 1.0 standard with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Paoli has been a significant player in the worldwide XML community since 1985, when the technology was then known as SGML. His specialty has been building end-user markup editing tools. Paoli will present 'Bringing the XML Vision to the Desktop With 'Office 11'' at XML 2002. His presentation will focus on four key areas: (1) The original vision of XML and the importance of enabling end users to use their own custom-defined schemas in their documents; (2) The significant XML investments made in 'Office 11' to help achieve this vision; (3) The technical architecture adopted to enable Word, Excel, XDocs, Access and the FrontPage Web site creation and management tool to work with any customer-defined schemas; (4) How the paradigm for the Office family of products has evolved to enable customers to use the data defined by their own schemas, enabling better integration with XML Web Services..." See: (1) the plenary notice for XML 2002; (2) "Microsoft Office 11 and XDocs."

  • [October 26, 2002] "Jabber and webMethods Form Strategic Alliance. webMethods and Jabber Team to Provide Real-Time Information to Financial Services Companies Using webMethods' Market-Leading Integration Platform." - "Jabber, Inc., a leading software developer of enterprise instant messaging and presence-enabled communications, whose investors include Webb Interactive Services, Inc. and France Telecom, today [2002-10-23] announced a strategic partnership with webMethods, Inc., the leading provider of integration software. As part of the partnership agreement, the two companies will jointly market a straight-through processing (STP) solution that provides real-time event notification to financial services customers. The webMethods integration platform enables organizations to tie multiple applications together, providing seamless enterprise-wide integration of a company's business processes. The addition of Jabber's presence-enabled platform gives customers a real-time window into what is occurring across the enterprise's global infrastructure. 'Jabber's XML-based platform easily interfaces with the webMethods integration platform, allowing us to publish events passing through our integration platform, in real time, straight to the customer's desktop,' said Darren Oberst, Vice President and General Manager, Industries and Systems Integrators, webMethods, Inc. 'This is particularly beneficial for financial services customers for whom time is quite literally money.' The Jabber Communications Platform is a robust software platform for building extensible instant messaging and presence-enabled applications and services. Built around the XML-based Jabber open protocol, the platform delivers an engine on which service providers, enterprises, and software developers create custom IM, alert and notification tools, and other collaborative solutions. It is designed to provide a secure and private solution for either internal or external communications and is easily set up as a wireless gateway to enable real-time communications to mobile devices..." See: "Jabber XML Protocol."

  • [October 25, 2002] "Sun STA Technology Preview Supports ebXML MS, CPA." - "Sun Microsystems Inc. announces an invitation for participation in the preview of a new Secure Trading Agent (STA) technology for Business-to-Business (B2B) integration. The 100% Java technology is a lightweight messaging application for securely and reliably sending and receiving XML, EDI or any other electronic document between trading partners over the Internet. Using Web Services standards such as XML, SOAP and ebXML, this technology includes the following key features: (1) Messages: send and receive ebXML messages -- Compliant with ebXML Message Service Specification v2.0 and ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement Specification v2.0; (2) Security: SSL support for message transport, digital signing of messages; (3) Reliability: message persistence, retry, elimination of duplicates, acknowledgment, non repudiation; (4) Ease of use: browser based user interface for all functionality..." See details in the news item: "Sun Secure Trading Agent Technology Preview Supports ebXML MS and CPA."

  • [October 25, 2002] "RevXml: A Tool for the Tracking Of Revision of XML/ SGML/ XHTML-Tagged Documents and Data." - Palstar Document Management and Language Engineering has [2002-10-13] "announced the release of its latest software tool RevXml. The tool tracks all changes between two XML documents or data. It takes into account the tree structure of the document, the attributes and the text in between the XML-tags. The basic unit of a text may be a character, a word, a sentence or the complete text in between two tags. The software generates revision markers (indicating addition, deletion and change) in the revised document, which themselves take the form of additional XML tags or arbitrary strings to be defined by the user. The enriched revised document is meant to be further processed by XML based systems. No DTD is required. Essentially, the tool operates on any tree-structured or flat file, including XML, XHTML and SGML files. The value of attributes may play a role in the decision to compare two elements. RevXml functions as 'middleware' and is an embeddable technology. For instance, an XML Editor may use it to visualize the revisions between two XML documents. A Document Management System will be able to store the deltas and a Publishing System may generate exact revision bars..."

  • [October 24, 2002] "Sun Microsystems Joins WS-I. Web Services Leader Plans to Run for Board Election." - " Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced that it will join the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I ) as a contributing member. WS-I was founded on February 6, 2002 as an open industry effort chartered to promote Web services interoperability across platforms, applications and programming languages. The WS-I membership recently approved a change to its bylaws that will expand the WS-I board by two seats. Sun intends to run for election for this expanded board in March 2003. With over 20 years of experience in network computing innovation and open standards development, Sun plans to play an active role in WS-I technology guideline areas, including key foundational work currently being developed under the Web services Basic Profile... Participation in WS-I complements Sun's Web services interoperability contributions in other forums as well, such as SOAPbuilders and the Java Community Process. Sun recently hosted Round 5 of SOAPbuilders interoperability tests, in which Apache, BEA, IBM, Microsoft and others participated. 'We are pleased that Sun has decided to join WS-I,' said Edward Cobb, vice president of Architecture & Standards, BEA Systems. 'As the steward of Java[tm] and a leader in enterprise systems, Sun has much to offer the organization. With the recent decision of the WS-I membership to add elected directors, we look forward to working even more closely with Sun to promote our common goals for Java and interoperable Web services.' 'As a leader in the Web services and Java communities, IBM is pleased to welcome Sun Microsystems to WS-I.org as our industry integrates and creates best practices for the Web services standards stack,' said Bob Sutor, director of Web Services Strategy, IBM. 'Web services is rapidly becoming the standard infrastructure for building new business solutions that reuse and repurpose business information and software assets. WS-I.org is dedicated to ensuring that 'interoperability' for Web services can be defined, measured and tested, thereby accelerating the adoption and practical use of this important technology.'... 'SAP is very pleased seeing Sun intending to join WS-I. Realizing that interoperatbilty is a key issue for the successful, industry wide adoption of Web services, we (SAP) have been supporting Sun's participation from the early beginning. It is crucial and in the best interest of the entire Web services industry to have all major players at the same table.' Sinisa Zimek, SAP, Director of Technology Architecture & Standards, Member of the WS-I Board of Directors."... See: "Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I)."

  • [October 24, 2002] "OASIS Members Work to Develop Digital Signature and Timestamping Protocols. Entrust, IONA, NIST, webMethods, TIBCO, Verisign, and Others Collaborate on Security Standard to Accelerate Web Services Deployment." - "Members of the OASIS standards consortium have formed a technical committee to develop open XML protocols for digital signature and cryptographic timestamping services operating in a Web services context. The work of the new OASIS Digital Signature Services Technical Committee will enable Web services to produce and verify digital signatures and provide techniques for proving that a given signature was created within its private key validity period. 'Digital signatures and timestamping provide the long-term integrity and accountability that's necessary for online business transactions,' said Robert Zuccherato of Entrust, chair of the OASIS Digital Signature Services Technical Committee. 'Our work at OASIS will allow organizations to determine the parties involved in a transaction and the specific moment in time when a transaction occurred, with the assurance that the transaction has not been altered since it was digitally signed. These are all essential attributes of important business transactions.' Industry analyst, Phil Schacter, VP of Directory and Security Strategies for the Burton Group, agrees, 'Commerce between companies and supply chains requires timestamping and signing services from trusted sources to support non-repudiation for high value business transactions. OASIS provides an open standards forum to advance this important aspect of securing Web services.' The work of the OASIS Digital Signature Services Technical Committee complements several Web services security standards currently being developed within OASIS including XACML for access control, SAML for authentication and authorization, and WS-Security for secure Web services. Specifications developed within the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), including XML Signature and XML Key Management, are also related to this new effort..." See the news item "OASIS Members Propose Digital Signature Services Technical Committee"; (2) Digital Signatures Reference List.

  • [October 23, 2002] "Mindreef Previews Web Services Diagnostics Technology at Meta Group and DCI's The Summit on Web Services Conference. NuMega Founders Form New Company to Address Challenges of Isolating Problems in Distributed Applications." - "Mindreef, a startup founded by Frank Grossman and Jim Moskun, the founders of NuMega Technologies, has assembled a team of high-tech veterans with a record of success in building debugging, profiling, automatic error detection and distributed applications. Mindreef is now applying that experience to the diagnosis of distributed applications being built with Web services. Web services promise to fulfill the vision of distributed applications, but the additional complexity inherent in distributed applications is leading to problems that standard debugging and performance tools are not designed to handle... Web Services Diagnostics systems collect information about SOAP transactions and use the information to provide visibility and insight into Web services communications through features such as logging, debugging, reporting, profiling, analytics and collaboration. These systems must meet key Web services requirements, including: (1) Platform Neutral: Independent of operating system, language, toolkit or transport; (2) XML-Aware: Including SOAP, WSDL and Schema; (3) Team Oriented: Multi-user visualization to track down and fix problems; (4) Non-Invasive: Operates in-between end points and doesn't require modifying code. Mindreef will be delivering its SOAPscope product family that meets these requirements over the next quarter, enabling client application developers, service developers, testers and support staff to quickly isolate and solve problems at any point in an application's life cycle. A beta release of Mindreef SOAPscope Personal Edition is available for download...

  • [October 23, 2002] "Phaos Technology Releases Liberty Toolkit 2.0. e-Security Provider Offers Developer Toolkit for Liberty Alliance Specifications." - "Phaos Technology Corp., a leading global provider of cross-platform e-Security services and software tools to empower Internet applications, today announced the release of the Phaos Liberty Toolkit that will enable developers to build applications that adhere to the sign-on authentication and authorization specifications set by the Liberty Alliance. The Liberty Alliance strives to support the development, deployment and evolution of an open, interoperable standard for federated network identity. Using the Phaos Liberty Toolkit, Java developers can rapidly build applications that enable single sign-on capabilities, support the consolidation of enterprise authentication schemes and allow the migration from legacy infrastructure to XML-based Web services. The Phaos Liberty Toolkit provides integrated XML digital signatures and XML encryption. Furthermore, it provides stronger privacy and identity protection mechanisms by seamlessly integrating hardware operations... Phaos Liberty SDK, released earlier this year, provided the software for encryption standards called for in early Liberty Alliance specifications. The Phaos Liberty Toolkit expands on the earlier release with a fully integrated security library... The Phaos Liberty Toolkit employs secure encryption technologies and works with any XML parser. A pure Java toolkit, the Phaos Liberty Toolkit supports the Phaos PSE, XML, SAML and SSLava toolkits with optional Cryptoki, XKMS and Centuris add-ons available. Phaos Technology also announced today the release of the Phaos XML Toolkit 2.0, a Java toolkit for building sophisticated, interoperable and secure XML-based applications that benefit from the code portability and scalability of Java; and Phaos SAML 1.0, which provides a protocol, consisting of XML-based request and response message formats, to communicate assertions of an entity's attributes, authentication and authorization. Phaos Liberty Toolkit, Phaos XML 2.0 and Phaos SAML 1.0 are currently available by contacting Phaos. Liberty Toolkit developer licenses are $10,000 and run-time licenses are $15,000 per CPU. Other toolkits are priced at $3,000-$4,000 for developer licenses and between $3,000-$4,000 per run-time CPU..." See "Liberty Alliance Specifications for Federated Network Identification and Authorization."

  • [October 23, 2002] "Global eXchange Services Offers AS2 Outsourcing Service. New GXS Service Enables Companies of All Sizes to Transact Over the Internet Using AS2 Without Complex System Upgrades or Additional In-house Technical Expertise." - "Global eXchange Services, Inc. (GXS) today announced that it now offers an outsourcing service for companies choosing to transact with their suppliers or customers over the public Internet using the EDIINT Applicability Statement 2 (AS2) standard. The new GXS service is designed to enable companies of all sizes to transact over the Internet using AS2 without the need to implement complex system upgrades or acquire expensive in-house technical expertise. The AS2 standard offers companies a direct and secure method to communicate electronic data interchange (EDI) or eXtensible markup language (XML) transactions over the Internet; which saves money, and adds flexibility and control on how the data is utilized or reported. GXS's AS2 Outsourcing Service provides businesses with complete AS2 transaction and translation capabilities on a hosted platform, including: (1) Proactive, event-driven document exchange via the Internet; (2) 24/7 server availability for synchronous communication with other AS2 servers; (3) Flexible bandwidth allocation to handle large spikes in document traffic during peak periods; (4) Technical resources to manage AS2-mandated digital certificates for the client and each trading partner; (5) Translation of documents into XML, EDI or other formats... 'GXS's AS2 Outsourcing Service allows companies to meet the AS2 trading requirements of their customers without diverting strategic IT resources away from their core business,' said Nick Marchetti, GXS's general manager of interchange solutions. 'Based upon our AS2-interoperable transaction engine, this service enables companies of any size - even those with only a Web browser and a modem - to transact over the Internet using AS2 with a single trading partner or multiple trading partners.' GXS recently announced that its Enterprise System 7.5 integration broker software has successfully passed the latest round of AS2 interoperability testing. The tests were conducted by Drummond Group Inc. (DGI), a vendor neutral consultancy and leader in software interoperability testing, and sponsored under the Uniform Code Council Inc. (UCC) Interoperability Compliance Program..."

  • [October 22, 2002] "Microsoft Releases First Beta of 'Office 11'. Next Version of Office to Connect People, Information and Business Processes." - "Microsoft Corp. [on 2002-10-22] announced the first beta release of its next version of Microsoft Office, code-named 'Office 11.' Expected to ship in mid-2003, 'Office 11' is a significant step forward in the delivery of Microsoft's vision for improving information worker productivity. New technologies in this version of Office enable information workers to connect more effectively with people, information and business processes, thus enhancing the overall productivity of an organization... 'Office 11' makes connecting and using data simpler through its broad support for standards-based Extensible Markup Language (XML), enabling the exchange of any form of data across heterogeneous systems, platforms and applications. 'Office 11' creates a more productive work environment by enabling information workers to access the right data when and how they need it, and then apply that knowledge within the familiar Office environment to better serve customers, partners and employees. 'The XML-enabling of Office was obviously a major investment and is a major achievement,' said Tim Bray, co-inventor of XML and CTO and founder of Antarctica Systems Inc. 'Office 11, built around an open, internationalized file format, is going to be a huge step forward for people, management, independent software developers and Microsoft.' One example of how 'Office 11' takes advantage of XML is through innovative functionality called Smart Documents, which provide information workers with content specific to the document or spreadsheet in which they are working. For example, a person working on an expense report may need information from a variety of sources, such as an online credit card or cell phone bill or an organization's expense reporting policy. Smart Documents can make all this information available without requiring people to leave their Office applications. It also can streamline the submission of that information directly to the organization's back-end system, creating a more efficient business process..."

  • [October 22, 2002] "Adobe Unveils New Document Server For Dynamically Generating Adobe PDF Files. Automated Adobe PDF Document Production Helps Increase Efficiencies and Reduce Costs." - "Adobe Systems Incorporated, the leader in network publishing, today announced the Adobe Document Server, which enables enterprise customers to automatically generate and customize Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files and forms. Adobe Document Server helps reduce document production and form processing costs by allowing customers to dynamically generate customized one-to-one business communications. Large organizations including financial institutions, manufacturers and government agencies need to speed production of business documents, but most solutions are not robust enough to support enterprise applications. Adobe Document Server -- part of the new Adobe server and solutions product line announced today -- enables organizations to integrate document workflows with business critical data. Adobe Document Server is built on an open architecture for easy integration with existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, Content Management Systems (CMS), document management systems, and industry-standard databases. The server software lets companies automate document creation and assembly for technical manuals, brochures, proposals and policies, as well as create custom electronic forms with pre-populated fields, and produce business reports that contain charts and graphs dynamically generated from data in a database. Adobe Document Server integrates with existing workflows and web interfaces via a simple command structure based on eXtensible Markup Language (XML) to enable end-users to initiate the document creation and assembly process. For example, an investment manager can generate customized information to send to a client. This document could include a personalized cover letter, up-to-the-minute information on the client's current investments, and a prospectus on a recommended mutual fund for the client. The customized Adobe PDF document is then sent to the manager for review, and then emailed to the client... With support for Application Program Interfaces (APIs) for Java, Perl, COM and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) environments, programmers can develop scripts for automating the creation of Adobe PDF documents using tools they already know. Adobe Document Server also accepts XML commands, and supports Extensible Style Language Formatting Objects (XSL-FO), an industry standard for describing how an XML document should be formatted for a variety of media..." See details in the news item 2002-10-22: "Enhanced Adobe Document Servers Support XML-Based Workflow and Digital Signature Facilities."

  • [October 21, 2002] "ChemConnect links to Global eXchange Services. ChemConnect Members Gain Cost-Efficient Access to Thousands of Customers and Suppliers through GXS Network. Occidental Chemical Corporation among First to Reap Benefits of GXS Connection." - "ChemConnect, Inc., a leader in helping customers optimize their purchasing and sales processes for chemicals, plastics, and related products, and Global eXchange Services, Inc. (GXS), a leader in business-to-business Internet commerce, today announced that ChemConnect Members are now successfully exchanging data through ChemConnect's connection to the GXS network. The link between ChemConnect and GXS enables ChemConnect members to exchange electronic business documents cost-effectively with thousands of customers and suppliers in multiple industries. ChemConnect Member Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem) is already using the new service to exchange production documents with its trading partners. The connection between ChemConnect and GXS enables ChemConnect Members using the Chem eStandards data format based upon eXtensible Markup Language (XML) to send and receive documents with businesses that use electronic data interchange (EDI), proprietary data formats, or other versions of XML. Using the GXS network, ChemConnect Members no longer need to establish costly one-to-one connections with their customers or suppliers outside of the chemical industry. Instead, ChemConnect members may access these business partners using their single connection through the ChemConnect hub to the GXS network - where all data translation and transaction routing is performed automatically through GXS's EC Service Center... ChemConnect provides its members with back-end connectivity services based on Chem eStandards, the inventory, forecasting, and collaboration electronic messages developed by the Chemical Industry Data Exchange (CIDX), for the transfer of XML documents between enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. ChemConnect's link to GXS gives ChemConnect members new opportunities to exchange documents with downstream customers and suppliers, which use different electronic data exchange standards, including EDI... Global eXchange Services, Inc. (GXS) operates one of the largest B2B e-commerce networks in the world, with more than 100,000 trading partners. The network's 1 billion annual transactions account for $1 trillion in goods and services. With more than 35 years experience, GXS provides supply chain services and software to 60% of Fortune 500 companies..." See: "XML-Based 'Chem eStandard' for the Chemical Industry."

  • [October 21, 2002] "PolarLake Announces the Release of Polarlake Database Integrator: An Enterprise Solution for XML-to-Database Integration." - "PolarLake, enterprise XML and Web Services company, today announced the release of PolarLake Database Integrator, targeting XML and Web Service enablement of existing relational database applications... PolarLake Database Integrator is unique in providing both a complete integration of XML with relational databases and an enterprise-grade runtime platform. The product consists of: (1) A set of graphical wizards that extend the included PolarLake Designer environment and allow the developer to map between existing database tables/stored procedures and XML or SOAP documents. In addition, XML documents often need to be validated against business definitions and filtered, transformed and sub-divided before reaching the database application. The PolarLake Database Integrator automates these tasks with its patent pending XML Circuits approach to XML document processing. (2) A high performance, highly scalable runtime server, based on the PolarLake Dynamic XML Runtime that integrates with deployed enterprise infrastructure such as queuing systems, management infrastructure and legacy applications. PolarLake unleashes the power of XML and Web Services, enabling enterprises to integrate existing IT assets, create new business capabilities based on those assets, and rapidly evolve the resulting solutions. PolarLake achieves this through its patent-pending XML Circuits approach, and integrated development and deployment tools that keep the focus on business information, not IT infrastructure and middleware, thereby ensuring that solutions are delivered at a fraction of the conventional time and cost... PolarLake Database Integrator's XML Processing Features include: (1) Application level validation, allowing incoming messages to be validated against agreed business process definitions, and appropriate error handling and job control activities to be carried out; (2) Complex transformation using XSLT or Java components, generated using provided plug-ins for common IDEs; (3) Rich routing options, including One-to-Many and Many-to-One transformations between incoming and outgoing messages; (4) Integration of Java-based business logic components, hosted in PolarLake or in a J2EE application server. PolarLake, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and with offices in London, New York and Tokyo, is a privately funded software company, backed by international venture capital funds. PolarLake has a global network of partners and customers solving enterprise problems with XML and Web Services." See also the white paper: "Technology Overview: An Introduction to PolarLake Technology and Products."

  • [October 21, 2002] "Applied Systems Announces Mass Availability of Real-Time Communication with Major Insurance Carriers for All TAM, Vision Agencies. 7,500 Agencies Now Managing $75 Billion in P/C Premium Using IVANS Transformation Station and ACORD XML." - "Applied Systems, Inc. announced today an initiative, called the 'Light Em Up Campaign,' to install new real-time interface transactions within all agencies using Applied Systems agency management systems, and to automatically enable communications with the major insurance carriers they represent. Real-time interface via IVANS Transformation Station uses ACORD XML and the public Internet to reduce the time and expense for both the agency and the company in processing sales and service transactions. The initiative allows agents to process insurance company policy transactions and retrieve insurance company account status information, directly from within their agency systems, with the click of a mouse button, at exactly the time they need it: A customer has a request, and 'click,' the agent has an answer -- without delays, phone calls or faxes. Applied Systems has automatically set up all of its agency customers with Transformation Station accounts, pre-configured for real-time interface with the companies they represent. Eight major insurance companies are participating within the initial campaign by pre-authorizing real-time communication access, using ACORD XML transactions, for their Applied Systems agencies. The carriers include Travelers Property Casualty, The St. Paul, Progressive, Encompass Insurance, ACUITY, Ohio Casualty Group, The Hartford, and Kemper Auto and Home. The new agency-company real-time interface transactions include: (1) Policy Rating and Issuance; (2) First Notice of Loss reporting; (3) Inquiry for Policy Status, Billing Status, Claim Status and Loss Run; (4) Data Bridging between agency systems and company web sites. While the type of transactions being implemented will vary by company, all are critical transactions that independent agents need for more efficient operations. 'Each of the insurance companies has authorized its agents to begin using real-time ACORD XML transactions, such as policy quote, policy inquiry, billing inquiry, data bridging, and first notice of loss reporting,' Doug Johnston said. 'The combination of agency accounts and authorized companies represents more than 15,000 communicating pair relationships -- and covers agents managing $75 billion in property and casualty premium'... See "ACORD - XML for the Insurance Industry."

  • [October 18, 2002] "WS-I Community Approves Board Expansion. 150+ Member Community Votes to Add Two Elected Board Seats. Nominations Set for January 2003." - "The Web Services Interoperability Organization ('WS-I') announced 2002-10-17 that its member community has approved the proposal to expand the board of directors and add two new elected seats. WS-I contributing members in good standing will be eligible to run for election. Nominations will be accepted beginning January 1, 2003 and must be received no later than February 15, 2003. Any company interested in running for board election will need to join the organization and participate in its work. Elections will take place in March 2003. The term for the newly elected directors will begin on April 1, 2003... "WS-I is the most important organization for ensuring that software from different vendors can communicate using Web services standards," said Ted Schadler, group director of research at Forrester Research. "The WS-I's important work is to rise above software industry politics and give CIOs and companies confidence that the software they're buying conforms with basic conventions of interoperability. Forrester believes that today's move by the WS-I to allow new members to gain board status will benefit the software industry and firms that rely on software." WS-I is an open industry organization committed to promoting consistent and reliable interoperability among Web services across platforms, applications and programming languages. The organization unites a diverse community of Web services companies by providing guidance, recommended practices and supporting resources for developing interoperable Web services. Since its formation in February 2002, more than 150 companies have joined WS-I..." See: "Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I)." [source .DOC, PDF]

  • [October 18, 2002] "Leading Integrators and Major Newspapers Adopt Adobe InDesign and InCopy to Improve Publishing Workflows. Newspapers and Publishers Leverage Support for XML to Speed Production in North America, Europe, Australasia, and Africa." - On 2002-10-15, Adobe Systems Incorporated "announced increased adoption of Adobe InDesign 2.0 and Adobe InCopy 2.0 by leading integrators and newspaper customers. Worldwide, thirteen new integrators, two additional newspapers and another major publisher are now developing or deploying solutions based on InDesign and InCopy -- with XML at the core of many of these editorial system roll-outs. The new integrators and developers include Ailink, IBM, Quasar Technologies, SAXoTECH, Seinet and Unisys. These companies join leading system integrators such as Digital Technology International (DTI), net-linx Publishing Solutions Inc. and SchlumbergerSema already deploying integrated publishing solutions with InDesign and InCopy. Newspapers La Voz de Galicia in Spain and La Croix in France today also announced their support for a combined InDesign and InCopy editorial system. Publisher, Media24 in South Africa, confirmed its implementation of an XML and InDesign solution across its media properties... Unisys News Content Manager-Hermes is an advanced solution that lets writers and editors keep tabs on all aspects of content management -- from planning to authoring to tracking. InCopy 2.0, Adobe's professional copy editor, delivers robust support for XML and tightly integrates with Adobe InDesign professional layout and design software. InDesign's XML import/export support, editable transparency effects, table creation, long document support, and enhanced printing interface allow layout artists to create truly innovative designs. Combining these award-winning products into an editorial system allows writers, editors and copy fitters to edit, route, allocate, layout and manage editorial content, ultimately speeding newspaper and magazine production time... La Croix, a leading French daily newspaper will use InCopy and InDesign integrated with InfoPolis, the new XML content management and editorial system developed by Ailink, to simplify editorial approval and easily manage publishing workflows. Media24, owner of a major percentage of the South African newspaper market and the largest publisher of local magazines in South Africa, is authoring content in native XML. With XML, InDesign and the Adobe Design Collection, Media24's publications are able to repurpose digital content and more easily publish news to multiple media, including print, the Web as well as deliver a photo library of images available for syndication..."

  • [October 18, 2002] "Comcare Member Working Group Announces Draft Vehicular Emergency Incident Data Set." - "The ComCARE Alliance Automatic Crash Notification (ACN) Data Set Working Group today announced the completion of a draft vehicular emergency incident data set recommendation in eXtensible Markup Language (XML). XML, an open, non-proprietary standard, is the most widely accepted format for exchanging structured data between different computer systems in the world today. Once implemented by users, the data set will enable efficient, national electronic transmission of crash and other emergency information from telematics service providers, as well as other data from emergency response agency and private sources related to vehicular emergencies. The ComCARE Working Group will now present the data set to numerous other safety and medical organizations, government, companies, and standards development organizations that may be interested in the topic. The Working Group plans to work with these groups to get their input and endorsement of the data set and begin discussing implementation. The first use of the data set is in the Northern Shenandoah Valley ITS Public Safety Initiative, a project sponsored by Virginia's Department of Transportation. Late last fall the leading telematics service providers, OnStar and ATX, pledged their cooperation with the Initiative, and the data set effort was launched, with VDOT providing support for ComCARE's work in facilitating the effort. Some companies are already using earlier versions of the data set to simulate emergency incident response as part of safety technology demonstrations. 'Companies will build the data set into the new information technology systems they will be trialing in our Initiative in the Shenandoah Valley,' said Dr. Jack Potter, Director of Emergency Medical Services of Valley Health System of Winchester, Virginia, and a leader of the Initiative. 'We will be seeing use of this data set very soon.' More than 20 organizations participated in the effort, including safety leaders of the Northern Shenandoah Valley Initiative, OnStar, ATX Technologies, the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), the National Association of State EMS Directors, the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch (NAED), and others. The participation and leadership of OnStar and ATX represents more than 95 percent of the existing telematics market. Developing an ACN data standard was first recommended by the National Mayday Readiness Initiative (NMRI) in the fall of 2000..." See details in the news item "ComCARE Alliance Publishes XML-Based Emergency Incident Data Set Recommendation."

  • [October 17, 2002] "MIB Deploys REST Technology for XML Web Service." - "MIB Group, Inc. announced today the availability of a set of Web services that extend in-house IT business solutions to clients by providing software functionality directly via the Web versus a standalone application. Included are MIB's Security Alert Entity Look-up Utility and Security Alert ID Look-up Utility, both research companions to MIB's Security Alert Services (SAS) compliance solution for the USA PATRIOT Act (OFAC) and OSFI Canadian regulations. These Web services retrieve all available information on specific "denied parties" directly from the OFAC or OSFI web sites, on a manual or fully integrated basis. MIB Web services use an architectural style called REST (Representational State Transfer) that employs standard Internet technologies (XML, URI and HTTP) to provide quick, simple integration with a customers' existing business systems. Accessing MIB's Web services is easy, and users have the option of receiving formatted HTML or native XML. The Web services also ensures that users of MIB's Security Alert Services compliance reports are seeing the most up-to-date information available from both OFAC and OSFI. Both Klevitsky and DiAngelo see Web services based on REST, along with its Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) counterpart, playing major roles as MIB continues to reengineer core business systems and deploy new functionality to clients..."

  • [October 16, 2002] "Systinet Announces Wasp 4.0 OEM Edition, Designed for Independent Software Vendors and OEMs. Mercator, Interwoven among OEM clients to adopt Systinet WASP technology. Company expects OEMs to lead rapid adoption through 2003." - "Systinet today announced a strategic OEM initiative which includes products and services designed to make it easy for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to benefit from Web services technology. As part of this initiative, Systinet announced a new version of its WASP Web services product suite, WASP OEM Edition. Leading software companies such as Interwoven and Mercator have chosen Systinet WASP to power Web services within their own products because WASP is platform independent, easy to embed, and can be quickly branded and customized. Web services provide significant competitive advantages for OEMs and ISVs by making their products far easier to integrate, more flexible, and more cost effective to deploy and manage. WASP OEM Edition is an extension of Systinet's popular WASP Suite of products and features enhanced customization capabilities, APIs and documentation support. Systinet has also created pricing and licensing options designed to accommodate the unique business models of OEMs and ISVs. In addition, WASP OEM Edition is free for evaluation and testing, and can be downloaded from Systinet's web site... Kevin Cochrane, VP Product Management, Interwoven, said: 'As nearly 100 installed customers have realized, the new Interwoven 5 platform enables customers to easily embed content management and content distribution services in their enterprise applications and enterprise portals. Systinet provides what we need: a high-performance, platform-independent Web services solution for Java and C++, highly reliable and secure technology, and excellent support. Systinet's products are also easy to customize and embed. We look forward to working together.' The Systinet WASP suite of products is a complete solution for building, deploying, securing and managing Web services. Systinet WASP Server for Java is an industrial-strength Web services runtime environment that fully supports industry standards, including SOAP 1.1, SOAP 1.2, and WSDL 1.1. WASP Server for Java was described as 'the best and most sophisticated Web services offering for Java' by eWeek in June 2002..." See other details in the product overview.

  • [October 16, 2002] ".NET MySingapore Announces New Partners to Bring XML Web Services Closer to Singaporeans." - "Singaporeans will soon experience how Web Services can make life more convenient and take the hassle out of everyday tasks. To support this primary objective, the leaders of .NET MySingapore, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA Singapore) and Microsoft today announced three new partners - the Institute of Systems Science (ISS), National Computer Systems (NCS) and NTUC Income. Together, they create the world's first living lab for XML (Extensible Markup Language) Web Services. First announced in April 2002 by IDA Singapore and Microsoft, .NET MySingapore is a collaborative project to develop XML Web Services in Singapore. The project also aims to tap into the potential of Web Services for opportunities to build new infocomm skills and knowledge as well as open new avenues of business... .NET MySingapore consists of four distinct pillars: Community XML Web Services, Training, Overseas Development and Emerging Technologies Exploration... NTUC Income is the services aggregator in this first pillar of .NET MySingapore. Through .NET MySingapore, NTUC Income will enhance its existing online services for its 1 million policyholders and the public. NTUC Income's contribution to the XML Web Services project will be unveiled later today, at the launch of www.BigTrumpet.com.sg. The site will enable the public to easily access and utilise online services, enjoying the convenience of transacting in a personalised environment with a number of organisations simultaneously. NTUC Income Chief Executive Tan Kin Lian said, 'By incorporating XML Web Services into our existing online services, we hope to create a whole new experience for our customers and business partners.' NTUC Income is also partnering with Hewlett-Packard (HP) and TrustedHub on BigTrumpet. HP is providing the agile IT infrastructure and managed services, and Trusted Hub is providing a highly secure and certified Electronic Trusted Vault for the creation, storage and management of electronic content for BigTrumpet..."

  • [October 16, 2002] "STEEL24-7 Facilitates Online Steel Business with ebXML Messaging Based on the webMethods Integration Platform. Electronic Business XML Standard Enables Steel Buyers and Suppliers to Better Link Systems." - "webMethods, Inc., the leading provider of integration software, today [2002=10-14] announced that STEEL24-7, the e-business platform for the steel industry, has leveraged the webMethods integration platform and its out-of- the-box support for ebXML to provide buyers and suppliers with an open, standards-based architecture for automating the global supply chain. Both STEEL24-7 and webMethods have taken the lead in promoting the adoption of ebXML standards for messaging over the Internet in the steel industry. STEEL24-7 is a European platform for the steel industry founded by Arcelor, Corus and ThyssenKrupp Steel. The company operates a communications hub for buyers and suppliers in the steel industry. By implementing the webMethods integration platform, STEEL24-7 can automate supply chain processes by enabling buyers and suppliers to seamlessly connect back-end ERP systems and communicate in real time... With the capability to automatically convert messages, STEEL24-7 can support communication between business partners using different messaging standards and formats. In particular, STEEL24-7 can offer translation services between EDI and XML messages, thus giving buyers and suppliers the ability to leverage existing IT investments. webMethods supports STEEL24-7's vision of becoming the premier global communications hub for the steel industry by providing a comprehensive integration platform that enables a variety of customers, suppliers and partners to streamline business transactions through direct, real-time communication. With the webMethods integration platform, STEEL24-7 can now offer members a solution for rapid and efficient connection to the hub and easy adoption of new message standards and formats. STEEL24-7 uses the XML and EDIFACT document standards specified by EUROFER, the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries, based on the ebXML and UN/CEFACT standardization work. Initially, STEEL24-7 will support the key messages involved in the ordering and delivery business processes. Based on the progress made with EUROFER, further messages and message translation capabilities will be incorporated into the hub infrastructure on an ongoing basis..." See: "Electronic Business XML Initiative (ebXML)."

  • [October 15, 2002] "Intel and Microsoft Collaborate on Development of Speech Application Language Tags (SALT)-based Speech-Enabled Web Solutions. Initiative to Bring Microsoft and Intel Speech Software and Hardware Technologies to Enterprise and Channel Customers." - "Today at the Intel Communications Summit 2002, Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. announced that the two companies are developing enabling technologies and a reference design for the deployment of speech-enabled Web solutions in the enterprise based on the Speech Applications Language Tags (SALT) specification. The scope of the technical collaboration and reference design will include the Microsoft .NET Speech platform along with standards-based Intel communications building blocks which include Intel Architecture servers, Intel NetStructure communications boards and Intel telephony call management interface software... The use of Intel telephony building blocks and the Microsoft .NET Speech platform will help customers more quickly and easily speech-enable Web solutions, and will offer an open, flexible and extensible speech system to a broad customer base. The parties will develop and test their respective technology components and the reference design so that they can be used by developers to build speech-enabled Web applications for the enterprise market segment. Together, Microsoft and Intel will also engage in joint sales and marketing activities focused toward their respective enterprise and channel customers, distributors, technology partners, ISVs and the Web developer community... The SALT specification defines a set of lightweight tags as extensions to commonly used Web-based programming languages and is strengthened by incorporating existing standards from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Developed by the SALT Forum, the SALT 1.0 specification was submitted to the W3C under royalty-free terms in August. SALT is designed for both telephony and multimodal Web applications, and will enable access to Web-based information, applications and services from a wide range of devices including PCs, telephones, cell phones, wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs), Pocket PCs and Tablet PCs. Established in October 2001 by Cisco Systems Inc., Comverse Inc., Intel, Microsoft, Philips Speech Processing and SpeechWorks International Inc., the SALT Forum brings together a diverse group of more than 50 industry-leading companies with a common interest in developing and promoting speech technologies for multimodal and telephony applications..." See: (1) the Intel overview, "Speech Application Language Tags (SALT). Creating a Speech Technology Standard for the Internet."; (2) general references in "Speech Application Language Tags (SALT)."

  • [October 15, 2002] Leaders in the Emergency Management Industry Form EXML Consortium to Establish Interoperability Standards." - "Leading companies in the emergency management industry announced today the formation of the EXML Consortium to promote and establish commercial interoperability standards for companies providing software solutions to emergency management personnel, particularly first responders. Information about the EXML Consortium was first made available at the booths of participating companies at the International Association of Emergency Management Annual Meeting in Columbus, Ohio, October 12-16, 2002. Recognizing the urgent need to provide first responders and others involved in preparing for, responding to and recovering from emergencies of all kinds with the support they need, the following companies have committed to creating an open XML-based standard for emergency management data exchange. This will ensure that first responders, emergency and event managers, public health agency officials and executive management in both the public and private sectors can create and immediately share critical information during an emergency or major event. Founding members of the EXML Consortium include: AlertTech, BizCom USA, Blue292, ESRI, E Team, Inc., International Analytics (Division of Ship Analytics), NC4, SAIC, Visual Risk, and WebEOC..." Contact: Annie Baker (E Team, Inc).

  • [October 15, 2002] "Netegrity Addresses Web Services Security With Release of TransactionMinder. Enables Companies to Use Web Services to Unlock and Integrate Mission Critical Applications For Internal Users and External Partners." - Netegrity, Inc., leading "provider of application infrastructure for access, identity and portal management, has announced the release of Netegrity TransactionMinder. Companies are utilizing Web services to lower the cost and complexity of integrating applications and delivering services while improving customer and partner relations through real time access to business services. However, the lack of security for Web services has limited the scope of these Web services deployments. Netegrity TransactionMinder solves this problem by providing the first, enterprise scale solution for controlling access to Web services. With TransactionMinder, companies can now control who can access a Web service (authentication) and what can be done with the Web service (authorization)... Web services pose a new set of security challenges that traditional access control products were not designed to solve. Traditional access control solutions control users accessing applications on a Web site. With Web services, XML messages, not users, are now arriving at a Web site. These XML messages contain information that will be used to process a transaction at the Web site, such as a purchase order for buying steel or a request for a life insurance quote. In order to secure Web services, companies need a solution that can use the information inside these XML messages to determine (1) Who is requesting access to this Web Service (authentication) -- the solution must be able extract from the XML message information to determine who or what (application) is the originator of the message. Are they a trusted user or partner? (2) What can be done with this Web service (authorization) - the solution must determine if this person, application, or service is authorized to process this Web service transaction based on the information inside the XML message. (3) What reports or information should be recorded (auditing) - the solution must be able to provide detailed reports on the activity that has taken place with the Web service... TransactionMinder is based on industry standards. It is designed to work with standard Web services technologies such as SOAP messages and WSDL. The product also supports SAML and XML Digital Signatures for authentication and supports industry standard Web service frameworks such as Microsoft .NET, Apache, and Netscape servers..." See: "Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)."

  • [October 15, 2002] "Iona's New Corba Connect Program Offers Seamless Corba to Web Services Migration. New Software, Services, and Training Package Enables Customers To Tap Existing CORBA Solutions with Web Services for Improved Collaboration, New Business Initiatives and Greater Operational Efficiency." - IONA, "leading e-Business platform provider for Web Services Integration, today announced CORBA Connect, a software, services, and training package that delivers CORBA users a roadmap for success with Web services. CORBA Connect is a cost-effective, rapid implementation program that combines IONA's Orbix E2A Web Services Integration Platform - XMLBus Edition, the services of an IONA-certified technical architect, and dedicated customer services support. Taking advantage of CORBA Connect, IONA customers can count on IONA engineers and consultants supporting them through every step of their strategic integration initiatives, helping them to fully utilize data and business logic of CORBA applications with Web services to create new efficiencies that streamline enterprise systems and business operations. 'The new CORBA Connect program from IONA offers organizations an exciting and a viable integration roadmap for new and old CORBA applications,' said Richard Soley, Chairman and CEO of the Object Management Group (OMG). 'IONA earned its position as an outstanding market visionary in CORBA integration technology in its early and vigorous leadership of the standards process and its major successes in solving the complex CORBA to COM interoperability problem in the early 1990's. Those early successes proved IONA understood how to make disparate software systems work together, and more importantly, what their customers needed to be successful. With CORBA Connect, IONA has again created a solution that can solve the interoperability challenge being faced by today's enterprise.' CORBA Connect is based on IONA's Web Services Integration Platform - XMLBus Edition 5.4, which was announced by IONA on September 16, 2002 and is now generally available. XMLBus 5.4 delivers enhanced features that enable the bridging of CORBA systems to Web services, such as an 'Operation Flow Designer' that addresses the problems inherent in mapping complex CORBA systems into more abstract, business-focused Web services. XMLBus 5.4 supports a variety of existing CORBA development platforms including Orbix, ORBacus and Borland's VisiBroker..."

  • [October 15, 2002] "Cape Clear Announces Web Services Integration for SWIFT Financial Network." - "Cape Clear Software, a leading provider of Web Services technology, today announced a Web Services-based integration solution for the SWIFT network. SWIFT is a messaging platform for over 7,000 financial institutions in 197 countries. Cape Clear will enable SWIFT's Members to bypass the traditional costly and complex integration approach, and instead use Web Services to integrate with the SWIFT network and provide Closed User Groups for their clients. SWIFT is migrating its existing X.25-based network to SWIFTNet, which uses Internet Protocol (IP) network technologies and XML. The first service provided by SWIFT utilizing XML is Cash Reporting. Cape Clear will be demonstrating a number of solutions for implementing Cash Reporting at the SWIFT Sibos conference in Switzerland this week, along with solutions for exposing the SWIFT Service as a Web Service and converting existing FIN messages to XML... Cape Clear will expose SWIFT as a Web Service, making it easy for any participating organization to link its business applications to the network using the Web Services standards (XML, SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI). The result is a significant reduction in the cost of integration for any institution looking to link its applications with the SWIFT network and its clients. Cape Clear supports the creation and integration of Web Services from Java, J2EE, .NET, CORBA, COBOL, and all XML-supported applications. Based on the XML standard, the next generation of SWIFT messages (XML for SWIFT, as described in ISO15022) is planned to be phased into general use. This is a fundamental change to the current SWIFT message standards and signals the move of SWIFT from X.25 to IP network technologies. The new messages are based on business elements relevant to the specific business process. Customers will benefit from these new messages, which will be easier both to update and use. These messages will also better embrace the principles of straight-through processing (STP), providing increased business functionality, along with the capacity for expanded use without any loss of efficiency..." See: "swiftML for Business Messages."

  • [October 14, 2002] "KaVaDo Makes SOAP & WebServices Safe With Launch of New Security Module. Emerging Web Technologies Secured by Web Application Protection Product, InterDo." - "KaVaDo, Inc., technology leader in Web Application Protection, announced today the IT industry's first application layer security protection module for SOAP & WebServices. This module, for KaVaDo's flagship security product InterDo, is designed to make it safe for enterprises to deploy mission-critical applications using emerging WebServices technology. WebServices technology features self-contained modular applications that are invoked over the Internet by other applications. Using HTTP, XML and the new protocol SOAP, it promises to increase the speed of e-business by automating many of the processes that today require manual intervention. KaVaDo says the scheme poses a tougher security challenge than conventional server/browser architecture because it uses additional protocols and procedures that were designed to pass through standard security products, like firewalls, unexamined. Moreover, WebServices, like current Web technologies, has almost no means of protection against application layer attacks -- now the most common form of intrusion according to industry analysts. Existing security solutions focus primarily on XML encryption and user authentication, which address only a small portion of the security issues in this emerging technology... KaVaDo's InterDo works at the business logic level, monitoring traffic flowing into and out of WebServices applications. It validates all message content against current security policy and prevents it from damaging or manipulating applications, back-end infrastructure or other critical IT resources. In the WebServices environment, InterDo will: (1) Provide an additional level of security to the carrier protocol, preventing known HTTP vulnerabilities that have not been fully addressed; (2) Compare messages to SOAP standard definition, preventing malicious or malformed structures from being passed to Web applications; (3) Eliminate default-based WebServices and block the exploitation of known and generic vulnerabilities in common products; (4) Eliminate vulnerabilities caused by misconfiguration of 3rd party applications; (5) Prevent the processing of manipulated or malformed message content and block attempted namespaces and encoding manipulations; (6) Secure against common application layer vulnerabilities like SQL injection, parameter tampering, buffer overflow, and session-based information manipulation; (7) Protect against application language mismatches and requests that contain different data encoding standards...

  • [October 11, 2002] "Microsoft Certifies The Vanguard Group as First to Deliver Account Data Via XML-Compliant OFX Specification. Leading Investment Management Firm Embraces Connectivity Standard to Offer Clients Mutual Fund and Brokerage Account Information in Microsoft Money." - "Microsoft Corp. has announced an agreement with The Vanguard Group Inc., the nation's second largest mutual fund firm, to provide account information to consumers via the XML-compliant version of the Open Financial Exchange (OFX) specification. Now, consumers can seamlessly download their Vanguard account information including mutual fund balances, individual security positions and transaction activity directly into Microsoft Money personal finance software versions 2001-2003 via OFX 2.0. Microsoft Money is the only personal finance management software to connect with a financial institution through OFX 2.0... Since the first version of OFX became available for download from OFX Consortium founders CheckFree Corp., Intuit Inc. and Microsoft in early 1997, the specification has grown to support a wide range of financial activities, including consumer and small-business banking, bill payment, bill presentment, and investment download and tracking, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds and tax information such as W2 and 1099 forms. The XML-compliant version of OFX is more flexible and can work with more companies' existing networks, making implementation of the specification easier than ever. It also allows financial institutions to enhance their services as the OFX specification advances. 'This agreement represents the first transfer of data via OFX 2.0 to Microsoft Money, demonstrating the value of an XML-compliant standard for the financial services industry,' said Greg Martin, connectivity evangelist for OFX at Microsoft. 'Through this certification with Vanguard, Microsoft is delivering on its commitment to help financial institutions simplify the direct exchange of data and, in turn, offer better services to their customers.' With more than 1,400 financial services companies using OFX, the specification is the most widely adopted standard for the exchange of financial information between consumers and financial services providers. OFX is governed by a consortium of leading financial institutions and technology providers that discuss and vote on the advancements of OFX specifications..." See: "Open Financial Exchange (OFX)."

  • [October 10, 2002] "ISDA Issues Call for Participation for FpML Energy and Validation Working Groups. Schedules Fall FpML Conferences." - "The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has issued a call for participation for two new working groups for the Financial products Markup Language (FpML) standard -- Energy and Validation FpML is the XML-based, freely licensed, e-commerce standard supporting OTC trading of financial derivatives. The energy working group will extend the FpML standard to include energy derivatives, while the validation working group will examine the business rules for validating FpML and the technical implementation of these business rules... ISDA has scheduled its first ever FpML conferences for November 19, 2002 in New York and December 13, 2002 in London. The conferences will provide an overview of all developments that have taken place on the FpML front since the second half of 2001 as well as the challenges FpML faces ahead. A panel discussion on industry standards and on the practical application of FpML will also be held. The afternoon sessions will consist of detailed information on the current specifications in the different asset classes as defined in version 3.0 and version 4.0..." See: (1) complete details in the news item "ISDA Announces New FpML Working Groups for Energy and Validation"; (2) general references in "Financial Products Markup Language (FpML)."

  • [October 10, 2002] "XML 2002 to Bring Industry and Standards Together. Leading IT Organizations and Consortia to Participate and Collaborate on XML Conference and Exposition 2002 Program." - "IDEAlliance, a leading trade association dedicated to fostering XML and other information standards, announced today that three of the leading promoters of Internet technologies, including standards adoption and development, will co-host this year's XML Conference and Exposition 2002. This year's event is being held December 8-13, 2002 in Baltimore, Maryland at the Baltimore Convention Center. As the industry's leading conference and trade show dedicated to XML technologies, XML 2002 will focus this year on 'putting the pieces together.' This year's program will feature speakers and organizations that are helping to shape the future of how XML is used by implementing current technologies. XML 2002 is expected to attract more than 1,000 IT professionals, including applications engineers, chief information officers, directors of e-business, project managers and team leaders from Fortune 500 corporations as well as small businesses, government agencies and nonprofit organizations. Three organizations are co-hosting the event to help to promote and foster these new and emerging technologies. Their goal for the event is to educate attendees on compelling industry issues and offer insights on how new innovations and standards development can help to keep pace with rapidly changing global technologies. These co-hosts are: (1) DISA (The Data Interchange Standards Association) is home for the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12 and industry groups developing e-business standards that provide the foundation enabling individuals and organizations to participate in global e-business. Driving an array of e-business initiatives, DISA provides technical and administrative support to many affiliated organizations. (2) OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, global consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business standards. OASIS produces worldwide standards for security, Web services, XML conformance, business transactions, electronic publishing, topic maps and interoperability within and between marketplaces. (3) The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) was founded by Tim Berners-Lee in 1994 to ensure that the evolution of the Web architecture would be consistent with its genesis -- as an open, interoperable, extensible system. W3C is the place where HTML and StyleSheet technologies evolve; it is also where XML was born, and continues to develop. Over 44 W3C Recommendations have been published covering essential Web technologies for Privacy, Graphics, Metadata, Web Services; Web Accessibility; Voice Browsing and Multimodal Interaction. W3C is also the development center for Quality Assurance work and the development of test suites, validators, and a range of free software available for public use..."

  • [October 10, 2002] "Communicator Inc Enables Identity Management Service with SAML Standard. Security Assertions Markup Language Capability Enables Faster Implementation of Single Sign-on." - "Communicator Inc, a leading provider of secure electronic communication services to Fortune 1000 companies, announced today that it has enabled its digital identity management service, Communicator Hub ID, to leverage the Security Assertions Markup Language (SAML) standard. This will allow companies that use SAML-enabled access and authorization products to join Hub ID's single sign-on service faster. Communicator Inc also announced that it has joined the Organization for Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), the body that oversees the SAML specifications... Communicator Inc pioneered a federated directory structure within Hub ID to enable single sign-on among various enterprises. This structure enables companies to maintain complete control over their customer, partner, supplier and employee lists even as authentication information is shared... SAML is an XML standard for exchanging security credentials between online business partners, regardless of the authorization product used by either partner. Communicator Hub ID will augment its proprietary Cooked URL (CURL) protocol for exchanging authentication credentials with SAML, thereby eliminating a key barrier to cross-enterprise single sign-on. The standard enables companies that use SAML-enabled access and authentication products to be up and running with Hub ID faster. 'SAML will make it easier and faster for our member companies to achieve single sign-on through Hub ID,' said Staunton Peck, president of SecuritiesHub, an online financial community that links securities dealers with institutional investors around the globe. 'When authentication information moves from one financial institution to another, there are numerous business rules and policies that must be implemented to securely exchange that information. While SAML makes that process easier, we still need a company like Communicator Inc to ensure that Jonathan Doe from one company is the same person as John A. Doe at another company'..." See: "Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)."

  • [October 08, 2002] "Entrust Leads Security Standards Development for Web Services. Leading EAI Vendors, including webMethods and TIBCO, Support Security Standards to Accelerate Web Services Deployment." - "Entrust, Inc., a leading global provider of Internet security solutions and services, today announced that it has submitted a set of security standards proposals for Web services to the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS). These standards proposals specify open, XML protocols for digital signature and timestamping services operating in a Web services context. Entrust has submitted these proposals to accelerate the adoption of Web services standards, and is committed to implementing these standards as they evolve through and emerge from the OASIS standards body. Complementing and extending Web services security standards such as WS-Security and XML Digital Signatures, these proposals will enable new capabilities necessary for binding and auditable transactions. Transactions within and between organizations will require this security to enable automated business processes that will allow organizations to realize the promise of interoperable Web services. Leading Enterprise Application Integration vendors including TIBCO and webMethods recognize the value of these capabilities and support Entrust's submission of these proposed interfaces to OASIS... Digital signatures and timestamping provide the necessary long-term integrity and accountability for online business transactions. Through these capabilities, organizations are able to determine the parties involved in a transaction, the specific moment in time the transaction occurred, and that the transaction has not been altered since it was digitally signed -- all essential attributes of important business transactions. Entrust's digital signature and timestamping Services represent two central capabilities of the Entrust Verification Service, which enables long-term accountability and integrity for Web services transactions. The Verification Service is part of Entrust's Secure Transaction Platform, a portfolio of products that deliver security for Web services. This new platform will support a broad range of additional standards to maximize interoperability, including XML, SOAP, SAML, and WS-Security..."

  • [October 08, 2002] "Entrust Unveils Comprehensive Vision And Product Delivery Roadmap For Web Services Security. Entrust Secure Transaction Platform Provides Open, Interoperable, and Flexible Security Solutions for Web Services Applications -- BEA, IBM Support." - "Entrust, Inc., a leading global provider of Internet security solutions and services, today announced a new product portfolio providing open, standards-compliant security capabilities for Web services applications. The Entrust Secure Transaction Platform helps enable organizations to securely integrate automated business processes while leveraging the return on investment and efficiencies inherent in using Web services. The Entrust Secure Transaction Platform enables more trusted transactions through foundation security services, such as identification, entitlements and verification... Initially, the Entrust Secure Transaction Platform will deliver a modular set of foundation security services for adding security to Web services applications. Developed using open industry standards, these services include: (1) Entrust Identification Service to enable validation of federated and non-federated identities across a spectrum of standards-based identification methods, including digital certificates and UserID/passwords. This capability enhances Web services application security by managing multiple identification methods. It also allows organizations to centrally specify which identities are accepted for Web services transactions. (2) Entrust Entitlements Service which implements the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) standard protocol that enables applications to validate that an identity has a right to interact with specific Web services. (3) Entrust Verification Service to provide evidence to help support accountability and integrity for more trusted transactions through centralized digital signature and time stamping capabilities implemented using standards-compliant XML Digital Signatures... From a standards perspective, customers and partners today implement the Entrust Authority Security Toolkit for Java to add security to Web services transactions using the "XML-Signature Syntax and Processing" (XML Digital Signature), a W3C recommendation and IETF draft standard that Entrust helped initiate and co-author in 1999. The Secure Transaction Platform also provides support for major Web services and Internet security standards, including SAML, XML Digital Signatures, WS-Security, X.509v3 digital certificates, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and many others." See: (1) "Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)"; (2) W3C XML Signature Working Group.

  • [October 08, 2002] "RSA Security Introduces RSA ClearTrust 5.0, One of the Industry's Most Comprehensive Web Access Management Solutions. RSA ClearTrust 5.0 software introduces new features designed to improve usability, interoperability and security for Trusted Identity and Access Management." - RSA Security has "announced the availability of RSA ClearTrust 5.0 software, which incorporates significant new usability, interoperability and security enhancements into the company's award-winning Web access management solution. The new software is designed to allow companies to easily secure and manage trusted user identities and access privileges across heterogeneous e-business environments. Early accolades from RSA Security customers and industry analysts have centered on the solution's state-of-the-art Graphical User Interface (GUI), advanced interoperability through Security Assertion Mark-up Language (SAML) support and stronger inter-component security using RSA BSAFE encryption and RSA Keon digital certificate management solutions... The RSA ClearTrust 5.0 solution helps organizations lower operating costs and securely extend their e-business infrastructure to take advantage of untapped market opportunities. The RSA ClearTrust 5.0 solution introduces a new approach to administration and user management with an intuitive Web-based interface that utilizes today's most widely used Web navigation techniques, significantly reducing training and overall staffing requirements. The RSA ClearTrust 5.0 solution also supports the SAML specification, the industry standard for exchanging authentication, attribute and authorization information, allowing organizations to enable secure Web single sign-on to applications within organizations as well as across companies... Included in the RSA ClearTrust 5.0 release is support for the SAML 1.0 specification, an XML framework for exchanging authentication, attribute and authorization information for secure SSO... RSA ClearTrust 5.0 software provides native support for both database and directory user repositories, as well as improved API functionality for custom integration..." See "Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)."

  • [October 08, 2002] "Microsoft Details Vision for the Connected Business and Unveils 'Jupiter'. The 'Jupiter' Vision Aims to Unify and Extend Current E-Business Server Technologies And Include Standardized Business Process Management Capabilities, Deeper Support For XML Web Services, and Richer Developer and Information Worker Experiences." - "Microsoft Corp. today announced at MEC 2002 the company's vision for the connected business, which included a groundbreaking project code-named 'Jupiter.' The project will integrate and componentize the award-winning Microsoft e-business servers to help enterprises connect an IT ecosystem of information, people and business processes. The 'Jupiter' set of technologies will be delivered in two phases over the next year to 18 months and will include revolutionary business process management and monitoring capabilities, additional support for XML Web services standards, including Business Process Execution Language for Web services (BPEL4WS), and richer developer and information worker support through enhanced integrations with Visual Studio .NET and Office. Paul Flessner, senior vice president of Microsoft .NET Enterprise Servers, and David Kiker, general manager of E-Business Servers, outlined this evolutionary road map today in keynote presentations... The 'Jupiter' vision aims to enable the connected business by bringing Microsoft's current e-business servers together into a more unified environment. That environment includes improved experiences for developers and information workers through integration with Visual Studio .NET and Office, integrated security, deployment, management and monitoring across the technologies, and improved XML Web services support for interoperability in the enterprise. 'Jupiter's' four principal design themes -- business process management, integrated, interoperable and componentized -- enable companies to connect information, people and processes. The first set of technologies is scheduled to be delivered in the second half of 2003 and will contain the following services for business process management, XML Web services support, and internal and external integration: Process automation, Workflow, Integration technologies, BPEL support, and Integrated developer experience..."

  • [October 08, 2002] "ECP.NL and HR-XML Consortium Leverage Each Other's Strengths with Strategic Partnership." - "Global cooperation in digital commerce and electronic procurement advanced today as the Netherlands-based ECP.NL (Electronic Commerce Platform-Netherlands), and the HR-XML Consortium announced an agreement formalizing a strategic relationship between the two organizations. In a signed memorandum of understanding, the ECP.NL and the HR-XML Consortium, Inc., agreed to a series of steps geared toward achieving broader and closer cooperation and integration. For example, the two will, promote each other's initiatives through their respective websites and newsletters, and advocate each other's requests and proposals within their respective member networks. A key area of mutual interest between ECP.NL and the HR-XML Consortium is data standards for transactions between staffing customers and staffing suppliers. In May 2002, the HR-XML Consortium released Staffing Industry Data Exchange Standards (SIDES), a comprehensive suite of data exchange standards offering new efficiencies and cost savings for staffing customers, staffing suppliers, and other stakeholders in the staffing supply chain. The adoption and promotion of SIDES, and the development of extensions appropriate for the Dutch staffing market, are objectives shared by ECP.NL and HR-XML. Established in January 1998, ECP.NL grew out of a strong interest by the Netherlands government and business groups to increase of the competitiveness of Dutch business in the digital economy. Part of ECP.NL's mission is to promote the development and adoption of standards to enable electronic purchasing and supply-chain automation. In furtherance of this mission, the Dutch EP-NL initiative was the first standards organization to publish business process guidelines for the electronic procurement of temporary staffing. ECP.NL is presently involved in an EU-funded project called 'OpenXchange' to implement the HR-XML Consortium's SIDES standards within the international ebXML standards framework. The OpenXchange project involves major Dutch companies as well as staffing agencies like Randstad, Adecco and Manpower... ECP.NL has approximately 180 participating organizations from the private-sector firms, government, standards organizations, and education and research institutes. ECP.NL is a representative for The Netherlands on committees within the United Nations, the European Union, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development..."

  • [October 08, 2002] "Edify's Convergence Server Unifies Web and Telephony Architectures. C-Server Enables Multiple IP-based Delivery Channels from a Single Application, Including Voice XML and All Other Standard Mark Up Languages." - "Edify Corporation, an S1 company and a leading global supplier of multi-channel enterprise CRM solutions, announced today a major industry breakthrough in delivering customer contact solutions across disparate Web and telephony architectures. Built as an integral part of the Edify 8 architecture, C-Server allows a single converged application to be presented through standards-based markup languages: as speech through VoiceXML; wireless through WML; web through HTML; or on any other channel supported by a markup language. C-Server enables complete customer experience consistency across multiple contact channels, all driven from a single application on a single solutions platform. 'Integration is a top priority for enterprise IT groups,' noted Mark Plakias, senior vice president of The Kelsey Group. 'XML technologies like Voice XML expedite this, but it takes products like C-Server which can deliver integration at the business rules and application-level to deliver truly integrated multi-channel solutions to companies who want a consistent experience across phone, wireless, and Web.' Edify's C-Server provides seamless integration of business rules and data access across all enterprise touchpoints. The business rules are created, modified and maintained with the same tools allowing these business rules to apply instantly and consistently across all applications, reducing the development time, testing time and maintenance of applications. As an example, a comprehensive business campaign can be developed with a single Edify application and driven through Voice XML, HTML and WML, ensuring consistency and intelligence across the voice, Web and wireless channels. With more than 2,000 global customers, Edify is a leader in converging Web and telephony technologies, including speech recognition, for the enterprise. Edify provides comprehensive multi-channel solutions that power some of the largest customer-transaction web sites in the world, delivering real return on investment and improved customer satisfaction. Those customers include [e.g., BellSouth, GE Medical Systems, SAFECO]..."

  • [October 07, 2002] "Corel Ventura 10 Now Available. Extending the Power of XML Content to Professional Business Publishing." - "Corel Corporation today announced that Corel Ventura 10 is now available. A comprehensive page-layout and publishing application, Corel Ventura 10 provides exceptional tools designed specifically for the creation of highly-formatted and visually-rich business documents. Including new features such as XML import, Publish to PDF, and enhanced graphics support, Corel Ventura 10 is the ideal tool for business document creation. Together with Corel XMetaL 3, Corel Ventura 10 enables enterprise customers to quickly and easily create and professionally publish XML content. The easy-to-use XMetaL interface enables anyone within an organization to create XML. Corel Ventura 10 ensures that customers can use XML content, as well as a wide variety of content formats, to create professional documentation. 'In addition to its exceptional publishing power, Corel Ventura 10 enables enterprise customers to realize the maximum value of their XML content. By its very nature, XML provides huge efficiencies for mobile and Web content creation. Corel Ventura 10 takes this one step further - delivering XML content for print,' said Bruce Sharpe, executive vice-president of XML content solutions for Corel. 'By providing comprehensive support for a wide variety of file formats, Corel Ventura 10 enables customers to re-use their content to create high-end, visually-rich documents.' New features and enhancements include: (1) XML Import: Format and publish XML content with the new XML Mapping Editor. (2) Publish to PDF: Create PDF files directly from within Corel Ventura 10. Users can take advantage of advanced PDF settings for professional printing output. (3) Integrated Preflight Engine: Receive valuable feedback on publications before final output with new preflight warnings and the ability to save preflight styles for common workflows such as Print, Publish to PDF and Publish to the Web. (4) Enhanced Graphics Capabilities: Power documents with compelling visuals using more than 50 new bitmap effects and improved support for import and export picture file formats, including CorelDRAW 11. (5) Table Tags: Use Table Tags to format multiple tables simultaneously. This enhancement takes the robust table functionality in Corel Ventura to a new level..." See also "XML Powers Document Builders," by Peter Coffee.

  • [October 07, 2002] "Qwest Communications Launches Service To Help Customers Design Voice-Enabled Customer Service Applications." - "Qwest Communications International Inc. has "launched a new Web portal that provides business customers and systems integrators with the tools to develop customized interactive voice response (IVR) and speech recognition applications for their customer service functions. With these specially tailored applications, businesses and systems integrators can quickly and cost-effectively provide their customers with higher quality service via the telephone, e-mail or the Internet. The new portal -- called the Qwest Development Network -- is based on the voice extensible mark-up language (VXML), which is an open standard design code used to create voice-enabled Web applications. The development network provides tools for VXML application development, testing, online documentation and expert live technical support. Business customers and systems integrators can create an application from concept to prototype to trial to production at a reduced cost. Also, because the development network is based on an open standard concept, Qwest business customers and systems integrators can protect their development investment and easily migrate the application to Qwest Web Contact Center(sm) or other VXML platforms. Used by large and small companies alike, Qwest Web Contact Center is a Web-driven platform that integrates voice and data applications so businesses can provide world-class customer service over the phone or the Web. Qwest Web Contact Center enables businesses to implement a variety of functions including IVR, in-bound customer service, out-bound marketing, Web chats and other help desk applications. Qwest Web Contact Center supports both Speechworks and Nuance speech recognition technologies, and seamlessly integrates with Genesys and Cisco's ICM Computer Telephony Integration platforms for enhanced call management..." See: "VoiceXML Forum."

  • [October 07, 2002] "Microsoft and Intervoice Create Sales, Marketing and Technology Alliance Aimed at Making Speech Technology Mainstream Strategic Alliance to Support Technology Development and Promotion Of the SALT-Based Microsoft .NET Speech Platform, Bringing Open and Economical Web-Based Speech Solutions to Leading Call Center and Enterprise Customers." - "Microsoft Corp. and Intervoice Inc., the world leader in converged voice and data solutions, today announced a strategic alliance that will make open, standards-based speech solutions more accessible to Web developers and enterprise customers. Seeking to make speech technology mainstream, the two companies will engage in sales, marketing and technology development for the upcoming Microsoft .NET Speech platform, a Speech Application Language Tags (SALT)-based solution that will make it faster, easier and more economical for customers to develop and deploy large-scale enterprise telephony and multimodal speech-enabled applications, such as interactive voice response (IVR), customer relationship management (CRM) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications... The Microsoft .NET Speech platform is a SALT-based multimodal and telephony-enabled solution for developing Web-based speech applications that will span multiple clients such as PCs, telephones, wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) and next-generation laptop computers such as the Tablet PC. The platform is a central component of the company's comprehensive SALT-based product offerings that will expand and facilitate speech-enabled Web applications for the broad market. Incorporating both telephony and speech recognition technologies, the Microsoft platform represents a superior infrastructure for building, deploying and operating speech-enabled Web applications and services. Among its many features, the Microsoft platform will offer world-class speech recognition functionality and support both telephony and multimodal devices. For telephony applications, the platform will contain SALT-based voice browser software that will support speech-only access through traditional telephones and cellular phones. To enable multimodal access and effectively provide both speech and visual input and output, a SALT-based speech interpreter may be added to clients such as GUI cellular phones, PDAs and smart clients such as the Tablet PC and Pocket PC. The platform also will offer third-party vendors the ability to add existing speech recognition and text-to-speech engines and help provide scalable, reliable and secure core speech processing services..." See: "Speech Application Language Tags (SALT)." [alt URL]

  • [October 02, 2002] "Baltimore Introduces New Security Toolkit for Web Services Environments. Toolkit Addresses Security Requirements of XML Documents and Messages in Web Services Environments." - "Baltimore Technologies today announced general availability of KeyTools XML 5.1 for handling digital signatures within XML documents and messages. The W3C XML Digital Signature specification, for which Baltimore acted as the de facto reference implementation, is one of the cornerstones of security in the emerging Web services environment to provide assurance over the source and integrity of data. 'Without the appropriate security measures provided by KeyTools XML in place, the adoption of Web services will be severely curtailed,' said Patrick McLaughlin, SVP Technical Strategy for Baltimore. 'Coming on the back of the release earlier this year of XKMS and SAML capabilities within our core authentication and authorization products, Baltimore is strongly placed to provide the most comprehensive and flexible suite of security technology to its customers as they extend their existing IT systems into the Web services arena.' Major new features of Baltimore's KeyTools XML include the ability to create secure and trusted XML messages in full compliance with the XML Digital Signature specification, and full support for JCA/JCE (Java Cryptography Architecture/Java Cryptography Extension) compliant third-party cryptography provider. This open and flexible approach allows customers to select the cryptographic provider they need to match their specific requirements, platforms and skills... KeyTools XML is ideally suited for large ISVs and System Integrators who are implementing XML and wish to make their offerings ready for secure and trusted delivery via the Internet, as well as very large organizations with disparate systems that need to leverage the strengths of XML in sharing formats and data in a web-based environment... Baltimore offers 24x7 product support for all customers and partners using KeyTools XML. Existing Baltimore KeyTools customers can leverage their investment by seamlessly integrating with KeyTools Pro to provide full PKI functionality..." See W3C XML Signature Working Group.

  • [October 02, 2002] "RSA Security Helps Customers Develop and Implement an Effective Security Strategy for Web Services Newly released RSA BSAFE SecurXML software enables developers to build XML-based digital signing applications within a Web services environment." - RSA Security Inc. has "announced the availability of the RSA BSAFE SecurXML-C software development kit (SDK) for implementing XML digital signatures to ensure the authenticity and integrity of signed data in a Web services environment. RSA BSAFE SecurXML software is designed to help developers build new applications and services faster, reduce development costs and provide enterprises with a secure foundation for private and legally binding electronic transactions and communications. Organizations developing a Web services infrastructure are able to conduct complex transactions across the Internet, streamlining business processes to enhance revenues and provide a competitive advantage. However, without leveraging proven security technologies such as authentication, Web access management and encryption, the Web services dream can quickly become a nightmare. The security created by RSA BSAFE SecurXML-C software helps ensure customers developing Web services that any information passed between applications can be authenticated via digital signatures and easily verified to prove that information has not been tampered with since the data was signed. RSA BSAFE SecurXML software also plays a key role in solutions for federated identity management, such as the Liberty Alliance Project, by signing SAML assertions and thus providing single sign-on and seamless navigation across multiple domains. RSA BSAFE SecurXML-C software includes all the cryptographic and certificate functions developers' need for building XML digital signature-compliant applications. In a Web services environment, this involves creating detached, enveloping, and enveloped XML digital signatures and verifying XML digital signatures to ensure the authenticity and integrity of signed data. Succeeding in this type of development work typically requires extensive knowledge of cryptographic science and security practices, formatting standards, and specialized Web services security protocols -- a level of expertise that few developers possess today. With RSA BSAFE SecurXML-C, developers are able to build interoperable, standards-based applications quickly so their customers can realize the true promise of Web services..." See: "Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)."

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