This 'XAML' is to be distinguished from the Microsoft Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML).
[October 25, 2000] From an announcement of 2000-10-25: "Leading proponents of e-business interoperability Bowstreet, Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM, Oracle Corporation, and Sun Microsystems, today announced they are leading an initiative to define a vendor-neutral industry standard that will enable the coordination and processing of on-line, multi-party transactions in the rapidly emerging world of XML-based web services. The initiative is called XAML (Transaction Authority Markup Language). [The XAML initiative addresses] coordinated processing of transaction-supporting web services between internal fulfillment services (the chemical provider's inventory system) and external services such as: (1) An insurance policy service to insure the product being shipped; (2) A financing service to ensure payment according to vendor terms; (3) A transportation service to guarantee timely shipment/delivery of product; (4) A regulatory service to ensure compliance with government safety requirements. The XAML standard will: (1) Provide a specification for the XML message interfaces and interaction models of web services to support the coordination and processing of multi-stage transactions on the Internet; (2) Specify interfaces and protocols that preserve investment and strengths in transaction monitors and resources; (3) Specify interfaces and protocols that can be 'added on' to existing and emerging web service interfaces and protocols; (4) Specify interaction models for software systems to provide business-level transactions that coordinate the processing of multiple distributed web services; (5) Build on existing and emerging industry standards. The XAML initiative is so-named because it is an extension of XML, the common language of e-commerce, which supports transactional semantics as defined by the widely adopted standard for two-phase commit, XA (Transaction Authority). XAML intends to provide a means for transaction supporting web services to participate in higher-level business transactions. The XAML proposal will be submitted to one or several standards bodies that may include the W3C, OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) and/or the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)."
"There are emerging standards for web services (such as SOAP, ebXML, XP, UDDI, e-Speak and WSDL), and there are existing transaction management standards (such as XA and JTA). XAML ties the two groups of standards together. XAML is a set of XML interfaces that allows web service providers to participate in business transactions on the web. These business transactions coordinate the interactions among distributed web services. In addition, XAML provides a standard means for individual web services to offer transactional capabilities. XAML is an XML-based language that will be a common ground for transaction systems and web services. It will help companies meet the need to interact with the tsunami of web services that will redefine the computing landscape." [from the White Paper]
References:
XAML Transaction Authority Markup Language White Paper. Also in PDF format. [cache]
XAML Participants. Founding members include Bowstreet, HP, IBM, Oracle and Sun. Note: "Once the specification reaches a stage when it can be reasonably submitted to a standards body, such as W3C, OASIS, or IETF, the XAML Group will submit the XAML specification. Any interested company is encouraged to participate in the evolution of XAML via the standards organization selected. The target date for submission to a standards body is Jan 15, 2001. The XAML Group has targeted Jan. 15, 2001 for the initial draft of the specification to be completed. At this time, the XAML group has not determined which standards body is the most appropriate for XAML. However, as the specification evolves, the group will vote on an appropriate organization and submit a draft of the specification."
[December 12, 2000] "XAML: More Alphabet Soup for the Developer's Soul." By Joseph McKendrick. In ent - The Independent Newspaper for Windows NT Enterprise Computing [Online] Volume 5, Number 19 (November 22, 2000), pages 24-26. "Just when you have gotten comfortable with the alphabet soup of UDDI, SOAP, ebXML, tpaML, vendors are throwing some new initials into the mix. Five vendors -- Bowstreet, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Oracle, and Sun -- announced a new standard targeted at the budding Web services arena. The initiative, called Transaction Authority Markup Language, or XAML, is an XML-based standard that will help businesses expose transactional capabilities through their Web services, and to mix and match calls to multiple Web services. As more vendors adopt or endorse the Web services model -- from Microsoft's .NET to HP's e-Services and e-Speak -- there is a pressing need to provide low-level capabilities for organizations to access and transact with outside systems. XAML will enable companies engaging in business-to-business transactions to integrate and leverage existing transaction systems, as well as participate in new types of transactions. These interactions are being dubbed business Web transaction processing, or BWTP, and is being distinguished from OLTP. OLTP is based on internal systems, but BWTP transactions may invoke low-level Web services from multiple organizations on the Web. XAML also is intended to tie together two groups of business-to-business standards. One group consists of emerging standards for Web services, such as SOAP, ebXML, XP, UDDI, e-Speak, and WSDL. The second group consists of existing transaction management standards, including XA and JTA..."
[February 02, 2001] "OASIS Starts On XML Spec For Business Transactions." By Tom Sullivan. In InfoWorld (February 01, 2001). "OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) on Wednesday formed a technical committee to develop a specification for XML message interfaces that will support the coordination and processing of Web services from different organizations. Dubbed the OASIS Business Transactions Technical Committee, the group initially plans to base its work on the Business Transaction Protocol (BTP) specification, submitted to the consortium by San Jose, Calif.-based BEA Systems. 'The protocol is responsible for managing the lifecycle of a transaction,' said Rocky Stewart, CTO of BEA and chairman of the OASIS committee. BTP, for instance, allows complex XML message exchanges to be tracked and managed as loosely coupled 'conversations' between businesses, according to a statement. Boston-based OASIS said the goal is to develop a protocol that works with existing business messaging standards, specifically ebXML (electronic business XML) and RosettaNet. Stewart said OASIS also plans to extend support to BizTalk, Microsoft's data integration server. Stewart added that the goals for XAML and BTP overlap. XAML is Transaction Authority Markup Language, an emerging standard for coordinating and processing multiparty transactions led by Bowstreet, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Oracle, and Sun..." See also the announcement of 2001-01-18 for the formation of the OASIS Business Transactions Technical Committee.
