XML Industry News. January - June, 1999.

This XML Industry News section consists mainly of links to company press releases announcing support for XML/XSL/XLink, January - June, 1999. A separate reference collection is available for current press releases. The press releases from 1998 are referenced in their own document. Some earlier press releases from Fall 1997 are listed in the document which references XML Industry Support. 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 and the archived XML reference collection. This page is experimental, and entirely provisional.

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• [June 30, 1999] "FreeEDGAR Earns Berth On Worth Magazine's List of the Top 10 Financial Web Sites." - "Partes Corporation today announced that Worth Magazine has named its widely used FreeEDGAR Web site as one of the top financial destinations on the Internet. FreeEDGAR provides free, unlimited access to corporate information as it is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). FreeEDGAR offers investors unparalleled ability to use the Internet to access organize and interpret financial data. Partes recently expanded its product offerings with the EDGAR Data Service, a real-time data feed of processed EDGAR filings. The service leverages the features of eXtensible Markup Language (XML) to allow seamless integration of EDGAR filings into products offered by financial data and Web content providers. Early adopters include Reuters America Inc. and Standard & Poor's Compustat."

• [June 30, 1999] "Action Technologies and UWI.Com Team to Eliminate Paper from E-Commerce Processes. Integration of XML InternetForms and ActionWorks Metro 5 e-process server streamlines internal and external work management processes." - "Action Technologies, a leader in Web-based business process automation and work management software, and a pioneer in relationship e-commerce; and UWI.Com, the leading provider of XML Internet forms solutions for business-to-business e-commerce, announced today the integration of Action Technologies' ActionWorks Metro 5 e-process application server and UWI.Com's InternetForms Commerce System. UWI.Com's InternetForms Commerce System is a complete suite of XML software that allows organizations to conduct secure, verifiable business-to-business e-commerce transactions on the Internet. InternetForms are based on Extensible Forms Description Language (XFDL), the world's first open XML protocol for legally binding web transactions."

• [June 30, 1999] "Commonwealth of Virginia Awards Contract to Radian Systems of Alexandria, VA. Company Will Install and Integrate Electronic Document Management System." - "Radian Systems, Inc. has been awarded a contract from the Texas State Comptroller's Office to perform enhancements and additions to a major imaging system originally provided by the Radian. Radian is a leading software development and professional services firm. It provides organizations XML-powered products and services aimed at the fast growing market for Enterprise, Vertical, and Application Portals that will play a key role in forging the information relationships at the heart of business-to-business e-commerce. Radian Systems is an Eastman Software Authorized Solution Provider. The company's software products also include WSDOM XML-Xpress and WSDOM XML-Portal. These advanced XML-powered applications allow organizations to take information from any legacy database, XML tag the data, and make it available over the Internet or an intranet via a standard Web browser."

• [June 29, 1999] "Crescent Deviceware to Extend DataChannel's XML-Based Enterprise Information Portal to Wireless Devices." - "Crescent Deviceware, Inc. today announced that it has licensed DataChannel RIO from DataChannel, Inc. to extend the Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) to wireless devices. Crescent's next-generation wireless server, codename Blue Moon, will leverage industry-standard eXtensible Markup Language (XML) in conjunction with RIO to facilitate access to enterprise data resources. It builds on the company's first wireless product, SmartFinder, a microsearch engine optimized for searching desktop or corporate data using wireless devices. Crescent will offer advanced wireless communication capabilities through the DataChannel RIO 3.2 platform to address the rapidly growing market for mobile information appliances, including smart phones, pagers and PDAs. The company is developing wireless solutions that are based on the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). WAP is the de facto standard for providing Internet communications and advanced telephony services on digital mobile phones, pagers, PDAs and other wireless terminals." [local archive copy]

• [June 29, 1999] "DynamicWeb's Business to Business Electronic Trading Network, EDIxchangeNetwork, Enhanced to Support SAP IDOC Electronic Document Format. XML Next Electronic Document Format to Gain EDIxchangeNetwork Support." - "DynamicWeb Enterprises, Inc., an Internet business to business E-commerce enabler, announced today that it has enhanced its EDIxchangeNetwork, to support SAP IDOCS as an electronic document format. Electronic document compliance is managed within EDIxchangeNetwork so that SAP users that subscribe, can avoid the complexity of managing the various data interchange requirements imposed by their various trading partners. EDIxchangeNetwork subscribers will be able to improve their operating efficiency by electronically exchanging more business documents with more trading partners. Next up for DynamicWeb is to incorporate support for XML based electronic documents into EDIxchangeNetwork. EDIxchangeNetwork's support for XML is scheduled for late third quarter."

• [June 29, 1999] "Inso Corporation Announces eBusiness Technologies Division. Renamed Division to Provide Solutions and Services for Sophisticated E-Business Applications." - "Inso Corporation today launched eBusiness Technologies, a division focused on helping mid-to-large-sized organizations achieve their e-business goals. Previously known as the Content Management and Internet Publishing Division, eBusiness Technologies develops and markets solutions and services explicitly designed to enable organizations to create high value and strategic e-business applications. eBusiness Technologies offers its customers DynaBase, the most comprehensive XML object-based platform for automated Web content management and personalized dynamic delivery, and MediaBank, the industry-leading media asset management system. With these applications, eBusiness Technologies provides organizations with the foremost e-business solutions on the market."

• [June 29, 1999] "NaviSys Introduces First XMLife Implementation at ACORD Technology Conference." - "NaviSys Straight Through Processing was introduced in two standing-room-only sessions during the ACORD Technology Conference `99 in Orlando. NaviSys STP is the industry's first platform to integrate sales illustration, policy administration, underwriting and the Internet. On June 21, ACORD approved XMLife, an XML-based implementation of OLifE, as a new life insurance industry standard for data interchange. NaviSys developed XMLife for ACORD and uses it as the underlying architecture for NaviSys STP. [Rob] Marone is also chairman of ACORD's XML working group, which was responsible for researching and developing an XML implementation of OLifE to simplify agent-company functions through the Internet. The main benefit of XML is its interoperability, he explains. 'While desktop OLifE is strictly a client/server architecture, the XMLife model is inherently 'point-to-point' in nature. In desktop OLifE, the applications revolve around the server like the planets orbit the sun; they communicate only with the server, and never with each other directly. In XMLife, any application in the enterprise is free to communicate with any other'." See "ACORD - XML for the Insurance Industry."

• [June 29, 1999] "BlueGill Technologies Showcases its Newest Internet Billing Application. Telecommunications Providers Focus on Electronic Bill Payment and Presentment at Billing '99." - "With the BlueGill Engine, the i-Series combines a modular set of industry specific functions for billing management, business-to-business bills, statements, payment linkage, administration, e-commerce, customer service and marketing, and data management. The BlueGill Engine manages the transition of legacy data into XML-based 'Smart Objects,' by transforming the data into an object model and storing it as an XML construct. BlueGill Smart Objects are used to transform customer data into interactive applications, creating a customized, flexible business application based on BlueGill's experience in each of the industries it targets."

• [June 29, 1999] "IBM and Rational Announce Strategic Alliance to Help Companies Accelerate The Transition to e-Business. Alliance Delivers New Integration Between IBM's e-Business Software and Rational Suite." - "The alliance underscores IBM's and Rational's commitment to provide e-business software that is based on open industry standards such as XML and Java, which enable software teams to seamlessly design, develop, test and deploy enterprise-scale e-business applications. Through joint development, IBM and Rational will provide solutions that support the entire application development process to provide business process modeling, business requirements definition, visual modeling, code generation, configuration management, defect tracking, testing, deployment and systems management with tools optimized for every role on the development team. The first result of this partnership is a new integration between IBM's VisualAge* integrated development environment and Rational Suite. This new integration is a standards-based XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) bridge between IBM's award-winning VisualAge* for Java and Rational Rose, a key product in Rational Suite. . . In addition to providing the ability to do mass customization, IBM will help developers implement solutions based on the Application Framework for e-business. The Application Framework supports open standards such as Enterprise JavaBeans, Unified Modeling Language (UML), eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and XML Metadata Interchange Format (XMI)." See also XMI toolkit: bridge to Rational Rose. [IBM announcement]

• [June 29, 1999] "REBOL 2.1 Released: The Universal Scripting Language Now Spans 30 Platforms. A Historical First: Scripts Run On All Platforms Without Modification." - "REBOL Technologies Tuesday announced REBOL 2.1, the latest release of the universal scripting language that runs on 30 widely used operating system platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Palm OS and Windows CE. New features in REBOL 2.1 include an XML parser, refined security such as sandbox directories, and new network features, such as direct access to NNTP.[REBOL is a messaging language that provides a broad range of practical solutions to the daily challenges of Internet computing. While designed to be simple and productive for novices, the language extends a new dimension of power to even the most seasoned of professionals. REBOL offers a significant new approach to the seamless exchange and interpretation of network-based information over a wide variety of computing platforms."

• [June 28, 1999] "JetForm Announces First Comprehensive XML Forms Definition to Speed E-Commerce Adoption. Leading Internet Security Vendors Entrust, PenOp, Silanis and VeriSign Align with New "XML Forms Architecture" for Secure Compliant Documents of Record." - "JetForm Corporation, a global leader in e-forms and e-process solutions, has announced 'XML Forms Architecture' (XFA). Summary: (1) JetForm today announced the "XML Forms Architecture" (XFA), a comprehensive and open specification that builds on the XML standard. (2) XFA is a device-independent use of XML for creating multiple views of documents and their data, using underlying XML for data definitions. XFA addresses both presentation and archive issues. (3) XFA is the first specification to accommodate multimedia output such as on-screen, print, and Web publishing, supporting companies' transition from paper-based processes to e-processes. (4) Leading Internet security solutions vendors such as Entrust, PenOp, Silanis and VeriSign have all announced their support for XFA. (5) JetForm has submitted XFA to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and it has been acknowledged as a submission. The specification and additional information are publicly available at www.xfa.com." See "XML Forms Architecture (XFA)." [local archive copy]

• [June 28, 1999] "MarketSoft Revolutionizes Exchange of Sales Leads Across Extended Enterprise with XML. MarketSoft First ISV to Submit BizTalk Framework-Compatible Schema to BizTalk.Org ... eLeads Capability Currently in Use at Compaq, Fidelity, and Tech Data." - "MarketSoft today announced that it has the distinction of being the first Independent Software Vendor (ISV) to submit its XML-based eLeads solution, already in use in multiple production environments, as a schema compatible with the BizTalk Framework. MarketSoft's schema has been submitted to BizTalk.org, the central repository and developer resource site for BizTalk Framework compatible schemas. MarketSoft, through its aggressive use of XML, and its early submission of a BizTalk Framework compatible schema, has taken a leadership position in helping to define an extended enterprise sales lead interchange standard."

• [June 28, 1999] "Lunatech Research announces the release of the Morphon XML Editor BETA 1." - "The Morphon XML Editor is a XML editor which lets you easily create and modify XML documents. It makes sure your document is a correct one (considering the DTD you are using) and presents the data in a user friendly way. Both the XMLEditor and the EXSLEditor are written in java." For related software, see "XML Document Editing, DTD Editing, Stylesheet Editing, Formatting, Browsing, and Delivery Tools."

• [June 24, 1999] "MessagingDirect Leap Frogs Bill Presentment Technologies With Scalable 'Message Centric' Solution." - "MessagingDirect Ltd., the leader in standards-based messaging and directory solutions, is giving e-business software competitors a run for their money with a bill presentment solution that is capable of processing over 40 million bills a day or 500 bills per second. MessagingDirect's M-Business is directed at major billers such as utilities, banks, and credit unions that wish to bill customers directly over the Extranet or with ISP's or consolidators acting as billing outsourcers. The product is a complete solution covering legacy application integration, XML translation, billing history stores, opt-in and opt-out subscription services, customizing Software Development Kit (SDK), tracking and simple transparent security."

• [June 24, 1999] "Phase Forward and TRW Provide State-of-the-Art Coding to Web-Based Clinical Trials." - "Phase Forward Incorporated, the leading provider of Internet solutions for clinical data collection and management, and TRW Healthcare Solutions plan to extend Phase Forward's InForm with TRW's AutoCode CS technology. InForm is the de facto industry software standard for Web-based, integrated clinical data entry and management. 'In achieving our working relationship, Phase Forward and TRW share one common belief - to provide the best open, standards compliant solutions to the clinical industry. Our combined solutions provide unparalleled readiness for FDA approval as well as Web-based XML standards for clinical data exchange,' concluded John Cook. See "Clinical Trial Data Model."

• [June 24, 1999] "HK Systems, Inc. Announces SCM/Enterprise Supply Chain Visibility (SCV). Industry's First Multi-Warehouse Enabled Inventory Visibility." - "HK Systems announces today the delivery of Enterprise/Supply Chain Visibility, the world's first complete enterprise inventory visibility solution. Enterprise/SCV offers HK Systems' customers the ability to manage centrally inventory stores contained in multiple warehouse management systems in a customer's Supply Chain. Enterprise/SCV is a module in the SCM/Enterprise family of products offering the industry's first complete Supply Chain execution solution, and can be operated as an individual module or together with the rest of the suite. SCM/EA utilizes XML Business Object Documents (BOD) defined by the Open Application Group (OAG), routed via a CORBA 3.0 Event Notification Service implemented in Java for platform independence. This provides standard adapters to support integration with SAP R/3, Oracle Applications, EDI, XML, and other common formats."

• [June 24, 1999] "MRO.com Delivers Buy-Side Online Procurement Solution For Purchasing MRO Materials and Services. mroBuyer Substantially Reduces MRO Purchasing Costs." - "MRO.com, Inc., a leading provider of MRO e-Commerce systems and wholly-owned subsidiary of PSDI, announced today the general availability of its latest release of mroBuyer, a complete buy-side Internet-based procurement solution for maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) materials and services. [mroBuyer includes] Transaction Server, an industry-standard, XML-based connection to the mroMarketplace that provides live, real-time status on orders and transactions between connected buyer and suppliers."

• [June 24, 1999] "XML Application Server Beta Edition Released. Beta Edition now available for Java on Linux and Windows under Open Source license." - "[Planet7 is] pleased to announce the release of the XML Application Server Beta Edition. The XML Application Server breaks down the barriers of writing real-time, multi-user XML applications. You can quickly write Internet/Intranet applications that break the stateless model of traditional HTTP based solutions. Without care for network or concurrent programming, the XML Application Server allows you to write real-time enabled Enterprise applications including virtual meetings, document collaboration, real-time customer service, and the merging of mutliple XML data points with business logic. Download the XML Application Server beta today! We are pleased to announce the release of the XML Application Server Beta Edition for Java on Linux/Windows NT."

• [June 23, 1999] "Microsoft Announces Steps to Strengthen Consumer Privacy Online. Company Encourages Higher Privacy Standards Throughout the Industry To Create a Trusted Framework for Commerce." - "At PC Expo today, Microsoft Corp. announced that the company is taking a series of steps to strengthen consumer privacy on the Internet. The Privacy Wizard, which was co-developed with the TRUSTe privacy seal program, was posted as part of the Microsof LinkExchange Web site only six weeks ago, and already more than 2,000 companies have used the tool to help develop privacy policies. To encourage even more rapid proliferation of comprehensive privacy statements, Microsoft will make the Privacy Wizard widely available to individuals and small businesses that create or manage Web sites. P3P was started by W3C in 1997 to meet the data privacy expectations of consumers while assuring that the Internet remains available and productive for commerce. The Privacy Wizard is the first application of the P3P syntax to privacy statements and will help customers create such statements in Extensible Markup Language (XML). Since they can be easily interpreted by software, these XML statements are intended to spur the creation of technologies that one day will enable customers to choose the sites they visit based on their privacy assurances. . ."

• [June 23, 1999] "STEP Group Forms New Company in the United Kingdom." - "STEP GmbH is pleased to announce the formation of a new company based in the UK. The company will be based in Swindon and starts operations on July 1, 1999. The name of the new company has not yet been finally decided, but it will reflect the fact that all the employees of the new STEP company come from the former DPSL (Database Publishing Systems Limited).The STEP Group is proud to have won the confidence of the former DPSL employees and to have become what is probably Europe's largest player in the SGML/XML area, with over 90 employees. As part of Bertelsmann Industrial Services the STEP Group has a strong backbone for long-term business relationships with its customers."

• [June 23, 1999] "Agile, Si2, Demonstrate Internet-Based Information Standard for Electronic Components. New Capability Provides Real Time Access to Component Information Via the Web." - "Agile Software Corporation, a leading supplier of product change collaboration solutions for the electronic supply chain, and the Silicon Integration Initiative, Inc. (Si2) announced that they will be demonstrating the new capabilities of the Electronic Component Information eXchange (ECIX) standard at the 36th Design Automation Conference (DAC). [said Don Cottrell, VP of Technology at Si2]: 'Standards are the key to delivering on that promise . . . The XML-based ECIX QuickData architecture being demonstrated this week, in combination with Agile Anywhere's open architecture, scalability and security, will provide a powerful platform for harnessing the promise of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce for the supply chain.' The Electronic Component Information eXchange (ECIX) project is dedicated to designing standards for creation, exchange and use of electronic component information. The ECIX architecture and standards are based on XML, are extensible, unambiguous, well documented and are maintained under the direction of Si2. A number of companies are actively involved with the ECIX program. They include Agile Software, Lucent, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, IBM, Intel, Motorola, Philips, and others."

• [June 23, 1999] "Transformis LLC Unveils Stylus." - "Transformis is pleased to announce the availability of Stylus, the first Integrated Development Environment for the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL). With Stylus, developers can finally leverage the full potential of XML and XSL through an easy-to-use yet powerful interface. Stylus streamlines the creation of dynamic web sites by providing a graphical environment for the entire development process. From XML data to final result, Stylus keeps developers in control." See also the news entry.

• [June 22, 1999] "Bluestone Launches Code Blue Developer Program Featuring No Up-Front Licensing Fees. Java, Web, and XML Developers Get Jump Start on Building Internet Commerce and Data Integration Applications." - "Bluestone Software, Inc., a performance leader in Enterprise Interaction Management, today launched Code Blue, a developer program that gives Java, Web, and XML application developers no-initial-cost access to Bluestone's industry-leading Application Server frameworks for building Internet commerce (iCommerce) and data integration applications. Beginning today, developers can register for Code Blue online: 'Code Blue Developer Program - For Independent Software Vendors (ISV)'. The Code Blue program encompasses all Bluestone products, including Sapphire/Web, the platform-independent, 100% Pure Java Application Server framework that sets the new standard for enterprise-class iCommerce; and Bluestone XML Suite, the company's revolutionary dynamic XML Application Server and toolkit that provides a fundamental platform for building, distributing, and deploying XML applications."

• [June 22, 1999] "Hynet Unveils Major Upgrade to Hynet Directive." - "Hynet Technologies today announced the availability of Hynet Directive 2.5, a major upgrade to Hynets XML publishing system for transforming static document files into dynamic, reusable information components for publishing to the Web, print and CD-ROM. The new features of version 2.5 make Hynet Directive the ideal system for producing Dynamic Customer Content (DCC) on the fly that can be delivered to specific target audiences. Hynet Directive 2.5 is a single-sourcing system that accepts as inputs a wide variety of data types and outputs content to many formats quickly and easily. Directive 2.5 allows organizations to import virtually any data type including XML, SGML, and HTML, as well as Adobe FrameMaker, WordPerfect and Microsoft Word document content into the Directive XML publishing repository. Within the Hynet Directive publishing repository, data is stored as reusable information units (IUs) that can be combined to create customized content. By tailoring the metadata that describes the IUs, Directive 2.5 gives users the flexibility to determine which IUs are to be delivered to which audiences."

• [June 22, 1999] "Oracle Frees Data for E-Business, Extends XML Support to All Major Development Languages. New XML Components Offer Unprecedented Flexibility in Application Development And Ease Data Exchange Between Business Applications." - "At iDevelop 99 today, Oracle Corp., the number one choice for e-Business, announced the immediate availability of new XML components, making it the only vendor to offer XML interfaces to all major development languages -- Java, C, C++ and PL/SQL. These new components dramatically improve productivity for Internet developers seeking to access legacy information and transport it between business applications using XML. All XML components are available immediately for free download from Oracle Technology Network (OTN). Two of the new components announced today, Oracle XML Parser for C and Oracle XML Parser for C++, complement Oracle's existing parsers for Java and PL/SQL. Like their predecessors, the C and C++ components support both Document Object Model (DOM) and Simple API for XML (SAX) interfaces and are deployed on the Oracle Application Server to access data in Oracle8 and Oracle8i databases."

• [June 22, 1999] "Extensibility Launches Breakthrough XML Schema Conversion and Authoring Tool. XML Authority 1.0 Accelerates the Creation of XML-Based Industry, Corporate and Application Grammars for the Internet." - "Extensibility today announced the release of XML Authority 1.0, a comprehensive XML schema authoring and conversion tool that enables Web developers to migrate existing data structures to the Internet via XML -- the new standard language for Web pages. This capability accelerates the creation of XML-based industry, corporate and application grammars for the Internet. XML Authority 1.0 converts ODBC data structures, Java classes, COM objects, LDAP schemas, DTD's and XML documents to all major XML schema formats. XML schema syntax output support includes DTD's, XML-Data (IE5 level), the XML Schema Definition Language (XSDL), DCD's, and DDML. XML Authority 1.0 features a graphical user interface that allows users to import or create XML schemas, and view document elements, attributes, entities and other objects in a hierarchical tree. This makes it easy to view data structures and relationships for a class of documents. Graphical representation of the document structure also is provided. With cut-and-paste support, modular schema development is easily achieved. Collaborative schema development, within and between organizations is enhanced with audience-specific notes and change logging support."

• [June 22, 1999] "Eprise Participant Server 2.0 to Support Solaris and Application Servers Based on Java Technologies. Ease of integration enables any application server designed for the Java[tm] platform to leverage Participant Server's distributed content management services using XML." - "The new capability provides a JavaBean interface to the Participant Server's XML integration framework. This makes it possible for Java Server Pages, Java servlets and other applications based on Java technology to control, automate and extend the capabilities in Participant Server 2.0. As a result, companies leveraging Java platforms can now use Eprise's out-of-the-box content, participant, and business rule management services within their existing solutions, rather than having to build from scratch or implement proprietary application servers for content and participant management."

• [June 21, 1999] "Gemplus smartX Framework Brings Smart Card-Based Applications to the Mainstream. XML-Based Technology Revolutionizes Smart Card Application Development and Deployment." - "Gemplus, the world's leading provider of smart card-based solutions, today announced smartX, a new software technology that will simplify smart card-based application development and deployment, enable card and terminal independence, and allow for web-based maintainability. Gemplus anticipates that smartX technology will increase considerably the number of new generation smart cards being developed using popular programming languages such as Java technology, C++ and Visual Basic and leveraging widely deployed legacy systems. smartX separates application development from the complexity of smart card device management, a breakthrough that for the first time allows easy implementation of the same application on different types or generations of smart card. Based on the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) standard, smartX allows developers to write smart card applications independent of manufacturer-specific card management protocols, essentially enabling them to write 'virtual smart card objects' that are platform (card and terminal) independent."

• [June 21, 1999] "Datastream To Provide E-Commerce Solution Based On Biztalk Framework. MP2 Professional, MaintainIt Pro and MaintainIt compatible with latest version of Microsoft Office." - "Datastream Systems, Inc. today announced future support for Microsoft's BizTalk Framework in its e-MRO e-commerce solution. Released in February 1999, e-MRO utilizes Extensible Markup Language (XML) technology with the Microsoft platform, including Microsoft Transaction Server, Microsoft SQL Server and Active Server Page technologies. By embracing the Microsoft BizTalk Framework, e-MRO will seamlessly integrate with any MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operations) parts distribution software that is compatible with the Microsoft e-commerce platform or BizTalk Framework. In addition, Datastream's customers will avoid the costs of custom integration and support for each distributor."

• [June 21, 1999] "Phase Forward Submits XML-based Clinical Trial Data Model to Worldwide Standards Organizations. Opens Technology to Accelerate Clinical Trial Data Exchange Standards." - Phase Forward Incorporated has announced that it will be submitting its established eXtensible Markup Language (XML)-based data model of their InForm Web-based clinical trial data collection and management software to key industry standards organizations to jumpstart the development of a data interchange model. The Phase Forward Document Type Definition (DTD) data model written in XML will be presented to the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Committee (CDISC), a special interest group of the Drug Information Association (DIA), at its meeting on June 28, 1999. Additionally, Phase Forward also has plans to submit its DTD to the Health Level 7 (HL7) organization and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). CDISC, HL7, and the W3C are the primary standards organizations focused on establishing a data model and XML-based Document Type Definition (DTD) for the healthcare informatics industries." [announcement from Phase Forward]

• [June 17, 1999] "J.P. Morgan, PricewaterhouseCoopers Announce that IBM Will Join Team to Help Establish E-commerce Standard. Technology leader will join technical committee for new XML-based protocol." - "J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP announced that International Business Machines Corp. would participate on the technical committee for the recently announced Internet-based protocol FpML (XML-based Financial Products Markup Language), a specification for electronic dealing and information sharing of financial derivatives. The two firms also announced that IBM would help create FpML seminars for technical and financial services professionals worldwide. The FpML standard, which will be licensed freely to the technical and financial markets, is based on XML, the emerging Internet standard for data-sharing between applications. The FpML specification will allow the Internet-based integration of a range of services, from electronic trading and confirmations to portfolio specification for risk analysis." For related information, see also "Financial Products Markup Language (FpML)."

• [June 17, 1999] "Vertex Industries Announces XML Interface to IBM MQ Series." - "Vertex Industries, Inc. has announced plans to release a new component of its evolve suite of next generation middleware tools. The module, named Vixen, provides the means to translate and transform messages between XML documents and legacy data structures. Evolve leverages XML technology and its cross platform functionality to exchange data between applications running in heterogeneous environments. Using the information contained in C headers and COBOL workbooks, self describing messages are created that can be used by applications running in the different environments. See also Vertex's evolve, which "uses a powerful XML interface to link your web-based applications to those running on legacy platforms."

• [June 17, 1999] "SAP AG Announces Commitment to RosettaNet Global Internet Standards. SAP Extends Its mySAP.com Internet Strategy by Helping Companies Leverage Standard Interfaces Between Supply Chain Partners." - "SAP today announced its endorsement of eConcert, the multipartner implementation of RosettaNet's electronic commerce standards. As one of the enterprise business software solution members of the managing board of the RosettaNet global electronic commerce standards consortium, SAP is committed to implementing RosettaNet Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based Partner Interface Processes (PIP) to help further extend the current Internet commerce capabilities of its 20,000 customers worldwide by RosettaNet's Feb. 2, 2000, industry readiness target date. With its endorsement of the RosettaNet e-commerce standards, SAP continues to broaden its offering of Internet-enabled applications and build upon mySAP.com, the company's Internet business strategy that creates collaborative markets and dynamic business relationships."

• [June 17, 1999] "PHT Corp. Announces First Web-Based Clinical Trials Data Management Solution Built Using Emerging XML Standard. XML-Supported, Web-Based PlexxNet Clinical Network Version 4.0 is Major Step Toward Development of Industry Standard." - "PHT Corp. announced today the development of Version 4.0 of its PlexxNet Clinical Network, a web-based, paperless system for direct data capture, data and trial management that supports the full life cycle of clinical trials. This newest version of PlexxNet, with delivery expected in the fourth quarter, is the first system in the clinical trials industry to use XML (eXtensible Markup Language) to enable increased data interchange, archiving, storage, and management. [Said Stan Erck, president and CEO of PHT], 'An XML-based standard for the industry has the potential to solve many of the data archiving, viewing, interchange and regulatory agency submission issues faced by our customers and the entire drug development industry'. PHT and Lincoln Technologies are jointly developing a new DTD (Document Type Definition) for the clinical trials market. In turn, PHT and Lincoln will make the DTD available to the clinical research industry to begin the development of an open and broad XML-based standard for clinical research."

• [June 16, 1999] "Justsystem Corporation Exhibits `Ichitaro Ark for Java' the First Multi-Lingual Java Application At JavaOne." - "Justsystem announced today the first practical multi-lingual word processor entirely written in Java to exhibit at JavaOne. Ichitaro Ark takes full advantage of Java 2 international features, allowing users to edit and display different languages regardless of supporting system platforms. By adopting HTML/XML as primary file formats, users are free from hustles in exchanging and sharing their documents in any environment. XML's extensibility will allow 'Ichitaro Ark' to be used for many creative applications such as Content and Knowledge Management. Justsystem will ship 'Ichitaro Ark' later this year." See the preview.

• [June 16, 1999] "Sun Fields 'Dream Team' of Wall Street Players at SIA Show." - Sun Microsystems, Inc. has assembled another 'Dream Team' of Wall Street players in its booth at this year's SIA Technology Management Conference & Exhibit in New York, with Sun's 'dot-com' strategy and technologies such as the Java programming language and XML taking center court. Athena Design/VNP will demonstrate XMLcast, an extensible application framework that makes it easy to construct XML document based messaging systems. XMLcast's extensible framework allows customers to organize XML documents into channels, enables easy assembly of client and server side functionality, supports secure movement of documents and is designed for scalability and extensibility. . . Innovision will unveil the new release of Innovision Financial Server. The packaged solution introduces a host of easy to use thin-client templates and developer resources for creating powerful environments centered around the core financial server. Innovision's SIA application is a customizable XML-based financial Web Top to aggregate news, quotes and research into a thin client."

• [June 16, 1999] "Microsoft and Bridge Information Systems Team To Facilitate Internet Delivery of Real-Time Financial Information XML Schema for Real-Time Financial Information Submitted to Microsoft Windows DNAfs Advisory Council." - "Today at the Securities Industry Association (SIA) Technology Management Conference and Exhibit, Microsoft Corp. and Bridge Information Systems Inc. demonstrated the results of joint work on an Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based schema that allows the exchange of various real-time market data types, including stock pricing, pages, and company news and history. Organizations in the financial industry, long in need of a common language for financial information, will now be able to integrate applications easily, extend existing applications, and share information with customers on the Internet. Real-time market data is a critical component to enabling straight-through-processing. The XML schema for real-time market data will be proposed to the Microsoft Windows Distributed interNet Applications for Financial Services (Windows DNAfs) Advisory Council for adoption in the existing message set. . . Bridge will roll out Market Data Markup Language [MDML] support in the Bridge Trading Room System [BTRS] servers, BridgeFeed site server and Bridge Internet servers."

• [June 16, 1999] "Innovision Announces Release of NEPAL XP: The Solution For Information Uniformity." - "Innovision Corporation will introduce a powerful new XML Protocol (XP) framework, NEPAL XP, to achieve universal data interchange at Sun's annual JavaOne Conference June 15 to 18, 1999. The NEPAL XP framework allows developers to define XML protocols in order to quickly create and deploy high-performance applications and systems that utilizes the protocol. The NEPAL XP components include: (1) NEPAL XP Language: A language modeling platform that enables full life-cycle development of XML Protocols; (2) NEPAL XP Server: A powerful server component that supports protocol-specific frameworks and application development; (3) NEPAL XP Client: Thin-client components for browsers, embedded devices and emerging technologies; (4) NEPAL XP Tools: A set of high-end development tools that enables the rapid creation of ubiquitous computing environments. NEPAL XP components drive the weavelet demonstration unveiled yesterday at the JavaOne Conference. A weavelet is a program for weaving generalized XML content from multiple sources into a focused, specialized XML application." See also the white paper.

• [June 16, 1999] "IBM Makes Business Integration Easier. New Releases of MQSeries Family to Feature XML and Java-based Messaging Capabilities." - "IBM today made it easier for companies to exchange information internally and with business partners and customers, by announcing powerful new capabilities for its industry-leading MQSeries* family of messaging software. Included in the announcement is support across the MQSeries family to use eXtensible Markup Language (XML), making the MQSeries family the bridge between the emerging XML standard and heterogeneous enterprises. MQSeries also has new Java Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for even greater platform independence.

• [June 16, 1999] "UWI.Com's XML InternetForms Now Entrust-Ready. Entrust Digital Signatures and Certificates Can Now be Used With UWI.Com's InternetForms Commerce System." - "UWI.Com, [a] leading provider of XML Internet forms for business-to-business e-commerce, today announced that the InternetForms Commerce System has successfully completed the Entrust test program to achieve Entrust-Ready branding. Users can now take advantage of Entrust Technologies' robust PKI solutions to digitally sign and secure UWI.Com's open, verifiable, and legally-binding XML InternetForms. The open architecture of UWI.Com's InternetForms provides interoperability with every major vendor's digital security products, including digital signatures, smartcards, and biometric tokens. . . UWI.Com's InternetForms Commerce System is a complete suite of XML software that allows organizations to conduct secure, verifiable business-to-business e-commerce transactions on the Internet. InternetForms are based on Extensible Forms Description Language (XFDL), the world's first open XML protocol for legally-binding web transactions. XFDL was authored by UWI.Com and Tim Bray, co-editor of the original XML specification, and has been submitted to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and CommerceNet for consideration as a standard method for representing business and government forms on the Internet."

• [June 16, 1999] "StreamServe Release 2.2 Helps Companies Extend Existing ERP Solutions for E-Business. New Release Supports XML to Enhance Customer Communications." - "StreamServe, a rapidly growing intelligent output management provider, today announced general availability of StreamServe Release 2.2, with capability to both produce personalized customer documents and receive, process and distribute information in XML (eXtensible Markup Language). Together, these capabilities answer two of the most pressing needs facing companies today: increasing customer satisfaction and expanding into e-commerce. StreamServe has built momentum for e-business with strategic alliances and recent product enhancements. At Microsoft's Electronic Commerce Solutions Briefing Day, StreamServe was among 12 world-leading software vendors supporting Microsoft's BizTalk Server initiatives. The BizTalk framework provides the ideal platform to support the different XML flavors. StreamServe 2.2 also includes double-byte character set (DBCS) support to provide for languages such as Japanese (Kanji), Chinese (both simplified and traditional), and Korean, knocking down barriers to overseas markets."

• [June 15, 1999] "DataChannel's xDev Developer Days to further XML Application Development for Mainstream Adoption. Leading XML experts present a one-day seminar focused on XML processes and applications." - "DataChannel, Inc. today announced the first in a series of Developer Days seminars for members of their xDev Developer Program and those interested in the advancement of XML technology understanding. These one-day seminars will feature training and discussion from the world's leading experts in XML For experienced XML developers looking to gain insightful and practical knowledge to build successful XML processes and XML applications, xDev Developer Days will provide the ideal forum. The first seminar in this series will take place July 16, 1999, in San Jose, CA. xDev Developer Days will provide a unified forum to present a cohesive framework of processes on which developers can build XML applications in the enterprise. This holistic approach will show the value of XML from a conceptual standard to the creation of applications that change the way enterprises manage and use information." See also xDev Developer Days Q&A.

• [June 15, 1999] "webMethods Announces Support for FpML Protocol Serving the Financial Services Industry. webMethods is First Vendor to Commit to FpML Support; Company Contributes its XML Expertise Alongside J.P. Morgan and PriceWaterhouseCoopers." - "webMethods, Inc., [a] leading provider of XML-based solutions for business-to-business e-commerce and integration, today announced support for the FpML standard (Financial Products Markup Language), an open XML-based protocol that supports financial derivatives, e-commerce and data sharing between applications. Led by J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the FpML standard will facilitate seamless Internet-based integration for a wide range of client services, allowing the financial services market to take full advantage of Internet connectivity while lowering operational risks. As the adoption of XML-based standards continues to accelerate, webMethods B2B ensures the development of open trading communities across multiple industries through support of current and emerging business-to-business initiatives and XML standards, including ACORD, OBI, Microsoft BizTalk, Commerce XML (cXML), RosettaNet, FIXML, and FpML." For related information, see also "Financial Products Markup Language (FpML)."

• [June 15, 1999] "XML For All Announces Free XML Scripting Tools." - "XML For All, Inc. today announced the release of its first product, the XFA Scripting System, a rapid application development system for XML. XFA (XML For All) is a set of XML tags that specify executable actions. Other approaches to processing XML require the use of another language such as Java, Perl, or Visual Basic. With XFA, all you need is XML. XFA was designed from the start around XML and uses XML pervasively. XFA is ideal for developing advanced web sites. An XFA script contains a mix of XFA, XML, and HTML tagged elements allowing web page designers and programmers to share a common language. Its easy to add new executable tags to XFA or to create a custom interpreter for a new XML tag set. The XFA Scripting System includes an XFA interpreter, comprehensive documentation, and a collection of examples, libraries, and tools."

• [June 15, 1999] "DMTF Reaches Milestones in the Continuing Development of WBEM Technologies. New Directory Enabled Networks (DEN) working group formed at DMTF's Annual Conference to promote the continued development and adoption of DEN." - "Recently completed versions of DMTF specifications include: (1) CIM Specification v2.2: The CIM specification is the language and methodology for describing management data. (2) CIM Schema v2.2: The CIM Schema includes models for enabling applications from different developers on different platforms to describe management data in a standard format. CIM Schema v2.2 now includes models for Logical networks, to complete the DEN model, and Distributed Application Processing (DAP). (3) XML Mapping v2.0 and XML DTD v2.0: The XML (eXtensible Markup Language) Mapping specification defines a standard for the representation of CIM elements and messages in XML. XML Mapping v2.0 now includes additions for HTTP operations." See also "DMTF Common Information Model (CIM)."

• [June 15, 1999] "Infinity Contributes XML-based Network Trade Model to Microsoft Windows DNAfs Initiative. Infinity to Lead the Windows DNAs Advisory Council Competency Centers for Risk Management and Derivatives." - "Infinity has contributed the Infinity Network Trade Model to the Microsoft Windows Distributed interNetworking Architecture for Financial Services (Windows DNAfs) Advisory Council. The Infinity Network Trade Model will form the basis for industry standards definitions for Risk Management and Derivatives schemas and interfaces. The Windows DNAfs initiative for straight-through-processing defines cross-platform XML-based schemas and an interface standard for financial services software developers. Microsoft recently invited developers from the leading software vendors and financial institutions to form a consortium to evolve standards for the exchange of information relating to financial transactions."

• [June 15, 1999] "Novera Software Embraces XML to Extend Web Application Integration Capabilities. Company Ships Novera 4.5 to Deliver Unrivalled Integration Solution for Distributed Electronic Commerce Applications." - "Novera 4.5 adds XML support, along with a new IBM WebSphere module, to easily extend enterprise applications to the Web. By combining the power of XML with its standards-based business object approach, Novera is enabling a new generation of Web-enabled, distributed electronic commerce applications. . . Novera 4.5 accesses that order and automatically transforms it into a format compatible with the retailer's mainframe ordering system (such as CICS) to allow for immediate processing. Simultaneously, that order data is transformed into XML format to be delivered to and processed by the retailer's supplier who can immediately replenish the retailer's inventory."

• [June 15, 1999] "Innovision Introduces Powerful New Financial Web Top Application." - "Innovision will will demonstrate a new Financial Web Top this week at the Securities Industry Association's (SIA) annual Technology Management Conference in New York. . . anw will unveil the new release of Innovision Financial Server at JavaOne. The packaged solution introduces a host of easy to use thin-client templates and developer resources for creating powerful environments centered around the core financial server. Innovision's SIA application is a customizable XML-based financial Web Top to aggregate news, quotes and research into a thin client."

• [June 15, 1999] "POET and Ariba Deliver eBusiness Data Interchange to Early Adopters. Links Suppliers and Buyers Using State-of-the-Art XML Technology." Poet announced an early adopter program for eBusiness catalog data interchange. POET's products and services will allow sharing, reuse and Web delivery of XML content to suppliers who wish to connect with Ariba eCommerce solutions, including Ariba Operating Resource Management System (Ariba ORMS) and Ariba.com Network. POET Software's XML expertise and data repository competencies play a key role in enabling the seamless, Internet-based exchange of catalog information between a supplier's IT system and a buyer's Ariba-based eCommercesystem. POET is an important strategic technology partner in the Ariba Supplier Link (ASL) program and has provided leadership in cXML content integration with supplier eCommerce systems." See also the Poet announcement.

• [June 14, 1999] "Atex Media Solutions Introduces Omnex. Omnex is the First and Only System to Enable Simultaneous Use of Content in All Products, Media" - "Atex Media Solutions today introduced Omnex, a new, revolutionary content and information management solution for news. Omnex is the first and only solution that allows publishers to collect, process, manage, and distribute an individual item of news content to all of their products simultaneously, regardless of the medium.Omnex uses Extensible Markup Language (XML), the popular, standard markup language that is supported by industry giants such as Microsoft, Netscape, and Adobe. XML allows the content of any element to be separated from the form in which it will eventually be distributed. This separation means that an individual item of content need only be edited and marked up once for multiple purposes. Omnex automatically determines what form this content should assume upon distribution to different products and/or media. Omnex Edit Manager uses many of the same tools as Page Manager, including the same XML-based composition engine. Users may edit in draft, WYSIWYG galley, WYSIWYG area compose, or full-page mode." See also "Financial Times Becomes An Early Adopter Of Omnex."

• [June 14, 1999] "DataChannel, Inc. Announces the Industry's Most Comprehensive Suite of XML Training Offerings." - DataChannel, Inc. today announced the availability of the industry's most comprehensive suite of instructor-led XML training courses. The primary focus of these courses is to enable customers to build their competence with XML technology, manage strategic XML-centric projects, and develop XML-based applications within the scope of the global information economy. The training offerings are provided by DataChannel's Professional Services arm, ISOGEN International, which has over seven years of experience educating customers to succeed with structured information initiatives. The first of these XML-focused training courses is scheduled to begin July 12, 1999, in a variety of cities across the United States, Canada, and Europe." See also 'DataChannel Training Q&A' and "DataChannel's xDev Developer Days to further XML Application Development for Mainstream Adoption. Leading XML experts present a one-day seminar focused on XML processes and applications."

• [June 12, 1999] "ClientSoft Gives Application Developers Direct XML Access to Mainframe Data. Launches First XML Standard for IBM 3270 and 5250 Terminal Emulators. - "ClientSoft Inc., a leader in the legacy extension marketplace, announced today that it will provide XML specifications that position the mainframe and AS/400 operating platforms to fully participate in the evolving XML standard. Terminal Emulation Markup Language, TxML, specifications will be developed by ClientSoft and provided to W3C Standards Body. This initiative will allow mainframe and AS/400 customers to participate in e-commerce and e-business in an easy and open way without the need to change a single line of their application codes. TxML enables application developers to directly access and use mainframe legacy system data in terminal emulator programs without needing an Application Programming Interface (API). This breakthrough TxML standard has been integrated into ClientSoft's ClientBuilder product line, a complete development toolset for enterprise-to-enterprise, enterprise-to-Web and enterprise-to-wireless legacy data extension solutions. Applications that use TxML document formatting have the potential to reside anywhere in the network, both locally or on the Internet. The TxML specifications eliminate the need for the use of dated API's, such as EHLLAPI. Moreover, companies can now interact with 3720/5250 emulation information using a standard XML parsing engine."

• [June 12, 1999] "New Workshop Discusses the Next 'Killer App' - XML for E-Business." - "A workshop designed for technical and business managers will show companies of all sizes how they can jump-start their use of the new eXtensible Markup Language (XML) to make enhanced electronic business systems work for them. The workshop runs Wednesday and Thursday, July 14-15, 1999 in Chicago. David R.R. Webber, a principal of Gnosis Inc. and one of the founders of the XML/EDI Group, will present the course. Webber has lectured widely on XML and eBusiness in the US, Europe and Asia. He has authored numerous articles published in both the technical and popular computing press. XML, as the latest development from the World Wide Web Consortium, is at the core of new product capabilities from Oracle, Microsoft, Sun, Netscape and mainstream Web development tools such as ColdFusion. XML steps past the limitations inherent in the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) used on most Web sites today." See the Web site for details. [local archive copy]

• [June 12, 1999] "Innovision to Demonstrate Powerful Web Top Portal Application At JavaOne and SIA Exhibits." - "Innovision Corporation will exhibit a powerful demonstration of XML Protocol (XP) Technology next week at Sun's annual JavaOne Conference in San Francisco and Securities Industry Association's (SIA) annual Technology Management Conference in New York. The application, built with Innovision components, will demonstrate how easily enterprises can use XML technologies to weave new, more powerful applications for the Web or embedded devices."

• [June 12, 1999] "Bowstreet Endorses RosettaNet's eConcert Initiative. Bowstreet Solutions Enable Companies to Meet RosettaNet's Commitment to Implement eBusiness for the IT Industry." - " Bow Street Software Inc., a leader in providing eBusiness solutions for Internet Channel Management, today announced it will support RosettaNet's eConcert initiative and solutions to enable companies to integrate RosettaNet capabilities into eBusiness developments. Bowstreet 's solutions are based on its unique Web Services Architecture that uses two cutting-edge technologies: directory services and the Extensible Markup Language (XML). By integrating these two technologies, Bowstreet provides the first eBusiness platform for creating, deploying and managing thousands of highly customized Internet-based channel relationships over extranets - on the fly and with minimal programming."

• [June 12, 1999] "Agile Software Collaborates on First RosettaNet Production Application. Standards-Based Information Exchange Powers B2B Opportunities." - "The full potential of supply chain Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce remains largely untapped and elusive, hampered by a lack of standards in business communications. In response, RosettaNet, the global initiative to adopt and deploy open and common business interfaces, is developing a groundbreaking Product Catalog Update Partner Interface Process (PIP) for the supply chain. The Catalog Update PIP is being developed by Ingram Micro, Inc., Solectron Corporation, Extricity Software, Inc., and leading supplier of product change collaboration (PC2) solutions for the electronic supply chain, Agile Software Corporation. Agile is a RosettaNet Architect Partner, and will be in attendance at RosettaNet's eConcert Announcement event in Palo Alto, California today. Today's supply chain lacks a common format for referring to critical product content like part numbers. The RosettaNet Catalog Update PIP uses the Internet's eXtensible Markup Language (XML) to enable companies to realize the power of B2B commerce."

• [June 12, 1999] "Sterling Commerce Endorses RosettaNet's eConcert. E-Commerce Leader Provides XML Support to Worldwide Consortium." - "Sterling Commerce, Inc. today announced its support of RosettaNet's launch of eConcert, a phased implementation of partner-to-partner E-commerce. Sterling Commerce will work in conjunction with RosettaNet to provide the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) support required to fulfill the commitment of eConcert, which sets initiation of labs testing, pilots and live production implementations to begin February 2000. Sterling Commerce will provide the expertise to implement XML-supported solutions. This effort reinforces the Sterling Commerce Business Process Integration (BPI) initiative, which focuses on the integration of distributed business processes through the electronic exchange and management of information within and between enterprises. As announced last month, Sterling Commerce, via its GENTRAN product family, supports both XML and traditional EDI standards with its data transformation engine. This support will co-exist in the same mapping and translation components that provide support for global EDI standards and proprietary message formats."

• [June 11, 1999] "Sun-Netscape Alliance Expands Plans for Integrating XML Into E-Commerce Applications and Services. Alliance's Continued Support for RosettaNet Will Help Enable Collaborative Business Processes for E-Commerce." - "Furthering its commitment to providing e-commerce applications and services that leverage the strengths of XML, the Sun-Netscape Alliance today reaffirmed its support for the RosettaNet consortium and other key organizations including CommerceNet, XML.org or OASIS that are helping to define the industry's XML standards for business-to-business electronic commerce processes. The Alliance also described its plan to integrate XML support across its family of e-commerce applications for commerce exchange, online procurement, online selling and online bill presentment and payment. In a related announcement, RosettaNet announced its commitment to providing an XML standard for live product implementations by February 2, 2000. The Sun-Netscape Alliance, which has executive representation in the consortium, is supporting this timeline and has agreed to collaborate with the other RosettaNet board members to align business processes to support the organization's XML standard."

• [June 11, 1999] "IBM Begins Opening Source for AlphaBeans." - "Based on customer demand, a subset of IBM's award-winning alphaBeans are now available with source code. Developers who download these free bean packages automatically join the alphaBeans global development team and become members of the "alphaBeans with Source" community. Community members can modify alphaBeans source to include the changes they need for their applications, and then submit those changes to IBM to make their contributions available to the entire community."

• [June 11, 1999] "IBM Introduces Web Intermediaries. A Powerful New Class of Web Applications." - "Aiming to give Web developers and users more control over the flow and customization of web data, IBM has released a free Java-based software toolkit that enables a powerful new class of applications known as web intermediaries. Intermediaries can monitor and modify the flow of web data between clients, servers and proxies. For example, they can produce personalized content, seamlessly connect local and remote information on the web, route web traffic, translate protocols or translate document formats. IBM's Web Intermediary (WBI) Developer Kit for Java, which can be downloaded free of charge from IBM's alphaWorks web site, provides a flexible but highly functional framework for creating intermediary applications. . . [XML/XSL] -- Transcoding intermediaries convert data from one format to another, which is especially useful when the file/data format coming from the Web server is not supported by the browser of, say, a personal digital assistant. This program uses the XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language) to convert XML (eXtensible Markup Language) data into HTML, which can be displayed using a web browser."

• [June 10, 1999] "IT Industry Companies Line Up to Form Partnerships for eConcert Piloting of Business Processes to Align Supply Chain." - "There was no shortage of volunteers when the call went out for participants in eConcert -- the implementation phase of RosettaNet, the most advanced partner-to-partner e-business initiative ever undertaken. In an initiative that will define supply chain transactions using between 75 and 100 standard XML-based partner interface processes (PIPs), or computer-to-computer dialogs, 15 companies have committed resources to four-to-six-month pilot programs that will test processes for updating catalogs and purchasing products. The announcement Thursday by RosettaNet -- the IT industry consortium comprised of manufacturers, software publishers, distributors, resellers, integrators and end users -- involves implementation of nine PIPs that will eventually comprise e-business production systems. The selected implementers have formed partnerships of two to six companies to begin pilot implementations. These early adopters recognize the value that RosettaNet's standards bring for themselves, RosettaNet members and every other company in the IT supply chain. Eventually, the entire industry will have the opportunity to take advantage of RosettaNet PIPs, each company in its own timeframe, according to Fadi Chehade, RosettaNet president and CEO. In addition to implementing PIPs to align their business processes, each of the eConcert participants have committed to encourage and assist all of their other key supply chain partners to get ready for the production system rollout in February of next year. eConcert will come to fruition on Feb. 2, 2000, when all the eConcert member companies will use PIPs in their everyday production routines. The RosettaNet Managing Board now consists of 34 CEOs, CIOs and executives representing global members of the IT supply chain." See the RosettaNet June 10, 1999 press event backgrounder and associated documents. More than 25 company press releases accompanied the RosettaNet media event.

• [June 10, 1999] "webMethods Announces Readiness to Implement RosettaNet's Global Supply Chain Architecture. Company to Deliver RosettaNet Implementation by February, 2000. webMethods' Expertise in XML Integration To Improve Processes Between Trading Partners." - "webMethods today announced its readiness to implement a live production application based on the RosettaNet framework, an initiative to establish global PC supply chain standards, by February, 2000. RosettaNet's initiative, code-named eConcert, is currently in the pilot phase of pre-production partner-to-partner interface scenarios. In June 1998, webMethods was the first business-to-business integration vendor with XML-based products to join RosettaNet as an architect partner.. . RosettaNet is defining and leading the implementation of open and common processes designed to align the electronic business interfaces between IT supply chain partners. RosettaNet's 34 board member companies generate more than half of the PC sector's $7 billion annual revenues."

• [June 10, 1999] "GE Information Services Successfully Implementing RosettaNet XML Pilot Program. Arrow Electronics and NEC Technologies Working Alongside E-Commerce Leader to Utilize New Technologies Within RosettaNet Partner Interface Process Pilot." - "Today, at the RosettaNet board meeting, GE Information Services announced that they are implementing XML technologies in a Partner Interface Process (PIP) pilot program with RosettaNet colleagues, Arrow Electronics, Inc. and NEC Technologies. GE Information Services, Arrow Electronics and NEC Technologies are among the first companies to be implementing a purchase order PIP pilot within the RosettaNet framework. As a continuation of the program, GE has recently delivered a pilot version of their translation software, EDI Application Integrator, with XML extensions. A RosettaNet PIP is a specification using XML designed to align a specific business process between trading partners. The purchase order PIP (PIP3A1) provides a mechanism for creating, cancelling and exchanging a purchase order between various business partners. Arrow Electronics and NEC Technologies joined GE Information Services in the pilot program because of their interest to exchange business information using the XML specifications as defined by RosettaNet."

• [June 10, 1999] "Extricity Software Demonstrates First Successful Customer Implementation of Rosettanet E-Business Standards. Ingram Micro and Solectron Use Extricity AllianceSeries Products to Bring RosettaNet eConcert Initiative to Life." - "Support of the open, eXtensible Markup Language (XML)-based RosettaNet standards adds yet another way in which members of trading partner communities can integrate their business processes and systems using the Extricity AllianceSeries family of products. The Extricity AllianceSeries family already allows business users to define interactions with their trading partners via shared processes based on XML, via web-based interactions, as well as a wide variety of basic data exchange methods, including electronic data interchange (EDI), file transfer protocol (FTP), and simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP)."

• [June 10, 1999] "Media Design in*Progress Ships Emilé 1.0 XML Editor for Macintosh." - "Media Design in*Progress today ships Emilé 1.0, the first XML editor for Macintosh. Emilé is the commercial edition of the free Emilé Lite XML editor that was released in April. Emilé is a highly customizable XML editor that supports productive markup with XML, liberating the author from detailed knowledge of the XML specification by providing context-sensitive dialogs and menus listing allowed tags and common markup constructs. The editor automatically adapts the user interface to the current document type (DTD), and comes with a validator to ensure correct markup."

• [June 09, 1999] "RosettaNet Launches First-Ever Technical Dictionary for Unified E-Commerce Language. MicroAge, Ingram Micro, pcOrder and Tech Data First to Commit to Adopt for Their Own Catalog Databases." - "RosettaNet today announced the availability of the first-ever electronic technical dictionary to provide a common business language that will link an entire industry's supply chain business processes. Under a continuing mandate from a consortium of major information technology enterprises, RosettaNet spearheaded the development of the dictionary, which was designed by and for the IT industry to standardize data required for supply chain business processes. The RosettaNet dictionary is a major element in a fast-track project to build business process interoperability into a fully automated electronic business "infostructure" that links manufacturers, software publishers, resellers, wholesale distributors, end users, financiers, carriers and e-business technologists. Containing approximately 3,600 words, the data dictionary describes technical specifications for a wide range of IT products. . . the dictionary's hierarchical structure is far more than a compendium of words and meanings. Layers within layers of descriptive fields refer to product type, multiple specifications and their definitions, terms to explain dimensions and their units, and a value domain field for listing model variations. Another key aspect of the RosettaNet dictionary is providing a precise language that enables fast and economical machine-to-machine translation of the words into foreign languages. This flexibility, which Chehade characterizes as essential to RosettaNet's overall mission to globalize the IT supply chain's business processes, promotes international, multilingual e-business initiatives that cross all geographic boundaries. Businesses can now understand each other and seamlessly integrate their business transactions."[local archive copy]

• [June 09, 1999] "Blue Angel Wins Contract to Web-Enable Texas State Library. MetaStar Enterprise Provides Advanced XML-based Internet Information Solution." - "Under the contract, Blue Angel's MetaStar Enterprise suite of products will be used to provide a broad range of Internet information services to state taxpayers. Included are harvesting Web-based documents from 280 state agency servers, storing agency records in a relational database, generating on-the-fly HTML from user-customized templates and providing advanced search and retrieval capabilities for taxpayers. . . a move that plays into Blue Angel's strength of providing advanced, XML-based information solutions."

• [June 09, 1999] "ICE News: Protocol Updated, Author Group Expands, New Seminars Planned." - "he Information and Content Exchange (ICE) Protocol Authoring Group, creators of the specification for syndicating content on the World Wide Web, released a new editorial update of its award-winning standard. ICE also announced two new companies joining the authoring group, Reuters New Media Inc. and ShiftKey Inc., and its next two ICE Summit seminars. The ICE authoring group approved the updated protocol and addition of the two new companies at its May 1999 meeting. ICE, a special membership organization of Graphic Communications Association (GCA) Research Institute, now has 10 companies in its authoring group. Laird Popkin, chief technical officer of Sothebys.Com and chair of the ICE authoring group said, 'The May revision tightens the language in ICE and improves consistency between the document type definition (DTD) -- the core of the specification -- and various examples presented in the text.' Popkin added, 'The update makes no changes in the DTD however, so the standard remains completely stable from before'." See Information and Content Exchange (ICE) Protocol." [local archive copy]

• [June 09, 1999] "J.P. Morgan, PricewaterhouseCoopers Propose FpML, a New E-commerce Standard - Financial Products Markup Language Handles FX and Fixed Income Derivatives." - "J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP todaynounced the release of FpML (Financial Products Markup Language), a new protocol for Internet-based electronic dealing and information sharing of financial derivatives, initially handling interest rate and foreign exchange products. The specification, which will be freely licensed, is expected to set the standard within these industries for the rapidly growing field of business-to-business electronic commerce. Based on XML, the emerging Internet standard for data-sharing between applications, FpML enables Internet-based integration of a range of services, from electronic trading and confirmations to portfolio specification for risk analysis." See also: "Financial Products Markup Language (FpML)."

• [June 08, 1999] Sun to Implement Web-Based Enterprise Management Standards in Solaris Operating Environment. Industry Leaders Applaud Sun's Embrace of Emerging WBEM Standards." - "Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced today Solaris WBEM Services, the company's implementation of the emerging Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) standards, for the Solaris operating environment. Solaris WBEM Services software enables IT managers to create and modify system information stored in a standard format, the Common Information Model (CIM). This software eases the administration of the Solaris Operating Environment and provides for management software interoperability. . . Sun continues to be an active board member of the DMTF and participates in several working groups. As part of the DMTF's Technical Development Committee and its sub-committees, Sun has made significant contributions to such standards and specifications as Desktop Management Interface, CIM and the XML Encoding Specification for CIM." For further information, see: "DMTF Common Information Model (CIM)." See also "Sun Adopts WBEM, and Provides the Active Ingredient with Java Technology." [announcement from Sun site]

• [June 08, 1999] "Keyfile Corporation Supports Microsoft Office 2000 With Keyflow Commerce to Provide Business Process Automation." - "Keyfile's Keyflow Commerce leverages leading edge XML technology to provide Microsoft Office 2000 customers a set of solutions to manage and automate business processes via the Web, including e-commerce applications, supply-chain operations, enterprise processes or departmental procedures. . . The Keyflow Commerce XML Engine is a forms server and communications facility that connects XML-based forms and user interfaces to the Workflow Server and Active Document Workspace. Using the XML Engine in combination with the XML Forms Designer, browser-based XML forms become an effective and highly portable front-end application that can be used on local or remote client workstations. This component of Keyflow Commerce is scheduled for shipment later this year."

• [June 08, 1999] "Bluestone Seeds XML Market With 3,000 Free Copies of Bluestone Visual-XML at JavaOne. General Availability of Easy-to-Use Development Tool Drives XML Adoption by Developers, Database Programmers, and Other Business Users Needing Fast, Efficient Data and Application Integration." - "Bluestone Software, Inc., a performance leader in Enterprise Interaction Management, today followed through on plans to make its Bluestone XML Suite pervasive by announcing the giveaway of 3,000 copies of Bluestone Visual-XML, an approachable and easy-to-use toolkit for building XML applications. Available today, Bluestone Visual-XML is an easy-to-use, pure Java development tool that makes use of a straightforward graphical user interface, drag-and-drop capabilities, and Mentor, Bluestone's advanced interactive navigation and help facility to simplify development of dynamic XML applications. Consequently, Bluestone Visual-XML is poised to drive XML adoption beyond traditional application developers and into the ranks of database programmers and other business users who need fast, efficient data integration, e-commerce, electronic data interchange, and supply chain management applications."

• [June 08, 1999] "Dow Jones Interactive Next-Generation Server Software Eases Integration of Global News and Business Information Into Corporate Intranets." - "Dow Jones & Company announced today that its next-generation intranet Server Software enables companies to easily integrate news and information from Dow Jones Interactive into their workspace. Building on capabilities introduced last year, Dow Jones continues to provide cutting-edge technology that eases and advances the intranet development process by eliminating costly and time-consuming production and administrative tasks. Dow Jones technology experts have written a server-based application that processes XML-formatted articles. The end result is a highly organized content set ready-made for intranet access."

• [June 08, 1999] "Quintessent Releases Industry-first XML Based Message Adapters and XML Editing Suite for OSS Interconnection. Quintessent's XML Components Provide Data Transfer and Interface Design Features to Enable Back-Office Tele.Commerce." - "Quintessent Cmmunicatrions announced today the availability of the industry's first eXtensible Markup Language (XML) based Message Adapters. These XML based Message Adapters, together with the QConnect Platform and a suite of Interconnect Applications, provide the first Tele.Commerce solution for telecommunications back-office electronic commerce. Quintessent also announced the release of QConnect Studio, an XML based tool-set that efficiently modifies Quintessent's off-the-shelf Message Adapters to meet the changing requirements of trading partners. QConnect Studio, a XML based tool-set, lets carriers configure Message Adapters to define information structures and map information from one data structure to another, such as from Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) to Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), CORBA to XML, EDI to XML and Mechanized Specifications to XML. In addition, QConnect Studio enables carriers to more flexibly and rapidly address changes to trading partner business rules through efficient modification of Message Adapter data formats and content validations. Carriers repeatedly leverage the value of QConnect Studio, as rapidly changing interface agreements require them to quickly adjust data mapping and data validation processes. . ."

• [June 08, 1999] "DataChannel's XML-based Enterprise Information Portal Supports Microsoft Office 2000 Web Capabilities. Commitment to Open Web Standards Enables New Web-Based Solutions." - "DataChannel today announced that DataChannel RIO, their Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) solution software, supports Microsoft's Office 2000 Web integration capabilities. By supporting Web standards such as XML, WebDAV, and Java in DataChannel RIO, Microsoft Office 2000 can be used to improve enterprise workgroup collaboration across standard Web protocols. DataChannel RIO, DataChannel's solutions software, incorporates server-side XML and the WebDAV specification. This gives customers additional ways to share Microsoft Office 2000 documents across platforms. . "

• [June 08, 1999] "Leading E-Commerce Solutions Provider, i3solutions, Will Implement Sequoia's XML-Based Interactive Portal Application." - "Sequoia Software Corporation today announced that it has signed a strategic reseller agreement with i3solutions, inc., a leading provider of e-business software and consulting services, based in Dulles, Va. The agreement takes effect immediately and enables i3 to develop a range of e-business solutions using Interchange2000, Sequoia's XML-based, interactive portal application. Using XML, Interchange2000 integrates disparate applications and data giving users a personalized, unified view of available information resources. Interchange2000 also lets users easily and accurately search for, share, and modify information, and then use this existing information to create and share new information objects (data) on the fly."

• [June 08, 1999] "VSI Announces Breeze Commerce Studio. Fax Leader First to Offer Broad Commerce Solution to Burgeoning E-Business Market." - "VSI (V-Systems, Inc.), a company dedicated to Bridging the Gap between Business and E-Business, Tuesday announced the launch of its new broad e-commerce initiative, Breeze Commerce Studio. Breeze Commerce Studio is an XML visual toolkit for building e-business applications that enables broad e-commerce automation for corporations of all sizes. By establishing a framework for communicating XML via the Web, e-mail, and fax, Breeze brings together companies and enterprise workgroups with disparate applications and network environments under the umbrella of a common method for sharing information."

• [June 07, 1999] "Relativity Technologies Releases Industry's Most Advanced E-Legacy Solution. RescueWare 5.0 Jump Starts 'Next Wave' of E-Business Enablement Technology." _ "Relativity announced RescueWare 5.0, the industry's most advanced legacy to e-business solution for transforming core business processes. RescueWare 5.0 features enhanced functionality for legacy system integration into the architecture of e-business, including XML Support -- Pioneering representations of legacy information system content in Exensible Markup Language (XML) and the specification of business data in industry specific XML implementations such as Financial Information Exchange Protocol (FIX)."

• [June 07, 1999] "X-Collaboration Software Corp. To Offer Enhanced, Web-Powered Document-Sharing Capabilities To Microsoft Office 2000 Users. Microsoft's Launch of Office 2000 Supported By XML-Based X-Collaboration.com Solution." - "With the official unveiling today of Microsoft Office 2000 business productivity software suite, X-Collaboration Software Corporation (XCSC) -- a start-up innovator of XML business collaboration products -- announced that its X-Collaboration.com solution provides a fully-supported business collaboration service for Microsoft Office 2000 users wishing to manage the work of distributed intra- and inter-company workgroups via the Internet. X-Collaboration.com is fully compatible with Microsoft Office 2000's use of XML and Microsoft Exchange. In addition, X-Collaboration.com runs on Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft SQL Server 7.0, and supports Microsoft Internet Explorer and all existing Windows-based applications and e-mail packages." [local archive copy]

• [June 07, 1999] "Consortium Formed to Develop Law Firm Electronic Billing Standards. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP Joins Non-Profit Advisory Board." - "With the goal of establishing a standard format to facilitate electronic billing and payments between law firms and clients, the formation of a non-profit Oversight Committee (LOC) for the Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard (LEDES) has been announced. Representatives of 18 key legal industry participants, including law firms, law departments, software and services vendors, industry trade groups, and consultants endorsed in May the widespread use of the LEDES standard in the legal industry. The LEDES standard currently utilizes an ASCII format and is confined to electronic invoices. An XML version is planned."

• [June 04, 1999] "Major XML Users, Boeing and Sabre, Sponsor OASIS." - "OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, welcomed major XML users, The Boeing Company and Sabre, as new sponsors of the international XML Consortium. These new members signify the expanding XML marketplace and are the most recent additions to OASIS' growing population of user members."

• [June 04, 1999] "SKYVA International to Showcase Industry's First Java-Based Supply Chain Framework at Inaugural e-Business Conference and Expo. SKYVA Solution Generates Supply Chain Software Directly from an Organization's Business Process Model." - "SKYVA International (formerly Camelot IS-2), a premier provider of business automation solutions, today announced that it will showcase the groundbreaking skyva Solution at the inaugural e-Business Conference and Expo, June 8-10 at the San Jose Convention Center. The skyva Solution, the industry's first Java-based supply chain framework, empowers users to generate supply chain software directly from their business process model. The skyva Solution, one of the largest mission critical software initiatives based on Java, also boasts several significant technical achievements, including the first UML-based code generator to generate XML-compliant software."

• [June 03, 1999] "Nokia Announces Cooperation With Technology Leaders Toward Development of WAP Based Products and Solutions. Nokia working with leading software developers, content providers and hardware manufacturers to develop Internet-based Value Added Services." - "Nokia brought a number of leading content providers, software and hardware developers together today at Nokia's third annual Wireless Data Conference, to announce cooperative activities focused on supporting Wireless Applications Protocol (WAP) and the growing demand for mobility. This reinforces Nokia's commitment to develop the wireless Internet and use of mobile devices such as smartphones and personal digital assistants (PDAs), as well as to continue to provide new and innovative solutions to wireless customers. The Nokia Wireless Data Conference, unique in its kind, brings together key players in the industry, including wireless network operators, to meet, share ideas and discuss the opportunities in the market place using Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)." [local archive copy]

• [June 03, 1999] "Viasoft Launches XML Support for Rochade Repository. Enables Meta Data to be Leveraged as Major Information Asset." - "Viasoft Inc. announced Thursday support of the XML (eXtensible Markup Language) standard with the updated release of the Viasoft Rochade repository. This current release marks phase one of Viasoft's strategy to support the Open Information Model (OIM), and delivers the benefits of an open data exchange between Rochade, the Microsoft Repository and all other participating repository or tool vendors' products based on OIM. By moving beyond proprietary exchange formats to the XML standard, meta data information can be leveraged and shared across a large number of sources, including databases, languages, modeling tools, data extraction tools and business intelligence tools." See also: "Viasoft, Microsoft and XML."

• [June 03, 1999] "Auto-Graphics Inc. Integrates Frame+SGML With SGML Database Editorial System. Houghton Mifflin Company Purchases New Editorial and Composition System." - "Auto-Graphics, a leading provider of composition and electronic publishing services, has delivered the latest release of its integrated SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) database editorial and composition system to the dictionary group at Houghton Mifflin Company of Boston. T he Editorial System combines proven SGML technology with a powerful and flexible composition system, Frame+SGML from Adobe Systems. Auto-Graphics' SGML Database Editorial System was first introduced in 1989 to meet the specific needs of publishers who were looking for SGML systems that addressed the need to manage and develop products in a database environment. . ."

• [June 03, 1999] "MapQuest.com Joins WAP Forum. MapQuest.com Furthers Its Commitment to Wireless Application Protocol." - "MapQuest.com, Inc., a leader in advanced mapping systems, today announced its membership in the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Forum, demonstrating the Company's commitment to the continued development of products for the next generation of wireless devices. The WAP Forum represents a consortium of more than 100 companies, including industry giants such as Microsoft, AT&T Wireless, Nokia and Ericsson, focused on developing a world-wide standard for information and telephony services for wireless devices. . . he Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is the de-facto world standard for wireless information and telephony services on digital mobile phones and other wireless terminals. Handset manufacturers representing over 75% of the world market across all technologies have committed to shipping WAP-enabled devices. Carriers representing nearly 100 million subscribers worldwide have joined WAP. This commitment will provide tens of millions of WAP browser enabled products to consumers by the end of 2000. WAP allows carriers to strengthen their service offerings by providing subscribers with the information they want and need while on the go. The WAP Forum has published a global wireless protocol specification based on existing Internet standards such as XML and IP for all wireless networks. WAP Forum membership is open to all industry participants."

• [June 02, 1999] "Sun Unveils JavaServer Pages Technology. JavaServer Pages Technology Allows Developers to Build Dynamic, Cross-Platform Web-Based Applications." - "Sun Microsystems, Inc., today announced the immediate availability of JavaServer Pages technology, which for the first time allows Web page developers to easily build cross-platform, truly interactive Web sites. Harnessing the full power of the Java platform, JavaServer Pages technology separates the functions of content generation and page layout, providing developers with a simplified and more efficient way to create server-generated Web pages that combine content from a wide variety of enterprise data sources. The JavaServer Pages technology is based on Servlets. Servlets enable JavaServer Pages technology to provide Web application developers with a simple, consistent mechanism for extending and customizing Web server functionality. JavaServer Pages technology also integrates easily with Enterprise JavaBeans architecture-based technology to access transaction systems and enable re-usable, cross-platform capabilities using CORBA and XML. Developed in collaboration with industry leaders in the enterprise software and tools markets, the JavaServer Pages technology is available for free download beginning today." See the main information page.

• [June 02, 1999] "Bluestone Embraces JavaServer Pages and Java Servlets With Sapphire/Web Release 6.1 Application Server Platform. Sapphire/Web Provides Distributed JavaServer Pages, JSP, and Servlet Platform." - "With Sapphire/Web Release 6.1, Bluestone reaffirms its commitment to delivering a state-of-the-art application server platform by supporting the JavaServer Pages (JSP) 1.0 specification and the Java Servlet API, the two new key components of Sun's Enterprise Java technologies announced today by Sun Microsystems Inc. In addition to the Load Balance Broker architecture, Sapphire/Web's proven Customer-Facing Fault Tolerance can assure Web developers the highest level of reliability. Sapphire/Web's Load Balance Broker can be deployed as a Java Servlet itself within a Web server farm, or even as an ISAPI or NSAPI within Microsoft or Netscape Web servers to balance the load across any number of application server boxes hosting the Java Servlet or JSP applications. In addition, Sapphire/Web's Load Balance Broker can take Java Servlet and JSP applications into non-browser based applications by deployment as a JavaBean or Enterprise JavaBean. In conjunction with Bluestone's XML-Server, this new capability offers a completely open platform for developers."

• [June 02, 1999] "InfoSpinner Announces Enterprise XML Availability for ForeSite Application Server 3.0. New XML Capabilities Give ForeSite the Ability to Support Business Information Exchange Between Any Back-End Systems." - "InfoSpinner, the premier developer of enterprise-class application server technology, today announced the availability of Enterprise XML in the ForeSite Application Server version 3.0. Enterprise XML enables the creation of composite XML from multiple non- integrated data and applications across the enterprise. ForeSite dramatically accelerates the process of building complex, high-value, integrated applications that can be used for business information exchange. Enterprise XML includes the JIF, a collection of JavaBeans that consume XML from enterprise systems. The powerful JIF enables users to quickly and easily move Enterprise XML documents between servers or build sophisticated user interfaces by creating controls such as text fields, list boxes, drop down boxes and text areas in Java-based applications. The JIF is fully compatible with all Java IDE's that support Java Beans."

• [June 02, 1999] "Singapore Telecom and Commerce One to Establish Asia's Business-to-business E-commerce Portal. Strategic Alliance Advances SingTel's E-Commerce Strategy and Provides Asia a Gateway into the Global E-Commerce Marketplace." - "Singapore Telecom (SingTel) and Commerce One, the US-based company specializing in business-to-business electronic commerce solutions, today announced a partnership to offer Asia's full service business-to-business electronic commerce (B-to-B e-commerce) marketplace for goods and services, and bring Asian traders onto the global e-commerce platform. 'In addition to automating internal procurement processes, NCS will enable real-time connections to our regional business-to-business e-commerce portal. Operated by NCS, the portal will provide an open, XML-based marketplace to service large, medium and small businesses across every industry,' said BG Lee Hsien Yang."

• [June 02, 1999] "Data General Elevates Enterprise Management Strategy With Launch Of DG/ManageSuite. Enterprise Management Suite Unifies Server Management, Storage Management and System Diagnostics." - "Data General Corporation today introduced DG/ManageSuite, a complete package of open enterprise management solutions for Data General AViiON Enterprise Servers and CLARiiON advanced storage solutions. DG/ManageSuite offers customers leading edge enterprise management software that adopts emerging industry standards such as Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), based on the Common Information Model (CIM), and Microsoft Management Console (MMC). The suite offers greater flexibility for management in both stand-alone environments and within third-party enterprise management frameworks." See: "DMTF Common Information Model (CIM)."

• [June 01, 1999] "Documentum Delivers its Next-Generation Platform for Corporate Portals. Documentum 4i manages both business know-how and content." - "Documentum, Inc. today announced the delivery of Documentum 4i, the first Web application platform designed to dynamically manage all facets of content creation and delivery for both corporate and e-business portals. Utilizing the latest developments in XML content and process integration, Documentum 4i provides the first platform for rapid development and deployment of globally distributed portals by Documentum, its partners and customers."

• [May 28, 1999] "The Unstoppable Economic Tidal Wave: How the Internet Continues to Shatter the World's Fundamental Business Paradigms. Deloitte Research study envisions a new age of price wars, the disappearance of money, a solution to the language barrier and a queue system for the 'world wide wait'." - "Breaking the Language Barrier: The study also shows that another solution to the growing Internet traffic jam is a shift in programming language from the popular-but-cumbersome HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) to XML (Extensible Markup Language). This next-generation Internet language, already being employed by major companies like Oracle, separates important data from the graphics format, allowing buyers and sellers to complete transactions much faster. This change will also produce a number of other improvements, such as enabling the Web-page display to be adapted to the capabilities of the device (i.e., wireless phone, laptop, desktop); real-time updates to vendor data, such as pricing and product availability; and improved effectiveness of both search engines and shop bots. It also sets the stage for implementing the first standardized system for processing financial transactions such as billing over the Internet."

• [May 26, 1999] "XMetaL 1.0 Now Shipping - Setting the Standard for XML Content Creation." - "XMetaL is an advanced, simple to deploy XML authoring tool that delivers unprecedented ease of use to customers working with XML and SGML. Modeled on common word processing applications, it offers a familiar, easy-to-use, authoring environment that virtually eliminates unnecessary learning curves and training costs. By easily creating XML content, XMetaL eliminates the need to convert documents authored in traditional word processors, streamlines the publishing process and substantially reduces conversion expenses. XMetaL's extensive customization features enable the authoring environment to be optimized for any DTD, in many instances without programming. Its COM-based architecture and support for any Windows scripting language ensure that XMetaL can be extended and integrated into any existing publishing infrastructure. Its comprehensive support of SGML and web technologies makes XMetaL the ideal tool for any hybrid SGML/XML environment. Content creators will benefit from XMetaL's ease of use and IT professionals will appreciate its simple deployment capabilities. XMetaL is ideal for creating content for technical publications, knowledge management, on-line publishing or any other application that benefits from XML." See the "XMetaL Features" document for further description.

• [May 26, 1999] "Vervet Logic Announces the Release of XML Pro v2.0."Vervet Logic today announced the release of XML Pro v2.0, the next version of the popular eXtensible Markup Language editor. XML Pro v2.0 includes a number of new features, including Drag and Drop, Undo, and integration of the IBM XML 4J Parser. XML Pro v2.0 features the IBM XML4J parser, offering solid support for the W3C Document Object Model and the SAX interface. Using the IBM parser, XML Pro integrates well with customized XML solutions for the enterprise. Try the demo. The upgraded version is available via the Vervet website at www.vervet.com, and registered users of XML Pro are invited to upgrade from v1.2 free of charge. Priced at an attractive US$174.95 on CD-ROM and $149.95 for download, XML Pro v2.0 offers the same clean, easy to use interface as previous versions, and includes a host of new features. The XML Pro editor will continue to be offered in a product bundle with Microstar's Near & Far Designer, to provide robust DTD editing for a complete XML solution."

• [May 26, 1999] "CardoNet Offers First Look At Its Web-based Catalog Content Management Solution. CardoNet Co-Sponsors First Conference on Net Market Makers and Online Marketplaces." - "CardoNet has unveiled MarketStand - the first Web-based catalog content management solution enabling online market makers to rapidly grow their businesses by quickly and painlessly integrating suppliers. MarketStand streamlines the market maker's time to market, by automatically publishing product information in XML, and by combining both 'push' and 'pull' e-commerce systems. MarketStand is a cross-platform solution that does not require proprietary technologies to trade supplier information. MarketStand generates a supplier's integrated catalog by automatically creating an XML document containing supplier information. The XML documents produced from suppliers' data sources are delivered to the market maker's site according to a pre-defined schedule determined by the suppliers (e.g., weekly, daily, every Monday, or even every 15 minutes). Only changes in product information are delivered over the Internet, thus reducing network overhead and minimizing system usage. The delivery mechanism fully conforms to the ICE content delivery and exchange protocol." See also CardoNet featured on the Ontology.Org Web site.

• [May 26, 1999] "webMethods Demonstrates First Cross-Platform XML Support for BizTalk Framework. Prototype Demonstrates Interoperability for Trading Partners Across Different Systems." - "The prototype being demonstrated highlights the use of the BizTalk Framework for exchange of business documents between trading partners running business applications on different operating systems, including UNIX and Microsoft Windows 2000. The demonstration features XML-based data exchange between a preliminary build of the Microsoft BizTalk Server and the webMethods B2B product, and shows exchange of product data and purchase orders in a typical supply chain application."

• [May 26, 1999] "Arbortext Holds Online 'XML for Real' Seminar for Business End Users." - "XML solutions pioneer Arbortext, Inc. today announced an online seminar to be held May 26 [1999] to show businesses how XML-based e-Content management software can help them manage their vital business information, reducing costs and accelerating time-to-market for their core products and services. The seminar will feature chat sessions with industry-renowned XML experts who can answer questions and give examples of how XML solutions applied in a business environment provide significant return on investment. The seminar will also include a product walkthrough of Epic, Arbortext's XML-based e- Content management software, and two separate tracks on XML: An XML Lite track, and an XML in-depth track." See the Arbortext web site.

• [May 26, 1999] "Open eBook Authoring Group Completes Draft Recommendation for New Electronic Book Publication Standard. Publishers, Software Manufacturers and eBook Pioneers Pave Way for More Electronic Titles With Draft Recommendation for New International Standard." - "In a step that will accelerate availability of electronic book content, the Open eBook Authoring Group yesterday announced the completion of a draft recommendation of the Open eBook 1.0 Specification, which defines the format that content takes when it is converted from print to electronic form. After seven months of work, the Open eBook Authoring Group, which consists of publishers, eBook pioneers and other software and hardware firms, completed work on the standard, basing it on the same HTML and XML specifications that define the World Wide Web. 'Common standards are essential to support this emerging industry, and the XML approach is key, aligning Open eBook with other emerging standards and positioning it to support increasing functionality, interoperability and extensibility,' said Allen Renear, director of the Brown University-affiliated Scholarly Technology Group and a key contributor to the draft specification. 'And I am pleased that Open eBook has made a solid commitment to supporting internationalization and accessibility'." See the Open eBook Initiative and the web site for the next workshop. See also "Open eBook Initiative."

• [May 26, 1999] "Microsoft's Call for an Open eBook Standard Sees Major Milestone As Draft Specification Is Submitted for Final Approval. Microsoft Rallies Wide Range of Industries to Develop Standard That Will Help Launch the eBook Industry." - "The Open eBook initiative was proposed in October 1998 by Microsoft Vice President for Emerging Technology Dick Brass in his keynote speech at the world's first eBook conference in Gaithersburg, Md. At the conference, sponsored by the National Institutes of Standards and Technologies (NIST), Brass argued for an open, nonproprietary standard for eBooks. The standard, based on the HTML and Extensible Markup Language (XML) specifications that define the World Wide Web, outlines the format for books and other traditionally printed material so that they can be converted from print to digital form. The Open eBook standard version 1.0 was presented Monday by its authors to more than 50 representatives of the broader Open eBook organization. The organization includes major publishers, eBook pioneers, and software and hardware manufacturers, as well as book distributors and retailers."

• [May 26, 1999] "webMethods Joins Acord in Support of XML Standards Initiative for the Insurance Industry. WebMethods Commits to Supporting ACORD Standards for Interoperable Business Systems." - "WebMethods announced that the company has joined ACORD, a non-profit industry association dedicated to developing open standards for interoperable insurance systems. webMethods will be building upon partnerships with existing customers and working with other ACORD members to accelerate the adoption of XML in the Insurance Industry. As the adoption of XML-based standards continues to accelerate, webMethods B2B ensures the development of open trading communities across multiple industries as it supports all existing business-to-business initiatives and XML standards including ACORD, OBI, Microsoft BizTalk, Commerce XML (cXML) and RosettaNet."

• [May 26, 1999] "DataChannel Supports OASIS Initiative, XML.ORG, to Build Open Industry XML Schema Registry and Repository. DataChannel to assist in the development of industry portal for XML Interoperability." - "DataChannel, Inc., a leader in Enterprise XML Information Solutions, announced today at XMLOne that they will be an active participant in the OASIS initiative to develop a specification for a distributed open industry registry and repository. XML.ORG intends to build a public access portal that will play a critical role in enabling the rapid development and adoption of XML applications for electronic commerce and business-to-business transactions. The DataChannel XML Framework will directly support OASIS' specifications for XML-based application interoperability. The DataChannel XML Framework helps developers make the most of XML with a comprehensive portfolio of architectural design and consulting integration services, as well as tools, solution software, and extensive maintenance and support offerings."

• [May 26, 1999] "webMethods Announces Major Customer Wins for Its XML-Based Business-to-Business E-Commerce Solutions. Recent Deals Include Lexmark, Telstra, Premier, NEC Systems and ChannelPoint." - "webMethods, Inc. has further solidified its leadership position in the market for XML-based business-to-business e-commerce and integration solutions today by announcing major customer wins including Lexmark, Telstra, Premier, Inc., NEC Systems and ChannelPoint, Inc. webMethods has added dozens of new companies to its rapidly growing customer base, firmly positioning webMethods and XML as the de facto technologies used by Global 2000 companies to enable mission-critical business-to-business integration."

• [May 26, 1999] "Miva Corporation's XML-based Miva Script Available Free of Charge to More Than 350,000 Virtual Domains. Access to Scripting Language Available From Over 250 Web Hosting Companies." - "Miva Corporation, a leading provider of Web commerce software, today announced that more than 350,000 virtual domains have free access to Miva Script, the company's cross-platform, XML-based server side scripting language. Available from more than 250 Web hosting organizations worldwide, Miva Script enables individuals to create customized electronic storefronts, data-driven Web sites and other Internet applications. To date, Miva Script has more than 30,000 registered users who are actively utilizing the scripting language to create highly-customized applications."

• [May 26, 1999] "WordPerfect Office 2000 available now! Corel's flagship product hits store shelves to be first available of next generation office suites." - "WordPerfect Office 2000, the new state-of-the-art office suite by international software developer, Corel Corporation, has now made its way onto store shelves. Corel RealTime Preview is a fantastic new addition to the WordPerfect family. With this innovative addition, users will be able to view formatting changes, such as text size or font style, before they are applied. Compatibility with other applications is greater than ever-a record number of formats can now be easily imported and exported into WordPerfect Office 2000 applications. This includes Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, Lotus documents, HTML, XML-and much more."

• [May 25, 1999] "OASIS Launches XML.ORG Industry Registry/Repository to Enable XML for E-Business." - "Today OASIS announced the creation of XML.ORG, the first global XML industry portal to be operated by a non-profit corporation devoted to open information exchange. Over 23 industry-leading corporations, organizations and individual experts have rallied to voice their support for the formation of XML.ORG. Central to XML.ORG will be an open industry XML registry and repository offering automated public access to XML schemas. The registry/repository will play a critical enabling role in the use of industry-defined XML applications for electronic commerce, business-to-business transactions, and tools and application interoperability. The debut of XML.ORG signifies a major step in OASIS' ongoing registry and repository efforts, work that has been in progress for the last the 12 months. In keeping with its consensus-focused mission, OASIS will strive to ensure interoperability with existing and emerging XML initiatives, and will continue to actively solicit participation by any similar efforts." See also the XML.ORG FAQ document and the "Invitation to Participate."

• [May 24, 1999] "MERANT Addresses New E-Business Standards at Microsoft TechEd. MERANT to Co-Present XML with Microsoft and Sponsor Popular Developer Event." - "MERANT DataDirect has been invited by Microsoft to present 'New XML Integration Features in ADO 2.5' John Goodson, vice president of research and development for MERANT DataDirect, will co-present with Kamaljit Bath, Microsoft program manager, to lead an informational discussion on the Extensible Markup Language (XML) which provides an open standard for distributing data across the Web. According to a November 1998 Giga Group report, XML is emerging as a vital standard for Web-based applications and will be a 'major stepping stone on the road toward a distributed application infrastructure that enables rich, Web-based applications'."

• [May 24, 1999] "Microsoft and Commerce One to Collaborate on Key XML Technologies To Accelerate Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce Commerce One Common Business Library and MarketSite XML Documents To Enhance BizTalk Framework to Increase Interoperability Between Businesses." - "Microsoft Corp. and Commerce One Inc., a leading provider of electronic commerce solutions, today announced a broad collaboration around the BizTalk Framework and XML technologies to accelerate business-to-business electronic commerce by enabling greater interoperability between trading partners. As part of today's news, delivered at Microsoft's Tech Ed 99 conference, the Common Business Library (CBL), a public collection of XML document building blocks developed by Commerce One, and the Commerce One MarketSite-based business documents will be submitted into the BizTalk.Org schema repository."

• [May 24, 1999] "Microsoft Announces First Draft BizTalk Framework Specifications, Launches BizTalk.Org. Microsoft, Industry Partners and Customers Form Steering Committee To Oversee Development and Submission of XML-Based BizTalk Schemas ." - "Microsoft has announced "the availability of the first draft specifications of the BizTalk Framework, a new BizTalk.Org Web site, and charter members of the BizTalk steering committee. These BizTalk Framework initiatives aim to accelerate the widespread adoption of Extensible Markup Language (XML) for electronic commerce and application integration. Draft specifications for BizTalk Framework Tags and BizTalk Framework Documents have been published on the BizTalk.Org Web site

• [May 24, 1999] "International Middleware Association and Object Management Group Form Strategic Alliance. Consortiums' Relationship Provides Conduit for Increased Awareness And Promotion of Middleware Technologies, Issues and Standards." - "International Middleware Association (IMWA) and Object Management Group (OMG) today announced a strategic alliance that will provide a direct conduit from the middleware vendor and user communities to the middleware standards body, and vice-versa. The charters of IMWA and the OMG are complementary: IMWA's is to educate and increase awareness and acceptance of middleware in the market, and the OMG's is to promote standards, including the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) specification, the Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP), the XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) specification and the Unified Modeling Language (UML)."

• [May 24, 1999] "Symantec Unveils Strategy for Rapidly Building Web-Based Applications With Enterprise JavaBeans Technology. VisualCafe Enterprise Suite to Include 'EJB Universal Framework' and Flexible Modules for Efficiently Creating and Deploying EJBs to Multiple App Servers." - "Symantec announced its strategy to make it easy for software developers to create Web-based applications that leverage Sun Microsystems' Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) technology through two new technologies in Symantec's groundbreaking VisualCafe Enterprise Suite development solution: an EJB Universal Framework and modules providing deep integration between Enterprise Suite and popular third-party application servers.Under development and with testing planned to start later this month, Symantec's EJB Universal Framework will be the only solution for supporting the entire lifecycle of Enterprise JavaBeans applications development, from code writing, editing and compiling to testing and debugging. To support development, the framework offers an EJB code generator and universal XML (Extensible Markup Language) deployment descriptor generator."

• [May 24, 1999] "New Data Standards Will Dramatically Change Real Estate." - "Adoption of the new standards will provide a common way to communicate Multiple Listing System (MLS) data and exchange that data between different users; involve far less custom-coded interfaces; and increase competition among software vendors seeking to serve the real estate industry. The standards are intended for use over the Internet using extensible markup language (XML) and are designed to provide safeguards to protect privacy and intellectual property." See also "Real Estate Transaction Markup Language (RETML)." [Announcement from NAR.]

• [May 24, 1999] "webMethods Joins Acord in Support of XML Standards Initiative for the Insurance Industry. WebMethods Commits to Supporting ACORD Standards for Interoperable Business Systems." - "webMethods, Inc., a leading provider of XML-based solutions for business-to-business e-commerce and integration, today announced that the company has joined ACORD, a non-profit industry association dedicated to developing open standards for interoperable insurance systems. webMethods will be building upon partnerships with existing customers and working with other ACORD members to accelerate the adoption of XML in the Insurance Industry. 'ACORD has long championed interoperable standards in the insurance industry. We believe that XML will enable our member companies to leverage the Internet for more efficient and effective integration with business partners and customers,' says Gregory A. Maciag, ACORD president and CEO. Nearly 1,000 insurance companies are affiliated with ACORD, as are 29,000 agencies, the major agency software providers, the national producer associations, user groups, and other industry associations." [Also: the announcement from WebMethods.]

• [May 24, 1999] "GCA and OMG Agree to Partner on Industry Initiative." - "The two nonprofits will explore how OMG principles can be applied to printing and publishing. This will include OMG specifications such as the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), the Interface Definition Language, and others. GCA, which produces and supports the graphic arts EDI specifications, GRACoL (General Requirements for Applications of Commercial offset Lithography), and other important standards and specifications, will host two working meetings later this year. GCA has also expressed a desire to coordinate with CIP3, AMPAC, and other key industry initiatives. This step follows a directive this year from the GCA Board of Directors to migrate all graphic arts EDI specifications to XML within the next few years."

• [May 23, 1999] "ACORD and IIAA ACT Announce Joint Initiative to Fast Track XML Standard Definitions for the Insurance Industry." - "ACORD and the Independent Insurance Agents of America's Agents Council for Technology (ACT) have entered into a joint initiative to deliver to the industry within 120 days, a standardized vocabulary for XML, based on the ACORD ObjX and AL3 standards, announced Gregory A. Maciag, president and CEO, ACORD. This joint initiative will help prevent the potential growth of non-standard DTDs (Document Type Definitions) which would lead to multiple, uncoordinated, and more costly efforts to standardize XML transactions for the industry, said Maciag. 'The "fast track" approach reemphasizes to the industry ACORD's permanent commitment to lead the way in standardizing the exchange of insurance-related data by leveraging our ObjX development.' See "ACORD - XML for the Insurance Industry." [announcement from ACORD]

• [May 21, 1999] "VSI-Fax for Notes Advances New Enterprise Fax Capabilities for Today's Corporations." VSI (V-Systems Inc.), a leader in integrated fax, is expanding its emphasis on enterprise administration and integration tools with the worldwide rollout of its leading Lotus Notes fax solution, VSI-FAX for Notes 3.0. The integration capabilities include native imaging of Notes forms, the implementation of XML technology for integration interfaces, e-mail-to-fax gateways, and an autosend directory. VSI-FAX for Notes 3.0 also features enhanced administration through dynamic load balancing, doc link reporting, and Notes-based statistics and alarms. The implementation of XML technology, centered on the proposed XML-F standard, allows for the complete automation of expensive and time-consuming operations. Plus, imaging of Notes forms enables companies to communicate accurately, professionally, and easily from within the Notes environment. With VSI's robust rendering technology, Notes forms are routed directly through the network server." See: "XML-F ('XML for FAX')."

• [May 21, 1999] "Metrostat Technologies, Inc. Announces RETML Support In ListingsPlus, A Real Estate Listing Search Engine." - "Metrostat Technologies, Inc., an emerging real estate technology solutions provider, has embraced the new National Association of Realtors XML (eXtexsible Markup Language) specification, Real Estate Transaction Markup Language (RETML), and is one of the first to offer RETML in all of its products. Metrostat Technologies, Inc., an innovator in XML technologies, sells Real Estate Applications that combine the best of the web and the best of the desktop. Metrostat's applications include a suite of real estate search engines that enable communities of any size to include real estate searches in their site."

• [May 20, 1999] "InfoSpinner Releases Enhanced Version of ForeSite Application Server." -"InfoSpinner, Inc., a premier developer of enterprise-class application server technology, today announced the availability of the ForeSite Application Server version 3.0. This latest upgrade to the InfoSpinner flexible and scalable application server technology provides the world's most robust integration and deployment environment to leverage packaged and newly developed legacy data and applications into integrated business solutions. InfoSpinner has added several new enterprise-class features to the ForeSite Application Server, such as Enterprise XML, which includes: (1) Composite XML documents constructed from multiple non-integrated data and applications, (2) A packaged Java Integration Framework with JavaBeans that use XML for enterprise data access, and (3) XML Wizards."

• [May 20, 1999] "CrossWorlds Software Announces E-Business Integration. Leverages Existing CrossWorlds Packaged Integration Solutions; Supporting Wide Range of Business Modules Over the Internet." - "CrossWorlds can enable integrated business processes, secure transactions, EDI, XML and VAN support through its InterChange Server and infrastructure and through working with IPNet Solutions' extranet solution, IPNet Suite. Using its Connector technology and tools, CrossWorlds can also integrate to enterprises' legacy and custom electronic commerce applications."

• [May 19, 1999] "J.D. Edwards to Deliver E-Commerce Solutions Based on Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition and BizTalk Framework. Solutions Give Customers an E-Commerce Front End That Seamlessly Integrates With Microsoft BackOffice and J.D. Edwards OneWorld." - "J.D. Edwards is working with Microsoft and industry consortia to define BizTalk Extensible Markup Language (XML) schemas, which will allow users to access OneWorld functionality and data. These schemas will provide XML-based access to OneWorld APIs, such as Business Functions; business events, such as electronic data interchange (EDI) input; and system management functionality, such as batch scheduling. BizTalk will enable OneWorld customers to communicate with their suppliers and partners over the Internet, and to perform business transactions regardless of the platform technology underlying each company's systems."

• [May 19, 1999] "XML to Revolutionize Indirect Purchasing Applications, According to Granada Research Study." - "XML will have a huge impact on indirect purchasing applications, according to a new study from Granada Research. XML will allow buying organizations to efficiently obtain, compile, and maintain product catalogs and information from supplier organizations. This will alleviate one of the most vexing problems today of indirect purchasing applications. Some of the vendors of indirect application software are Ariba Technologies, Aspect Development, Clarus Corp., CommerceOne, Connect Inc., Concur Technologies, Datastreams Systems, Intelisys, Netscape, Oracle, PartNET, RightWorks, SAP, Trade'Ex, and Trilogy. Service providers in this space include Harbinger Corporation and Requisite Technology. The new study, E-Catalog'99: Business-to-Business Electronic Catalogs, examines the impact that XML and related standards will have on this application. In addition, it examines in detail, the XML and other capabilities of 15 leading software solutions."

• [May 18, 1999] "REWebcom and OpenMLS Release XML-Based Real Estate Listing Search Engine." - "REWebcom has deployed the next generation of Internet Real Estate listing search technology with their implementation of 'Xsearch!', the OpenMLS search tool based entirely on XML (eXtensible Markup Language). 'XML will revolutionize the way we mine data from the web', explains Doug Greenwood, President of OpenMLS. 'Traditional sites index information by crawling the Web and inspecting HTML pages. Keywords are simply collected without regard to meaning or context'. Utilizing XML to add meaning to mark-up, Xsearch! changes all this for the better. Just as HTML defines the display of data, XML defines the meaning of data. By reading XML mark-up, indexing software correlates meaning with data. Greenwood continues, 'This is precisely the approach OpenMLS has taken with Xsearch!. We index Real Estate documents that are stored in XML. The result: fast searches that return listings meeting precise criteria'."

• [May 18, 1999] "Internet Start-Up Unleashes Business Collaboration Portal. XML-Based X-Collaboration.com Provides Highly Secure And Flexible Architecture Necessary For Advanced, Web-Based Collaboration Applications." - "In a daring move destined to redefine the ways in which intra- and inter-company workgroups use the Internet to collaborate on document-centric projects, X-Collaboration Software Corporation (XCSC), a start-up innovator of XML business collaboration products, today announced X-Collaboration.com , a unique and powerful Business Collaboration Portal for creating and managing the work of distributed teams. 'X-Collaboration.com is the product for organizations that do not wish to establish the infrastructure necessary or incur the cost associated with enterprise groupware,' said Kevin Lo, co-founder and CEO of XCSC. 'With X-Collaboration.com, team members use an XML-compliant solution leveraging existing e-mail and desktop applications to develop and edit documents - without an IS person responsible for setting up and maintaining the central repository of information'."

• [May 18, 1999] "AT&T Labs to Use DataChannel's XML-based Enterprise Information Portal." - "DataChannel, a leader in Enterprise XML Solutions, today announced an agreement with AT&T Labs whereby AT&T Labs will use DataChannel, Inc.'s XMLFramework technology to explore the development of next-generation network services. Leveraging industry-standard eXtensible Markup Language (XML) in combination with DataChannel RIO will enable AT&T Labs to rapidly prototype new e-commerce offerings that can exchange and manage information in a reliable, secure way. Under the agreement, AT&T Labs will license the XML Framework and use DataChannel support to create prototype technology and services that include the ability to provide the publishing, entitlement, notification, organization and personalized delivery of content from disparate sources in a browser environment."

• [May 18, 1999] "IntraActive Software to Unveil Full Featured New ActiveForum 2.0 At Microsoft Tech Ed '99 Conference. ActiveForum Platform Enables Developers to Create Next-Generation Communities With Their Own Look & Feel." - "IntraActive Software Corp a leading New York City-based software developer of web based communities, today announced that it will unveil ActiveForum 2.0 at Microsoft Tech-Ed '99 in Dallas, TX. ActiveForum is a powerful community building platform that enables developers to quickly and easily add threaded discussion forums to their Web applications. ActiveForum is the first forum product that is based on state of the art software component technologies and designed to support open Internet standards. The out-of-the-box, high performance solution is also the only forum product that gives developers complete freedom in controlling the look and feel of the site. This enables developers to leverage the distinct visual identity of their web sites in their discussion forums. . . Based on server side Java and XML technologies, ActiveForum features a rich detailed object API, providing developers with full access to all forums, messages and user attributes. This allows developers to pick and choose the storage medium from relational databases to news servers to file systems."

• [May 18, 1999] "Partes Introduces EDGAR Data Service, a Real-Time Data Feed in XML. Offers easy integration for financial data and Web content providers; delivers parsed filings in RTF, Text and Excel spreadsheets/workbooks." - "Partes Corporation, provider of the widely used FreeEDGAR Web site, today announced a real-time data feed of processed EDGAR filings called the EDGAR Data Service. The service leverages the features of eXtensible Markup Language (XML) to allow seamless integration of EDGAR filings into products offered by financial data and Web content providers. With the new service, commercial data providers can incorporate real-time, fully parsed EDGAR data in a format that matches the look and feel of their own products, thanks to a simple application programming interface as well as the flexible layout and processing capabilities of XML. Developers can customize Web pages to manipulate data in any way they wish, including selective display of the data, special pop-up menus and other features tailored to individual needs."

• [May 18, 1999] "New Version of IBM DB2 Universal Database Strengthens Support for e-business. IBM Expands DB2 Family to Extend Power of Enterprise to Mobile Workers." - "At the International DB2 Users Group (IDUG) 11th annual North American Conference here today, IBM announced a new version of DB2 Universal Database for UNIX, Linux, Windows NT and OS/2 with significant enhancements to help power the most demanding e-business applications. . . In addition, DB2 Universal Database features administration enhancements that allow users to integrate and search various types of information, including XML content."

• [May 17, 1999] "Adobe Delivers Adobe GoLive 4.0 for Windows. For the First Time Windows Customers Reap the Benefits of GoLive's Powerful, Visual Web Design Capabilities." - "Until now, only Macintosh users were able to take advantage of the innovative GoLive visual Web authoring environment that combines ease of use with precision and control-providing professional designers with the flexibility and power they need to design, produce and maintain unique world-class Web sites. GoLive 4.0 provides professional Web designers with a host of innovative layout capabilities that enable them to extend their design expertise to the Internet including support for emerging Web technologies including Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP)."

• [May 14, 1999] "webMethods Joins Open Buying on the Internet (OBI) Consortium. Company Commits to OBI Interoperability. webMethods to Champion OBI for Business-to-Business Procurement." - "webMethods, Inc., a leading provider of XML-based solutions for business-to-business e-commerce and integration, announced today at the Open Buying on the Internet (OBI) Consortium's Quarterly Members Meeting that the company has joined the OBI Consortium, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing open standards for business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. As an OBI Consortium member, webMethods will collaborate with Intelisys, a leading provider of e-commerce procurement solutions and a webMethods partner, to champion future OBI support for the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). Together, webMethods and Intelisys will offer their expertise to deliver the combined benefits of XML and OBI to buyers and suppliers that want to implement B2B e-commerce solutions and automate business procurement over the Internet."

• [May 13, 1999] "Oracle Business Components for Java Revolutionize Java Application Development. XML Unlocks Secret of Customizing Delivered Applications." - "At Oracle iDevelop '99, Oracle Corp. announced the beta release of Oracle Business Components for Java, the only Java application framework to radically enhance developer productivity and ensure scalability for enterprise applications. Today, developers typically spend a significant amount of time writing business logic. Business Components for Java will enhance productivity by enabling developers to reuse and customize the same business logic across multiple applications. With the industry shift towards purchasing packaged applications and away from completely custom development, the ability to tailor packaged applications becomes essential for customers to achieve an exact fit to their business needs. Business Components for Java will exploit XML's powerful ability to describe data in a structured way and leverage it to manage an application's metadata. As a result, customizing an application becomes as easy as editing XML information. More information on Business Components for Java is available from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) at http://technet.oracle.com. Developers can also register via OTN for a beta version of the technology." [local archive copy]

• [May 13, 1999] "Companies to use XML for Bi-directional Integration with ERP, Databases, Legacy Systems and the Web." - "Sterling Commerce, Inc. and webMethods, Inc. today announced a partnership whereby Sterling Commerce will offer webMethods B2B as an integrated component of Sterling Commerce's software and services. The Real-time Integration component uses XML to enable organizations to achieve bi-directional integration with ERP systems, databases, legacy applications and the Web. As a result, companies can achieve inter-enterprise business process integration with their suppliers, customers, and key business partners over the Internet. Business Process Integration (BPI) is the integration of distributed business processes through the electronic exchange and management of information within and between enterprises. Capitalizing on Internet technologies and XML standards, Sterling Commerce is delivering products and services that effectively bridge the gap between Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), Web Integration, and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to provide a consistent framework for BPI."

• [May 13, 1999] "Consortium of Travel Suppliers Announce the Formation Of the Open Travel Alliance. New Initiative Will Enhance Cross-Industry Communications." - "Key travel suppliers from the air, car and hotel industries with the support of the Air Transport Association (ATA) and The Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association (HEDNA), announce the formation of the Open Travel Alliance (the Alliance). The Alliance is a travel industry group, assembled to create and promote new electronic commerce standards that improve the way information is exchanged between suppliers, distributors and consumers. This new initiative, led by air, car and hotel suppliers, has set as its initial goal the delivery of a directory of common industry data labels to be exchanged among the travel supplier, distributor, and customer reservations computer systems. . . One of the Alliance's first steps in moving toward this goal is the creation of an 'open' set of standard XML definitions to facilitate communication between users. This 'thesaurus' of terms will allow users to choose how they communicate between systems. . .Each sector of the industry is well established in its own industry accepted terminology. For example, a 'passenger' to an airline, may equal a 'guest' to an hotelier, a 'customer' to a car rental company, or a 'client' to a travel agency or online service provider. Each industry can define its own host terms, having the XML dictionary interpret and mesh the data into a common language for communication and use. By working in cross industry sectors, each sector can identify their particular industry terms. The final product of the alliance is a dictionary of common usage terms used through out the industry. This dictionary of terms will then be compiled and put into XML standards. . . Xou Technologies, an Atlanta, GA based software company, which has been pioneering the application of XML to travel, first gathered members of the air, car and hotel industries to better understand the issues and to see if there was an interest in working together."

• [May 13, 1999] "Metrowerks Introduces CodeWarrior Tools for Carbon and Mac OS X." - "Metrowerks Inc., a leading provider of software development tools for desktop and embedded systems, today announced CodeWarrior support for Apple Computer's Carbon Application Environment (Carbon) and Mac OS X Developer Preview Release. . . At WWDC this week, Metrowerks previewed the CodeWarrior for Mac OS, Professional Edition Release 5 tools. These include significant enhancements in the area of rapid application development (RAD) for Java, XML import/export facility for text-based projects, significantly improved compiler optimization for PowerPC, and the first preview release of PowerPlant Version 2.0."

• [May 12, 1999] "Goldstone Softech Establishes Forté Adapter Factory to Support Growing EAI Practice Offshore Software Factory Provides Cost-Effective Development, Rapid Time-to-Market." - "Forté Software, Inc. announced that Goldstone Softech Ltd., a leading systems integration firm, has established a Forté adapter software factory to rapidly extend Forté's line of package application adapters. Goldstone plans to use the XML-based adapters and its Forté expertise in conjunction with its EAI-oriented consulting projects. Goldstone is using the Forté Adapter Construction Tools to create the adapters. These tools provide foundation components, libraries and facilities that enable any XML-skilled developer to build cost-effective connections to applications. As a result, customers and partners can rapidly build business-level XML interfaces to application packages, legacy applications and custom-built components."

• [May 12, 1999] "Sterling Commerce Announces Availability of First Data Transformation Engine To Support Both XML and Traditional EDI Standards. Fastenal Deploys GENTRAN to Integrate Business Applications with Its Commerce Community via XML and EDI Over the Internet." - "Sterling Commerce, Inc. today announced the availability of an optional data transformation engine for GENTRAN:Server to support eXtensible Markup Language (XML). This support will coexist in the same mapping and translation components that today provide support for global EDI standards and proprietary message formats. Now, regardless of format or source, GENTRAN:Server will provide businesses with robust data transformation, end-to-end tracking and centralized management of business information exchanged over the Internet or private networks. Unlike solutions that require one system to process traditional EDI data and another to process XML data streams, GENTRAN:Server is now able to translate one XML format to a different XML format, or to translate between XML, EDI or proprietary message formats. GENTRAN:Server and the optional transformation engine, available June 30th, are key elements of Sterling Commerce?s newly announced Business Process Integration (BPI) initiative. BPI is the integration of distributed business processes through the electronic exchange and management of information within and between enterprises."

• [May 12, 1999] "Silicon Grove Computing Ltd. and Ends Of Invention Ltd. Announce A vailability JML2 -- Java Modelling Language Markup Language) Specification and Parser." - "Java + UML + XML = JML2. ML2 defines a Java specific subset of UML which is stored using the XML standard defined by the W3C. A Java parser is supplied to handle these XML files. . . the JML2 repository is based on a standard XML file with a publicly available DTD so anyone can write tools to generate code from the data, making it incredibly extensible to a Java developer. The JML2 parser is written in Java and can be used free of charge within your organization."

• [May 11, 1999] "Ariba and Harbinger Select OnDisplay to Extend E-Business Capabilities to Industrial Suppliers. OnDisplay's Alliance with Leading E-Commerce Players Enables Suppliers to Increase Sales, Reduce Process Costs, and Increase Customer Satisfaction." - "OnDisplay, the leading provider of e-business solutions for compelling, competitive business portals, today announced that the company has been selected by two leading e-commerce vendors, Ariba, Inc. and Harbinger Corporation, to provide compelling content and commerce exchange capabilities to industrial suppliers engaging in e-business - the foundation of every electronic trading network. As part of this alliance, OnDisplay will integrate its CenterStage E-Business solution into Ariba Operating Resource Management System (Ariba ORMS) using an open Internet-based standard for e-commerce called Commerce XML or cXML. cXML reduces on-line business trading costs by facilitating the exchange of content and transactions securely over the Internet. By supporting cXML, OnDisplay's CenterStage E-Business Solutions can seamlessly integrate suppliers to Ariba.com Network at key points within the buyer/supplier trading cycle, including the updating and replicating of product information and the receipt and acknowledgement of orders."

• [May 11, 1999] "Manage.com's 'Frontline e.M' Manages Transactions Across the Extended Web-Based Enterprise. XML-Based 'Extranet-Ready' Solution Provides Real-Time Link to Management Portal." - "The key to FrontLine e.M's usability in today's fast-changing business climate is e.Connect, a unique 'live' connection service from the user's site to a Manage.Com web site containing e.Registry, a portal containing management logic for any kind of device, application or service. Whenever a new type of managed object is added to the user's extranet, the FrontLine e.M software automatically 'learns' how to manage that object by downloading appropriate information across the web from e.Registry. Written in industry-standard XML (extensible markup language) and built on a native CIM (common information model) database, FrontLine e.M provides a browser-based mechanism for dynamically acquiring, integrating and exchanging data within and between disparate network-enabled applications and devices. This contrasts with the use of traditional, static management platforms, which must be deployed and updated in their entirety, and which work only within enterprise boundaries."

• [May 11, 1999] "Hynet Technologies Joins OASIS. Hynet Continues Advancing Their Strategic Use of XML Technology in Publishing." Hynet Technologies Inc., developer of a dynamic electronic publishing solution that combines document management technology with unique electronic publishing capabilities, today announced they are now a member of OASIS. OASIS is the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, a nonprofit, international consortium dedicated to accelerating the adoption of product-independent formats based on public standards."

• [May 11, 1999] "IntraActive Software - iasoft.com - to Unveil Full Featured New ActiveForum 2.0 At Microsoft Tech Ed '99 Conference. ActiveForum Platform Enables Developers to Create Next-Generation Communities With Their Own Look & Feel." - "ActiveForum announced that it will unveil ActiveForum 2.0 at Microsoft Tech-Ed '99. Based on server side Java and XML technologies, ActiveForum features a rich detailed object API, providing developers with full access to all forums, messages and user attributes. This allows developers to pick and choose the storage medium from relational databases to news servers to file systems."

• [May 11, 1999] "DataChannel Announces Next-Generation of its Solution Software for Enterprise Information Portals. XPages heterogeneous data interchange coupled with 'n-tier' navigation enhancements yields richest set of EIP functionality available today." - "DataChannel announced the next-generation of its Solution Software to unleash the power of Enterprise Information Portals (EIP). DataChannel has developed its enhanced EIP application server based entirely on XML. The server includes XPages, the industry's first implementation of a transformation engine that converts data from heterogeneous sources into XML-ready schema. This robust transformation engine directly addresses the challenges of data interoperability across and beyond the Enterprise. This data may span unstructured data sources like documents, spreadsheets, and web content, as well as structured data sources like databases, legacy systems, and customized mission critical applications. The addition of XPages offers a dynamic application environment that allows users to combine information from disparate sources into a single presentation on the desktop and interact with the data by updating the back-end systems. Once the data is transformed using XPages, it is ready for web delivery to any audience anywhere."

• [May 11, 1999] "Object Design Announces ObjectStore 6.0, Industry's Most Powerful Data-Management Solution for Java and Web Applications. Enhanced data-server capabilities enable companies to extend their enterprise infrastructure to support new Java- and Web-based e-business applications." - Object Design, Inc., the leading provider of object data management solutions for XML, Java and C++-based applications, today announced ObjectStore 6.0, the newest release of the company's flagship data management system. ObjectStore 6.0 offers a broad range of new features that result in unprecedented scalability and performance for large-scale Java and Internet electronic business (e-business) applications. In addition to its traditional database deployment capabilities, ObjectStore 6.0 includes a variety of new features to support deployment as a data server, where it is used in the middle tier of multitier applications to 're-stage' enterprise data in formats compatible with Java, C++ and Web applications."

• [May 11, 1999] "Forté Highlights Strengths for Development and Integration at Annual User Conference. Announcements Underscore Forté's Role in Extended E-Business Applications." - "Forté formally announced Forté Fusion[tm], an integrated EAI product suite, and unveiled SynerJ, an enterprise Java development and deployment suite. XML, the Internet standard for data interchange, lies at the heart of both Fusion and SynerJ. Forté Fusion's architecture uses an XML backbone as a translation layer between a business process and the physical applications that actually implement it. SynerJ features an XML repository, automatically generates XML displays from business objects and integrates with other systems via XML."

• [May 11, 1999] "Forté Fusion EAI Product Suite First to Integrate Business Processes, Development for Enterprise Platforms. Process-Driven Architecture Provides Industry's First Native XML-Based Backbone Integrating Business Packages, Legacy Systems and Custom Components." -"Fusion is the first EAI offering to combine a proven business process integration capability with an enterprise development and deployment environment, supporting the broadest possible range of platforms, including mainframes. Forté Fusion is the first fully XML-based EAI solution. Forté Fusion greatly simplifies application integration by separating business process automation logic (process flow) from integration logic (data conversion and application interfacing). The benefit of this approach is that it allows business processes to be defined and changed at a business level without affecting the applications. Conversely, changes to the portfolio of applications and components are dealt with by an XML-based integration layer and do not affect the business process model. The result is a powerful, flexible architecture for rapidly integrating, extending and exploiting a changing application portfolio - the foundation of competitive advantage and business agility."

• [May 10, 1999] "Glyphica Launches New WebDAV Server. Glyphica's WebDAV Server Enables Cross-Platform Authoring of and Collaboration on Documents over the Internet." - "Glyphica, a leader in the corporate portal market, today announced the availability of its new WebDAV (Distributed Authoring and Versioning) Server. Until now, Web-based content management systems and application servers used their own proprietary methods for managing a remote site. Glyphica's WebDAV server is compliant with the WebDAV protocol, which defines a set of HTTP-based protocols for authoring, management, collaboration and versioning of documents over the Web. Glyphica's WebDAV server, available for licensing, is a key component of future generations of the company's PortalWare product suite. Glyphica is one of the first companies to ship a solution supporting WebDAV." See also "WEBDAV (Extensions for Distributed Authoring and Versioning on the World Wide Web."

• [May 10, 1999] "Agile Software Joins NIST Initiative to Create e-Commerce Standards for Electronics Manufacturers." - "Agile Software Corporation, a leading supplier of product change collaboration solutions for the electronic supply chain, today announced it has partnered with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in an initiative to establish standards for efficiently sharing printed circuit assembly (PCA) data between electronics manufacturers and their supply chain partners. As an industry partner in NIST's Internet Commerce for Manufacturing (ICM) testbed project, Agile Software is providing its Agile Workplace engineering change management technology for use in creating an environment that demonstrates and validates the use of open systems and standards for efficiently sharing both technical and business data across organizations. A particularly important part of Agile Software's contribution to the NIST initiative is its XML-based technology, which is a key facility within the next generation Agile products. 'We are looking forward to working with NIST and other strategic industry partners on leveraging our XML technology across the electronic supply chain,' commented Mark Angelo, director of electronics industry development at Agile Software. 'Agile is committed to a platform-independent approach in exchanging product information.' In making its XML specifications available to NIST, Agile is proposing its adoption as an industry standard for exchanging XML-based product information between electronics OEMs and their EMS providers."

• [May 10, 1999] "Desktop Management Task Force -- DMTF -- Changes Its Name to Distributed Management Task Force. The DMTF Evolves From Its Desktop Roots to Focus On Distributed Management." - "The Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) announced today that it has changed its name to Distributed Management Task Force, in recognition of its greatly expanded role in unifying enterprise management standards. Over the last year, the DMTF has taken on enterprise focused industry initiatives and standards such as the Web Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) initiative, the Directory Enabled Networks (DEN) initiative and pioneered the use of eXtensible markup language (XML) as the transport encoding for WBEM. The basis for this collaboration and integration is due in large part to the DMTF's CIM standard, which facilitates the common understanding of management data across different management systems. CIM is an implementation neutral schema for describing overall management information."

• [May 10, 1999] "Microsoft and Ariba Join Forces to Accelerate Adoption of Business-to-Business E-Commerce Standards. Companies to Cooperate in Developing BizTalk Schema for E-Commerce." - "Microsoft Corp. and Ariba Inc., a leading provider of intranet- and Internet-based business-to-business e-commerce solutions for operating resources, today announced plans to work together to accelerate the adoption of Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based standards for e-commerce. The companies will join together to integrate Commerce XML (cXML), an emerging standard for business-to-business e-commerce, with the Microsoft BizTalk framework to define schema for communicating operating resource transactions, such as catalogs and orders. In addition to collaborating on BizTalk and cXML, Ariba and Microsoft plan to work together to implement these e-commerce frameworks into products offered by both companies. Ariba will support the BizTalk framework in Ariba e-commerce solutions, and Microsoft will integrate support for cXML into upcoming releases of the Microsoft Commerce Server and BizTalk Server. This collaboration will enable seamless integration between Ariba e-commerce solutions and the multitude of supplier Web sites based on the Microsoft commerce platform. The joint work will provide the opportunity for Microsoft and Ariba customers to more easily and efficiently conduct business-to-business e-commerce with business partners worldwide." [local archive copy]

• [May 10, 1999] "Blue Angel Technologies Announces Enterprise XML Solution. Turn-key XML Web solution integrates database, search engine and Web technologies." - "Blue Angel Technologies announced MetaStar Enterprise, an integrated XML solution that makes it easy for organizations to create Web based knowledge solutions using the latest technologies. Enterprise combines database, search engine and Web technologies to provide a turn-key knowledge solution that is quickly and easily implemented. MetaStar Enterprise lets users add, update and delete records in MS SQL or Oracle databases from their Web browser. The changes are reflected in the database in real time and are automatically indexed so they are also available on the Web in real time. Enterprise also includes workflow features that can be configured to automatically take specific actions when user-defined events occur. It uses XML as an underlying data interchange format so that customers are not locked into a vendor's proprietary solution."

• [May 10, 1999] "Grainger and Ariba Combine Strengths To Expand Electronic Procurement Access. Internet Commerce Collaboration Brings Buyers and Sellers Together." - "Grainger, the leading provider of maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) supplies in North America, and Ariba, Inc., a leading provider of intranet- and Internet-based business-to-business e-commerce solutions for operating resources, have formed an alliance to deliver expanded Internet commerce access to buyers and suppliers worldwide. As part of the alliance, Grainger has joined the Ariba Supplier Link (ASL) program and will make its product information available to Ariba customers via Ariba.com Network. Grainger and Ariba also announced that the two companies will collaborate on the continued development of Commerce XML (cXML), an emerging standard for exchanging supplier content and transaction information between buyers and suppliers over the Internet. Grainger will also use cXML to integrate its supplier content and make it available via Ariba.com Network, Ariba's standards-based Internet service that provides supplier content and routes transactions between buyers and suppliers."

• [May 10, 1999] "Bluestone Ships Performance-Leading Sapphire/Web Release 6 Setting New Standard for Enterprise-class Internet Commerce. First to Deliver Hot Versioning and Internet Quality of Service -- Creating the Mission-critical Foundation for 24x7 Non-stop Operations and Prioritized Service for Website Visitors." - "Bluestone Software Inc., a performance leader in Enterprise Interaction Management, today began shipping Sapphire/Web Release 6, its platform-independent, 100% Pure Java Application Server that sets the new standard for enterprise-class Internet commerce (iCommerce). To facilitate the integration of the enterprise applications, databases, and information systems needed to create a completely automated iCommerce solution, Sapphire/Web Release 6 supports XML. As an open, standards-based integration and communication technology, XML support lets developers access any backend data source to incorporate that data into a Sapphire/Web Release 6 application."

• [May 07, 1999] "World Wide Web Consortium Releases First Working Drafts of XML Schema Specification. W3C Members Collaborate to Improve and Standardize Needed Technology." - "Leading the Web to its full potential, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) today releases the first public working drafts of the XML Schema specification: XML Schema Part 1: Structures and XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes. By publishing these working drafts at an early stage of the design work, W3C is ensuring that the public can follow the XML Schema design work, and that the final result can be widely accepted and adopted. One part proposes facilities for associating datatypes with XML element types and attributes; this will allow XML software to do a better job of managing dates, numbers, and other special forms of information. The other part of the specification proposes methods for describing the structure and constraining the contents of XML documents. These drafts, which builds on earlier work submitted to W3C by several vendor and user organizations, are the first step in the development of a powerful, vendor-neutral format for defining the rules that govern particular kinds of XML data." See also the fuller news entry.

• [May 07, 1999] "Microsoft Delivers End-to-End XML Support For Developing Web Applications. Release of Microsoft XML Parser Spans Multi-tier Windows DNA Applications; Major Software Vendors to Ship With Their Applications." - Microsoft Corporation has "announced the release of the Microsoft XML Parser for incorporation by third-party developers into their applications. The Microsoft XML Parser, which is freely redistributable and compliant with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 specification, allows developers to easily support XML in any or all of the presentation, business logic or storage elements of an application. Leading independent software vendors (ISVs), including Allaire Corp., Novell Inc. and Object Design Inc., today announced their intent to use the Microsoft XML Parser to build XML support into next-generation products. The parser is available for download. The Microsoft XML Parser is a high-performance, validating parser fully compliant with the W3C XML 1.0 standard. By virtue of its componentized design, it is easily integrated with any Windows operating system-based application and programmed using any programming or scripting language such as ECMAScript, Java, Perl, Python, SQL, the Visual Basic development system, the Visual C++ development system or Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript). Further, it supports the W3C XML Document Object Model (DOM), the XML Stylesheet Language (XSL) W3C working draft and the XML 1.0 Namespaces Recommendation." [local archive copy]

• [May 07, 1999] "Bluestone Ships XML-Based Application for Palm Computing Platform Devices. Community Source Software Expands Corporate Information Data Exchange to over 2.6 million 3Com Connected Organizers." Bluestone Software, Inc., the independent leader in Enterprise Interaction Management, today began shipping Bluestone XML-ContactTM for the Palm Computing platform, an XML (Extensible Markup Language) application for 3Com Corporation's Palm Computing devices. Bluestone XML-Contact lets Palm Computing device users exchange contact information with any corporate database, turning personal productivity tools into corporate information resources. Available today, Bluestone XML-Contact for the Palm Computing platform is provided free-of-charge by Bluestone and can be downloaded . . . Leveraging its XML expertise, Bluestone is leading the efforts to make Palm Computing platform devices a critical part of the enterprise information exchange by using XML to unite the handheld organizers with corporate databases. The release of Bluestone XML-Contact as open, standards-based, community source software means anyone can download the application for free and use the source code to make desired modifications." See also the paper "Bluestone Software Network Devices Background, The Bigger Picture."

• [May 07, 1999] "Object Design and SilverStream Announce Strategic Partnership to Deliver XML-Based Web Applications. The Companies have Integrated the SilverStream Application Server and Object Design's eXcelon XML Data Server" - "Object Design, Inc., makers of eXcelon, the industry's only generally available XML data server, and SilverStream Software, Inc., developers of the award-winning SilverStream Application Server, today announced that they have forged a strategic partnership. This partnership allows the two companies to deliver a solution enabling companies to build and deploy powerful new enterprise e-business applications that fully exploit the extensible data capabilities of XML. . . When the products are coupled together, the result is a powerful e-business application solution that leverages the high productivity and enterprise deployment features of SilverStream, the extensibility of XML and the high performance and scalability of eXcelon."

• [May 07, 1999] "IBM Launches First XML Search Engine. New technology crawls the Web to deliver useful XML information to developers." - "Today at the XML '99 Europe show in Granada, Spain, IBM launched xCentral, the Internet's first search engine designed to look exclusively for Extensible Markup Language (XML) information on the Web, such as XML documents, document type declarations (DTDs), style-sheets, press releases, tutorials, Web pages and bulletin board postings. With the targeted information xCentral delivers, programmers and customers can speed up product development cycles, improve time to market, and expand networking and marketplace opportunities by leveraging existing resources of the online XML community. xCentral is a new feature available today on IBM's XML Web site. For example, if a meteorologist wanted to find information on DTD's that have already been created about weather patterns which included rainfall, average temperature and barometric pressure, this meteorologist could enter 'weather' in xCentral to see what data already exists or find newsgroups that might be interested in sharing information of this type. xCentral is part of an emerging trend toward "specialized" search engines. With over five million Web pages on the Internet, traditional search engines turn up hundreds of irrelevant matches to simple queries. IBM first introduced this kind of resource last year with jCentral, a similar tool devoted to searching, logging and retrieving Java information and code found on the Web. jCentral has been a great success handling over 40,000 search requests a day." [local archive copy]

• [May 07, 1999] "Discover the improvements to XML technologies." IBM news on: "(1) XML EditorMaker - The XML EditorMaker is a software tool written in Java to generate Visual editors out of XML Schema files (DTD files) automatically. The goal of the EditorMaker is to alleviate the tedium of having to write editors for editing XML documents. It generates the editor automatically. The EditorMaker reads a DTD files and generates editor classes automatically). (2) XML BeanMaker - The XML BeanMaker is a software tool written in Java to generate Java beans out of XML Schema files (DTD files) automatically. The goal of the BeanMaker is to alleviate the tedium of having to write get, set, and notification methods on Java classes corresponding to XML structures. It generates this code automatically. (3) Bean Markup Language - BML is an XML-based component configuration or wiring language customized for the JavaBean component model. The new version of BML now includes dynamic event adapter generator and the <string> and <cast> allow a value attribute. (4) PatML - PatML is a pattern/match replacement tool for XML documents and is a rule based specification language. With this new update, the code base is more stable and some bug fixes have been applied."

• [May 07, 1999] "GCA's Research Institute and ICE Form Partnership to Further Content Exchange Standards and Applications." - "The Graphic Communications Association Research Institute, Inc. (GCARI) and the Information and Content Exchange Authoring Group (ICE AG) recently announced a letter of understanding between the two organizations in which GCARI is named as the official host organization for the ICE AG. GCARI has entered into this relationship to fulfill its ongoing mission of promoting standards for use in fields of information technology and publishing. Under this agreement, all members of ICE Authoring Group as well as the ICE Advisory Council shall become members of the ICE special membership group of GCARI. The new host organization will host the ICE web site as well as upcoming ICE standards activities." For related information, see: "Information and Content Exchange (ICE) Protocol."

• [May 06, 1999] "BlueGill Technologies Selected by Xerox as the Foundation for its New E-Commerce/Internet Presentment Product Offering. Xerox will use XML-based architecture to provide its customers with unified paper and Internet document solutions." - "BlueGill Technologies, the industry pioneer in electronic bill and statement presentment software, announced today a strategic agreement with Xerox Corporation's Document Solutions Group, to provide the software architecture for their E-Commerce/Internet presentment product. These new offerings will allow Xerox's customers to transform their documents into interactive Web applications. BlueGill Technologies will provide XML-based Smart Object architecture for Xerox to create these interactive customer solutions. The new Xerox products will be 'Powered by BlueGill' and extend customer solutions to the Internet in insurance, financial services, service bureaus, and other industries. A multi-disciplined Xerox team conducted a rigorous search and evaluation before selecting BlueGill."

• [May 06, 1999] "Hewlett Packard Chooses Livelink WorkSMART From Open Text To Create Global Knowledge Centre. Livelink WorkSMART Enables Global Knowledge Sharing With More Than 100,000 Customers and Partners By Using Dynamic XML Publishing Over the Web." - "Open Text Corporation, the worldwide leader in Web-based collaborative knowledge management application software, announced today that Hewlett Packard's Enterprise Systems Division has chosen Livelink WorkSMART to manage its global development and distribution of HP-UX learning products and marketing materials. WorkSMART, a member of the Livelink product family, enables Hewlett Packard's partners and customers around the world to access real-time technical documentation, such as HP-UX OS documents, specifications and other learning products. Livelink WorkSMART is used to provide content management for the development and publishing of this information in SGML and XML and provides dynamic publishing on http://docs.hp.com. This allows partners and customers to view the latest information over the Web."

• [May 06, 1999] "Microsoft Joins WAP Forum. Will Collaborate on Unified XML-Compliant Standard for Wireless Mobile Devices And Services." - "Microsoft Corp. today announced it has joined the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Forum, a consortium of more than 90 firms focused on developing wireless information and telephony services for digital mobile phones and other wireless terminals. Microsoft will work with WAP Forum members to accelerate the deployment of wireless mobile devices, as well as a broad range of wireless data services based on broadly supported Internet standards from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)." [For more on WAP Wireless Markup Language (WML), see "WAP Wireless Markup Language Specification."]

• [May 05, 1999] "Miva Corporation and SoftQuad Announce Strategic Partnership. Companies Use XML and SGML Standards to Create Compatibility Among Product." - "Miva Corporation, a leading provider of Web commerce software, today announced it has formed a strategic partnership with SoftQuad Software, Inc., a leading provider of multi-platform, standards-based content publishing tools. SoftQuad, makers of HoTMetaL Pro 5.0, an award-winning Web development tool, and Miva have used the XML and SGML standards in order to make their products compatible with each other."

• [May 05, 1999] "Interleaf Announces Upgrade For Document Management To XML-Based Content Management. RDM-X Upgrades RDM Customers to BladeRunner." - "Interleaf, Inc. announced a comprehensive migration solution to upgrade its document management customers (RDM) to its XML-based e-content solution, BladeRunner. Designed to leverage existing customers investment in their document management solution, Interleaf's upgrade solution, RDM-X, enables RDM customers to implement the benefits of content management and of the emerging XML and Extended Style Language (XSL) information standard. RDM-X will be available as a phased approach enabling a seamless upgrade path for RDM customers to move to XML-based content management. RDM customers will initially receive BladeRunner's authoring and publishing capabilities integrated with the RDM repository, providing the ability to create XML, store the files in the RDM repository, and begin publishing XML to multiple formats using XSL."

• [May 05, 1999] "Interleaf Adds Microsoft To Its Early Adopter Program For XML-Based e-content Solution." - "Interleaf, Inc. announced that Microsoft has become a Product Verification and Test site for Interleaf's XML-based e-content solution, BladeRunner. Microsoft will evaluate BladeRunner to publish and re-purpose the curriculum components of the Microsoft Mastering Series training courseware. Interleaf's BladeRunner Product Verification and Testing Program allows partners to receive pre-release software, develop XML-based prototypes and perform application testing in partnership with Interleaf's development organization."

• [May 05, 1999] "DataChannel Delivers the First Fully Functional XML-Native Database, XStore, Supporting their Software Solutions and Futher Expanding their XMLFramework Offerings." - "DataChannel, Inc. today announced, XStore, the first in a series of comprehensive database offerings based on Software AG's extensible database technology. XStore, the fastest, most scalable, and fully functional XML-native database, represents another key component of DataChannel's XMLFramework[tm]. It also represents a powerful extension to DataChannel RIO, DataChannel's Enterprise Portal solutions software that delivers powerful e-business solutions based on open Web standards. This combination of functionality gives customers access to the world's most innovative database technology to help them solve complex business problems such as building and maintaining mission-critical Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) solutions for information routing, processing, and control. By storing XML data in XStore, companies can leverage key information assets in multiple ways across multiple applications. By combining XStore with DataChannel RIO, customers can create powerful meta-data repositories that enable navigation to any enterprise data with high-speed, flexible, open standards-based technology. This utilization of XML, an open Web standard, provides a standard, extensible method of describing a structured way to route, transform, store, and distribute any data to users or applications."

• [May 05, 1999] "DataChannel, Inc. Appoints XML Pioneer, Norbert Mikula, Chief Technology Officer." - "DataChannel, Inc. announced today the appointment of Norbert H. Mikula to the newly created position of Chief Technology Officer. As CTO, he will be responsible for directing DataChannel's efforts in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) standards committees and setting strategic objectives for DataChannel's architecture and design business. Norbert will report directly to Lucie Fjeldstad, president of DataChannel, Inc. Norbert developed one of the first XML parsers (NXP) and has been actively involved in XML- related efforts since the early days of this standard. He has been in actively involved with industry initiatives and working groups such as XML-EDI, the W3C XML working group and the W3C Extensible Style Sheet Language working group. Norbert also serves as CTO on the board of directors of OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, which is an international consortium dedicated to accelerating the adoption of product-independent formats based on public standards."

• [May 04, 1999] "News Industry Organizations Unite Behind a Single Standard Markup Language." - "Major news industry organizations have united behind a single standard language for news markup, opening a gateway for easily moving news articles to the Internet and beyond. For consumers, the benefits could include more news available more quickly in more formats, such as on cellular phones, personal digital assistants, and the World Wide Web. For producers, the immediate benefits of News Industry Text Format -- the NITF -- include lower editing and transmission costs while making it easy to repackage news for publication in multiple media. By settling upon a single markup language, news organizations can share news articles and graphics among print, broadcast, electronic, Internet and archive systems without the need for costly translations and manual editing. Using a language that embraces the latest internationally accepted standards assures newspapers and broadcasters that stories can flow unimpeded between their news systems and the Internet." See News Markup Language (NML) and "News Industry Text Format (NITF)."

• [May 04, 1999] "Object Design Announces Dell EMEA's Deployment of eXcelon, the Industry's First XML Data Server. World's No. 1 Direct Computer Systems Company Selects Object Design's Revolutionary XML Data Server for Next-Generation E-Business Initiative." - "Object Design, Inc., the leading provider of object data-management solutions for Java-, XML- and C++-based applications, today announced that Dell EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) is deploying Object Design's eXcelon eXtensible Markup Language (XML) data server as the data-management solution for the XML content that drives the organization's recently re-launched family of award-winning Web sites. As part of Dell Computer Corporation, Dell EMEA operates one of the world's busiest and most profitable e-businesses, accounting for approximately $3 million per day in sales. Dell EMEA hosts localized sites for 17 countries, offering content in multiple languages as well as over 1,700 customer-specific Premier Pages Web sites."

• [May 04, 1999] "Bidder's Edge Creates XML Implementation for Integrating Data From Online Auction Sites. Bid.com and AuctioNet.com Work with Bidder's Edge to Bring Benefits of XML to the Online Auction Community." - "Bidder's Edge, leader in meta-auction services, has developed an open standard for online auction information exchange based on XML (eXtensible Markup Language). Bid.com, one of North America's leading online auction companies, and AuctioNet.com, a popular Internet auction site specializing in computers and electronics, are the first auction sites to fully adopt this standard. Both auction sites worked closely with Bidder's Edge to integrate XML for more efficient information exchange for auction data. Each week, Bidder's Edge receives multiple requests from auction sites asking to be added to the Bidder's Edge site. To meet this demand, Bidder's Edge developed the XML integration service to facilitate the inclusion of new auctions. A benefit of using XML is that auction sites can change the look and feel of their sites, while easily maintaining the integrity of the data indexed on Bidder's Edge. Bidder's Edge based its XML implementation on Sun's XML 'Project X' parser technology. The XML Document Type Definitions (DTDs) that comprise the online auction standard are available to auction sites at no charge, directly from Bidder's Edge."

• [May 04, 1999] "SAP AG and webMethods to Deliver XML-Based E-Commerce Solutions. SAP to Incorporate webMethods XML Technology Into SAP B2B Procurement." - "SAP will initially incorporate the webMethods B2B[tm] product into SAP Business Connector technology to power XML-based communications between buyers and suppliers in the SAP B2B Procurement solution. The webMethods B2B product provides XML-based application integration across organizational boundaries and enables direct access to Web-hosted supplier catalogs. SAP B2B Procurement uses XML to link buyers and suppliers and facilitates all the processes associated with the procurement of Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) of both goods and services. It effectively organizes and automates MRO purchasing by moving the buying process to the corporate employee's desktop." [local archive copy]

• [May 04, 1999] "Bowstreet Breaks eBusiness Bottleneck: Moving Complex Sales & Distribution to The Web. Fortune 500 Customers Rally Around Bowstreet's New Web Services Architecture. IBM and Novell To Partner with Bowstreet to Ensure Leading-Edge Directory and XML Integration." - "In today's Web-based environment, companies need to respond quickly to changes in their business environment and to easily adapt to the unique needs of their various channel partners. Bowstreet's XML-based technology dynamically creates virtual applications, linking services together to deliver business functionality tailored to each partner's requirements. The company is providing a powerful, flexible platform for channel management that allows mass customization in a cost-effective, highly leverageable manner." [Michael Goulde]

• [May 04, 1999] "Novell and Bowstreet Team Up to Leverage Directory Services for Internet Channel Management. Companies Will Work Together to Integrate Novell Directory Services, digitalme and iChain with Bowstreet's Web Services Architecture." - "Bow Street Software, Inc. today announced that Novell and Bowstreet will work together to integrate Novell's industry-leading directory services products - including Novell Directory Services (NDS) and future technologies such as the recently announced digitalme-with Bowstreet's Web Services Architecture, also announced today. The first eBusiness platform to fuse two cutting-edge technologies - directory services and the Extensible Markup Language (XML) - the Bowstreet solution lets customers create, deploy and manage thousands of highly customized Internet channel relationships over corporate extranets, on the fly and with minimal programming."

• [May 04, 1999] "Bowstreet To Use Microsoft Active Directory For Internet Channel Management. Bowstreet to Integrate Active Directory Group Policy Features with Bowstreet's Web Services Architecture." - "Bow Street Software, Inc. today announced that it is integrating Bowstreet's new Web Services Architecture for Internet Channel Management with the Group Policy features of the Active Directory directory service in the Windows 2000 Server operating system. The Bowstreet Web Services Architecture fuses two cutting- edge technologies -- the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Active Directory -- to create the first eBusiness platform for creating, deploying and managing hundreds or thousands of highly customized Internet channel relationships over extranets -- on the fly and with minimal programming. The first Bowstreet products for Internet Channel Management will ship this summer."

• [May 04, 1999] "Integral Announces FinXML, The First XML For Capital Markets. Freely Available for Adoption as the Market Standard." - "Integral ... announced FinXML, the first Extensible Markup Language (XML) designed specifically for capital markets. FinXML enables application data integration across business systems including legacy systems, new developments and existing third-party applications. FinXML is freely available to the financial marketplace as a de facto implementation of the XML standard for capital markets. Its specifications were developed based on standards defined by ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.) which are already being used in the financial industry. 'We expect FinXML to become the standard language for describing capital markets instruments and transactions,' says Harpal Sandhu, CEO of Integral." See now FinXML Home Page. [local archive copy]

• [May 04, 1999] "SoftQuad Software Inc. Welcomes James Clark as Director and Equity Partner." - "[XML Europe 99 Conference] SoftQuad Software Inc. today announced that James Clark, internationally recognized XML/SGML authority, is an equity partner in the recently-privatized company and has been appointed to its board of directors. James Clark was Technical Lead of the W3C XML Working Group, which created the XML 1.0 Recommendation. He is currently editor of the W3C XSL Transformations Working Draft. 'I am delighted to have the opportunity to support SoftQuad as an investor,' said Clark. 'Part of the vision of XML is to enable a new generation of structured content applications for the Web. These new applications will require easier to use, less expensive and more broadly deployable tools and editors, like XMetaL. SoftQuad Software is uniquely positioned to fulfill that vision and XMetaL1.0 is an excellent first step. I look forward to being able to contribute to the evolution of product'."

• [May 04, 1999] "SoftQuad Software Inc. Announces New Equity Partners and Board of Directors." - "SoftQuad Software Inc. today announced that Pinetree Capital Corp., in conjunction with its merchant banking affiliate KBL Capital Partners and James Clark, has lead the funding of a first round of private equity for the company. It was also announced that Sheldon Inwentash, Chairman and CEO of Pinetree, has joined Clark and Roberto Drassinower on the SoftQuad Software Inc. board of directors. . . SoftQuad Software was incorporated in November 1998 through a management buyout of the assets of the Web publishing division of SoftQuad International with a mandate to create high quality XML and HTML authoring tools. SoftQuad released the latest version of its award-winning HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 in September 1998 and then focused its efforts on the rapidly expanding XML marketplace with its newest product offering XMetaL, to be released in May, 1999." [announcement from Pinetree]

• [May 04, 1999] "Inso Corporation Announces Revenue Targets and Potential Restructuring Plan for FY 2000." - "Inso Corporation today announced that revenues for fiscal year 2000 are expected to approximate $90 million. The Company also said that it expects to announce a restructuring plan in the second quarter of the fiscal year. . . The Company's management is in the process of finalizing a restructuring plan that is intended to reduce current operating costs, as well as support the Company's new divisional structure. The complete details, costs, benefits and timing for plan implementation are expected to be announced upon final Board approval before the end of the second fiscal quarter. The restructuring plan is expected to include a reduction in staff, closure of certain support facilities and the write-off of property, equipment and other capitalized costs."

• [April 20, 1999] "Meta Data Coalition and Object Management Group Form Cooperative Relationship to Build Consensus on Metadata Standards." - "The Meta Data Coalition (MDC) and the Object Management Group (OMG) announced today their first cooperative effort to develop metadata standards. In establishing a formal technical liaison, the MDC is now a Platform Member of the OMG, and the OMG is a member of the MDC. The objective of this cross-membership is to provide a way for the two groups to work together on common standards, based on the belief that standards reduce confusion in the marketplace and increase efficiency for IT organizations. . . Recently, the OMG embraced W3C XML with the adoption of the XML Metadata Interchange (XMI). These three standards, UML, MOF and XMI, form the foundation of the OMG's modeling and metadata management architecture. This architecture is designed to be technology- and middleware-neutral to foster rapid consensus in the industry in metadata standardization."

• [April 20, 1999] "DataChannel Inc. and ISOGEN International Corp. Merge to Become the Largest XML Enterprise Solutions Provider." - "DataChannel Inc., the leading XML enterprise solutions provider, and ISOGEN International Corp., a leading XML and SGML professional services provider in the structured information market, announced today the merger of the two companies. The combined company, which will assume the name DataChannel, provides a uniquely comprehensive set of XML solutions for the enterprise, making it the largest, enterprise XML solutions provider. The merger allows DataChannel to further unleash the power of Enterprise Information Portals by extending the DataChannel XML Framework while delivering the benefits of formal standards to a larger market."

• [April 20, 1999] "USDATA Joins Open Applications Group in the Company of Other Recent New Members, Compaq and Microsoft." - "USDATA Corporation today announced that it has joined the Open Applications Group, Inc. (OAG), a non-profit industry consortium for business software component interoperability. Other recent new members include Compaq and Microsoft. . . OAG members have built a common model for software interoperability over the last three years, described as OAG Integration Specification (OAGIS). In January 1999, the OAG announced the member publication of a full set of Extensible Markup Language (XML) definitions that define interoperability for financials, human resources, manufacturing, logistics and supply chain components. According to David Connelly, president of OAG, "We believe that the publication of these (XML definitions) will decrease costs and complexity for organizations that are wrestling with the problem of tying together their business applications." See "Open Applications Group - OAGIS 6."

• [April 20, 1999] "Intelisys Delivers Global Functionality to Electronic Procurement Solution. IEC-Enterprise Version 3.0 Allows Multinational Use And Cross Catalog Searches Plus Easy Integration With Internal Systems." - "Intelisys Electronic Commerce, a global leader in providing electronic procurement solutions, today announced the release of IEC-Enterprise Version 3.0. IEC-Enterprise is a buyer e-procurement application that automates and streamlines the entire purchasing cycle - from requisition to payment completion. . . With the Extensible Markup language (XML) incorporated into Intelisys' application, buyers are able to access supplier real-time product information -- standardized with Dun & Bradstreet's codes -- and search across distributed supplier catalogs for price comparisons, inventory availability and product information."

• [April 20, 1999] "Asymetrix Announces Immediate Availability of ToolBook II Assistant 7.0 First authoring software product to include DHTML for Internet-based delivery of highly interactive online learning courses." - "Asymetrix Learning Systems Inc., leading provider of online learning enterprise solutions, today announced availability of ToolBook II Assistant 7.0, the industry's leading authoring tool designed for quick and easy course development by trainers and subject-matter experts. . . ToolBook II Assistant 7.0 also supports the Extensible Markup Language (XML) for investment protection of the customer's content. Using XML as an intermediate language, ToolBook II can automatically output courseware to today's delivery platforms ( HTML, DHTML) and also ensures course delivery via tomorrow's leading Internet technologies."

• [April 19, 1999] "Lutris Technologies Advances the Open Source Software Revolution With the Next Wave of Internet Application Servers. Enhydra Open Source Java/XML Application Server Builds On Existing Internet Foundation of Linux and Apache" - "Lutris Technologies, a leading Internet strategy and consulting firm, today unveiled Enhydra, a new Java/XML application server and development framework for building dynamic, adaptable multi-tier Internet applications. Enhydra is designed for companies ranging from midsize to the Global 2000. With Enhydra, Lutris Technologies has created the next wave of Open Source software for the Internet. Many parts of the Internet are built on the Open Source foundations built by pioneers such as Linux, Apache, PERL, Tcl/Tk, and even Netscape's browser. Enhydra is the next logical building block for the Internet."

• [April 19, 1999] "DataChannel Announces XMLFramework to Support Windows 2000; Named One of the Fastest Growing ISVs for Windows by Microsoft and CMP Media." - "DataChannel today was named one of the fastest growing Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) for Windows and is in the top 20 of the first-ever 'Winning on Windows' ranking of the top 75 fastest growing software companies for Windows in North America. With its XMLFramework, DataChannel is the only XML vendor in the ISV 75's top 20. Microsoft announced the esteemed Winning on Windows ranking last evening at an awards event in Chicago prior to the start of Spring Comdex/Windows World Show. The research and selection process for Winning on Windows was conducted by Austin, Tex.-based independent researcher Reality Research, a wholly owned subsidiary of CMP Media. DataChannel and the ISV 75 will be featured in this week's issue ofInformationWeek and also highlighted on Microsoft's Web site. . ."

• [April 19, 1999] "Digital Imaging Group Announces Acceptance of The DIG35 Initiative. Canon, Eastman Kodak Company, Live Picture, NETIMAGE, and Digital Intelligence To Join Together To Standardize Metadata. The Task of Image Management and Internet Publishing To Be Simplified." - "The Digital Imaging Group (DIG) today announced its latest initiative, DIG35. The goal of the DIG35 Initiative is to make it easy to organize, find, print and exchange digital images through development of a standard metadata architecture that is file-format independent. DIG35 plans to have metadata work seamlessly with imaging on the Internet, but expects the benefits to reach further and affect the entire digital workflow. Images can be perpetually re-used with the same quality and can be easily shared via the Internet. To ensure broad acceptance of the metadata standard, current technologies such as the W3C's XML and the ISO's MPEG-7 will provide a solid base for the project."

• [April 16, 1999] "DataChannel Releases the Most Advanced XML Parser -- XJParser -- and Introduces xDev, Its XML Developers Program." - "DataChannel announced today the immediate availability of the latest XJParser, a cornerstone of its XML Toolkit for XMLFramework and the XML Developers Program, xDev. Formerly referred to as the DataChannel XJ2 Parser, co-developed with Microsoft, the new release adds substantial functionality with significant improvements in performance. DataChannel's XML Developers Program, xDev is designed to showcase developers work and real-world implementations and provide the XML tools and technology needed to realize the true power of XML. The XJParser can be downloaded at the new xDev site at http://www.datachannel.com/xdev. XJParser becomes the industry's most complete, reliable, and innovative XML parser for delivering powerful, server-based enterprise applications utilizing open web-standards."

• [April 15, 1999] "OASIS, ISO and W3C Join Together to Present Standards Update at XML Europe '99." - "Three major information standards organizations, OASIS (the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards), ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium), will join forces to present the XML Europe Standards Update. Addressing industry representatives from around the world, the XML Standards Update will be held in Granada, Spain, April 27, 1999. 'XML Europe is providing a great opportunity for communication amongst the information standards groups,' commented Norbert Mikula (DataChannel), Chief Technical Officer of OASIS. 'The technical work of OASIS plays an important role in the XML world of standards and interoperability, and we look forward to updating participants on our progress.' At the XML Europe Standards Update, Mikula will focus on the latest achievements and work-in-progress of OASIS technical committees and affiliates including XML Conformance, XML Tables model, XML Registry and Repository, Docbook and CGM."

• [April 15, 1999] "Blue World Ships Lasso 3.5 Web Data Engine. New version supports JavaScript and XML standards and advanced functions for Web application developers." - "Blue World Communications, Inc. today shipped the Lasso 3.5 Web Data Engine, a significant upgrade to Blue World's popular award-winning tool for building and serving powerful database-driven Web applications. Key new features include support for Server-Side JavaScript, XML, syntax errors notification, data interaction with other CGIs, fault recovery, advanced security and enhanced credit card validation. Lasso 3.5 introduces support for the Extensible Markup Language (XML) by allowing Lasso tags to be coded using XML syntax. Compatibility with WYSIWYG HTML editors is furthered with enhancements to the LDML (Lasso Dynamic Markup Language) Object syntax in addition to improved handling of CDML from FileMaker, Inc. Templates are provided for easy Lasso 3.5 Web database authoring using Macromedia Dreamweaver 2 and Adobe GoLive 4 HTML editors."

• [April 15, 1999] "Miva Corporation Announces the Availability of XML DTD For Miva Script. Announcement Supports Miva's Comprehensive Third-Party Development Strategy." - "Miva Corporation, a leading provider of Web commerce software, today announced that the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Document Type Definition (DTD) for Miva Script is now available to the public. Miva Script is a cross-platform, XML-based, server side scripting language used by more than 25,000 developers worldwide. Access to Miva Script's XML DTD and Commerce API means that third-party developers can easily create products that integrate with Miva Script. XML represents the core of the entire Miva product line and Miva Script is the first server-side scripting language to be 100% XML compliant . . ." [DTD local archive copy, 1999-04-16]

• [April 15, 1999] "Oracle Delivers XML-Enabled Infrastructure for E-Business. Message Broker Capabilities Build on Oracle Application Server and Oracle8i To Enable Reliable Content Exchange Across the Internet." - "At Internet World today, Oracle Corp. announced a complete infrastructure, based on the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), for the exchange and management of information associated with all aspects of e-business. Specifically, Oracle today announced: (1) XML-enabled message broker capabilities: a scalable, reliable infrastructure that will allow businesses to intelligently process, transform and route XML-based information; (2) XML support in Oracle8i: available immediately in the form of an XML Parser. The XML Parser facilitates the storage and re-construction of XML documents to and from Oracle8i; (3) A new version of Oracle Application Server (see separate release), and a roadmap for the product that is a central component of Oracle's XML-enabled Internet platform." [local archive copy]

• [April 15, 1999] "Infoteria Ships 'iPEX for Linux' and 'iPEX for BeOS' XML Processing Engines." - "Infoteria Inc. today announced the company has begun shipping the English versions of its high performance XML processing engine iPEX for the Linux and BeOS platforms. iPEX implements a series of XML processing functions, including Document Object Model Level 1 and Namespaces in XML as recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). iPEX allows software developers to reduce the cost and time of developing XML-access software." See also, from March 8, 1999: "Infoteria Unveils 'XML Solution Components' - Software components for rapid building of XML-based solutions."

• [April 15, 1999] "Putting Your Finger on the Pulse of XML: Updates from Industry Experts." - A Seminar at XML Europe '99 (Granada), Hosted by OASIS. Sunday, April 25, 1999, 16:00 - 19:30. Special session, hosted by OASIS, will be held in conjunction with GCA's XML Europe Conference, 26-30 April, Granada, Spain. With reception.

• [April 14, 1999] "Shockwave Goes Multiuser, Enabling Community and Multiplayer Entertainment On the Web. Shockwave Multiuser Server Provides Rich Media Solution For Up to 1,000 Simultaneous Users." - "The Shockwave Multiuser Server not only connects multiple users, it also provides synchronous communication of the various media types supported by Shockwave. By linking to standard databases, media exchanged between clients can be seamlessly managed, scores can be tracked, and users' accounts can be updated. Macromedia's Shockwave Multiuser Server manages connections between multiple Shockwave Player clients for real time communication of animation, sound, graphics, XML and text. . . [XML support in Director 7 Shockwave Internet Studio:] Shockwave can now download and use XML source as a building block for rich Web applications. Director 7 and Shockwave 7 intelligently parse XML elements, attributes, and character data, which helps developers deliver complex constructs than can be controlled and manipulated without downloading large files, [so one may]: (1) Import and parse standardized XML; (2) Navigate the contents of XML documents with Lingo; (3) Adopt the newest Web standard as supported by W3C, Microsoft, IBM, and many others (4) because Director 7 and Shockwave 7 can understand and render XML data from various sources, you can display XML information in intelligent ways. . . The XML Parser Xtra can parse XML documents from within a Director movie and gain access to the document's contents. The XML document is parsed by code based on Expat. . ."

• [April 14, 1999] "Interleaf to Showcase 1st Commercially Available Integrated XML/XSL Editor at Spring Internet World '99. BladeRunner Composer/Styler Extended to Provide WYSIWYG Editing." - "Interleaf, Inc. today announced that it will demonstrate the first WYSIWYG integrated XML/XSL editor at Spring Internet World '99, Los Angeles Convention Center, April 12-16, 1999. Composer/Styler, a component of Interleaf's BladeRunner e-content solution, is the first commercially available integrated XML/XSL publishing environment that meets the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) working draft standards and further demonstrates Interleaf's commitment to the emerging XML and XSL information standards. The XML family of standards, which is increasingly seen as a way of leveraging e-business, allows companies to dramatically increase the value, reusability and sharing of critical corporate information. BladeRunner provides for the universal creation of reusable content through Microsoft Word, combined with the power of XML-based structured content, to create dynamic, intelligent e-content for e-business applications." [local archive copy]

• [April 14, 1999] "Pervasive Software Offers Tango Objects for Macromedia's Dreamweaver 2." - "Pervasive Software Inc. announced Tango Objects for Macromedia's industry leading Dreamweaver 2 visual Web authoring environment. Web developers using Tango benefit by adding Dreamweaver's page development environment, which enables visual creation and management of Web pages built on Tango applications.Dreamweaver 2 enables efficient page design and production, deluxe site management, and visual authoring for dynamic publishing. The RoundTrip HTML and XML functionality in Dreamweaver 2 parses and respects adjoining application's HTML and XML code for powerful interactive capabilities. The product complements e-commerce, database and publishing technologies like Tango."

• [April 14, 1999] "Sequoia Software Corporation Exceeds First Quarter Business Devlopment Expectations for New Portal Development Software. Integrators, Business Consultants, VARs and OEMs Demonstrate Increased Market Demand for Sequoia's XML-based E-Business Solution." - "Sequoia Software Corporation announced today it has surpassed 1999 first quarter business development expectations for its XML-based software, Interchange2000 (i2K), with more than 13,000 copies licensed to integrators, consultants, value-added resellers (VARs) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Introduced earlier this year, Sequoia's i2K is the first XML-based software to fully address the complete array of construction requirements for enterprise information portals, from data acquisition, to data management, to browser-based vertical audience specific presentations. 'Last year we successfully evangelized and promoted XML to the largest vertical market: healthcare. Now, with the growing recognition of XML's power and potential among business and industry, we are seeing rapid and growing demand for our XML-powered portal technology that can manage and extend the wide variety of information that exists in the market, and we're aggressively going after it'."

• [April 13, 1999] "OMG Meeting In Philadelphia Sees Significant Enhancement to UML." - "The Object Management Group recently concluded its Technical Meeting week in Philadephia, Pennsylvania, USA, co-hosted by Genesis Development Corporation, Unisys, and Nihon Unisys. Over 500 OMG members met to work on some 100 technologies in process. The five-day meetings are intended to provide a forum for the OMG members and their guests to meet and carry out the standards-setting process that extends existing Object Management Architecture specifications such as CORBA and UML with new technologies. Over the next five weeks, authorized OMG members will vote on various technologies presented to the Platform and Domain Technology Committees. All of the technologies presented for vote are expected to pass, and will be offered to the OMG's Board of Directors before or during the group's August meeting for final approval. Once approved, each will become an official OMG specification. During the last OMG Board or Directors' meeting, five new technologies were approved. These new specifications include the Interoperable Naming Service, the XML-based Model Interchange Facility (XMI), the Security 1.5 revision, the Telecom Log Service, and the Display Manager for Air Traffic Control."

• [April 13, 1999] "SQRIBE Advances Use of XML as Standard for Application Integration in Enterprise Portal Environments XML Capabilities Now Shipping in SQRIBE Enterprise." - "SQRIBE Technologies, The Enterprise Reporting Company, today announced that its ReportMart Enterprise Information Portal will use the Extensible Markup Language (XML) as the open standard for integrating enterprise portals with third-party applications and data sources. The announcement, which expands on ReportMart's existing built-in XML support, marks an important milestone in the nascent portal market by addressing the corporate requirement for a neutral interchange format between disparate data sources -- such as ERP systems, data warehouses, business intelligence applications, desktop applications, and live Web feeds." [local archive copy]

• [April 13, 1999] "$700 Billion IT Industry Set to Embrace RosettaNet Global Business Standards Aimed At Aligning IT Supply Chain to Leverage Internet and E-commerce. IBM and Microsoft Successfully Complete Implementation Test of RosettaNet's First XML-based Partner Interface Process." - "RosettaNet, a global business consortium creating the electronic commerce framework to align processes in the IT supply chain, Monday announced that it has successfully completed implementation on its first 'Partner Interface Process,' referred to as a PIP. A RosettaNet PIP is an XML specification designed to align a specific business process between supply chain partners. This initial test of a PIP, completed by IBM and Microsoft, allows manufacturers to seamlessly add new products -- including standardized technical specifications and part numbers -- into their partners' catalogs. RosettaNet develops PIPs through extensive process modeling to determine how partners (manufacturers, distributors, resellers, carriers and end-users) in the IT supply chain interact with each other as they carry out day-to-day business activities in each of six high-level business process areas -- Partner/Product Review, Product Introduction, Order Management, Inventory Management, Marketing Information Management, and Service and Support. . . The RosettaNet Managing Board now consists of 34 CEOs, CIOs, and executives representing global members of the IT supply chain . . ." See also "RosettaNet."

• [April 13, 1999] "PaymentNet Service Now Bundled With Miva Applications Engine and E-Commerce Storefront Package." - "PaymentNet (www.paymentnet.com), and Miva Corporation announced today that the two companies have completed the integration of the PaymentNet transaction processing service with Miva Empresa, an application engine that includes a powerful XML scripting language (Miva Script), and Miva Merchant, an electronic storefront development and management system."

• [April 13, 1999] "Softshare Introduces New Data Translator for Electronic Commerce." -"Softshare unveiled Softshare Delta. Softshare Delta is a data mapping and translation application that meets the challenges of integrating electronic data interchange (EDI) documents and Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents with an enterprise's existing line of business applications. Softshare Delta supports the broad range of data formats that today's business must work with. These data formats include the ANSI X12 and UN/EDIFACT EDI standards, flat files, databases, XML documents, and text documents. Softshare Delta is one of only a handful of EDI data mapping applications that supports Microsoft's OLE DB standard and the XML data format."

• [April 13, 1999] "Pageflex Inc. Delivers Pageflex 1.5 On-Demand Publishing Applications Suite. On-Demand Publishing Just Got A Lot Easier." - "Pageflex Inc, A Bitstream Company, announced today that it is shipping Version 1.5 of the Pageflex Applications Suite. Pageflex is an award winning on-demand XML based publishing solution consisting of three components: Pageflex Designer, Pageflex Producer and Pageflex Server. Together, these components enable the design, compilation and printing of on-demand, customizable documents." See also: "Bitstream Launches PageFlex Inc."

• [April 13, 1999] "BlueGill Technologies Harnesses XML to Bridge Information Gap and Bolster Customer Relationships. The BlueGill i-Series improves customer loyalty and increases customer retention by transforming legacy data into interactive Web applications." - "The BlueGill Engine manages the transition of legacy data into XML-based "Smart Objects," by transforming the data into an object model and storing it as an XML construct. BlueGill Smart Objects are used to transform customer data into interactive applications, creating a customized, flexible business application based on BlueGill's experience in each of the industries it targets. . . The BlueGill i-Series also sports a new graphical user interface (GUI) called the BG SmartXpress, which simplifies the generation of XML Smart Objects, data extraction, and the building of statement definitions."

• [April 13, 1999] "General Magic Debuts New Technology To Help Busy People Stay in Touch with the Web. 'Kenya' Voice Agents Interact With Users by Phone" - "General Magic's new voice agent technology, code named 'Kenya', is being shown for the first time at the DemoMobile conference, a gathering for high-tech industry insiders. Kenya is software used to create voice agents. Voice agents monitor and act on Web content on the individual's behalf. They also call the user when they have updates or need the user's input on important matters. This allows the user to benefit from Web content virtually any time, all through the convenience of their own voice. Kenya voice agent technology exploits the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). XML is a widely accepted universal format for defining and sharing information on the World Wide Web. Kenya technology uses XML to define the rules that voice agents follow and to store the parameters that personalize the agents for the user. The use of XML makes it easy for developers to create voice agent applications."

• [April 13, 1999] "IPNet Solutions Announces XML Products. ANSI X.12 and Industry Leading ISV DTDs Supported, Bi-Directional XML Conversion for Business Documents and XML Import/Export." - "PNet Solutions Inc., a leader in Enterprise eCommerce solutions, Monday announced that IPNet.Suite 3.0 will mark the first step of IPNet's XML technology. XML support in IPNet.Suite will include: XML-based data import and export for all IPNet products; automated translation between XML and traditional business formats; support for leading ISV XML data type definitions (DTDs); and, automated HTML/HTTP Web translation from XML to HTML and other user-presentation formats."

• [April 13, 1999] "RSDi Develops Open-spource Real World Jini and XML Applications." - "RSDi (Jason J. Rutherglen) is developing a network of e-commerce transactions and information. We leverage our free open source e-commerce software for the Internet. RSDi is pioneering the development of real world Jini and XML applications. RSDi offers consulting and support on its Online E-Commerce Server which runs on all of the Java application servers. . . To address the exchanging of information RSDi hopes to at least have automatic publishing of XML catalogs built seamlessly into the software. We will probably (because there are no standards today) create our own DTDs but I would like this to be a communal thing and am certainly not going to dictate what they are." See: "RSDi.com Announces First Open Source Code E-Commerce Project for at InternetWorld." - 'This first product includes integration with Cybercash (www.cybercash.com) and PaymentNet (www.paymentnet.com) for credit card processing, shopping carts, rewards programs, coupons, online auctions, automatic XML catalog publishing, business to business XML transactions, a GUI Java applet for building stores and auctions over the Internet, and runs on the Java Servlet, WebLogic, NetDynamics 5, and Netscape Application Server platforms.'

• [April 13, 1999] "RightDoc's ODBC Integration With XML and CSS Internet Standards Drives the Creation of Personalized Business Documents for Cross-Media Output." RightDoc's native integration of external ODBC data combined with conditional processing tags, reusable XML-based text elements, conditional CSS formatting styles, and images makes it easy to create 'Intelligent' documents which have the ability to personalize themselves based upon line-of-business data. . . RightDoc enables companies to build state-of-the-art XML and CSS Internet standards-based business document solutions directly into Enterprise and Web-based Visual Basic, C++, J++, Delphi, Access, and Excel applications, or use RightDoc's standalone Workbench. RightDoc is designed to allow document authors be middle-level users such as Systems Analysts or entry-level programmers."

• [April 12, 1999] "UWI.Com CTO Joins Industry Leaders as Editor of XML E-Commerce Specification. CommerceNet eCo Framework Specification Lays Foundation for Global E-Commerce Growth." - "UWI.Com announced today that CommerceNet, a global non-profit e-commerce research organization, has named UWI.Com CTO David Manning editor of CommerceNet's eCo Transaction Framework Specification, which will define a global standard for Internet e-commerce. Manning, an invited expert on CommerceNet's eCo Working Group, shares editorship of the specification with representatives from Sun Microsystems, 3Com, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Commerce One. The [eCo Transaction Framework] specification, a public draft of which CommerceNet will release later this spring, provides a standard architectural framework for Internet e-commerce. This framework will facilitate communication between e-commerce systems around the globe, regardless of the protocols they use. The specification provides two components: a framework and a 'lingua franca' for transactions between e-commerce applications. A final public draft is expected in late summer 1999."

• [April 12, 1999] "Object Design and Bluestone Announce Strategic XML Partnership for Next-Generation e-Business Applications. Companies to integrate and co-market Bluestone XML Suite and Object Design's eXcelon XML data server to help customers deploy XML e-business applications." - "Object Design, Inc., and Bluestone Software, Inc. today announced a strategic partnership to integrate and jointly market Object Design's eXcelon XML data server and the Bluestone XML Suite. When used together, Bluestone XML Suite and eXcelon provide a highly effective, fully integrated XML data-management solution for companies seeking to build and deploy new XML e-business applications in areas such as electronic data interchange (EDI), enterprise application integration, supply chain management, thin-client device, and business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce. Object Design and Bluestone will demonstrate product and provide details of the integration at the Los Angeles Convention Center." See also the announcement from the Object Design press releases. [local archive copy]

• [April 08, 1999] "Microsoft and Key Universal Plug and Play Supporters Announce Forum To Advance Universal Plug and Play. Preliminary Universal Plug and Play Specifications and Source Code Available Through Forum Web Site." - "Microsoft Corporation and six companies announced today at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference and Exhibition (WinHEC) '99 the formation of the Universal Plug and Play Forum, a group of companies promoting Universal Plug and Play networking protocols and device interoperability standards based on open Web-based protocols. Initially, Universal Plug and Play members will work with Microsoft to enable device-to-device interoperability by promoting Universal Plug and Play protocols and cooperatively developing and contributing XML schemas for device description, naming and HTML-based control. To support the Universal Plug and Play Forum design process, Microsoft will create and maintain a Web site (http://www.upnp.org) that will include background information on Universal Plug and Play, the Universal Plug and Play Forum and its activities, Universal Plug and Play source code, white papers, XML dialect, developer kits and membership information. " ['Universal Plug and Play will use Extensible Markup Language (XML) for schema, because XML's self-describing structured data format provides the level of expressiveness and extensibility needed by a universal schema and data format.' see the white paper.]

• [April 08, 1999] "InfoAccess Announces The Virtual Webmaster." - "InfoAccess today released the HTML Transit 4 beta to select partners and customers. HTML Transit 4 builds sophisticated Websites from standard business documents that have been created using popular authoring tools such as Office 2000, Lotus SmartSuite Millennium or less traditional tools such as a CrossPad or a scanner. It can also import XML, HTML and PDF files. HTML Transit 4 also creates an XML Map file for each publication. The XML Map file visually displays the structure of the publication in an outline, as well as information such as user access rights. By utilizing ASP and the XML Map file, developers can create a Website that requires user login; ASP will interpret the access information in the XML Map file to selectively reveal content based upon user access rights. The result is a dynamically generated table of contents that displays Web page links based on login access."

• [April 07, 1999] "XMLNews Initiative Announced. Corel and WavePhore Support XMLNews in New Products." - "David Megginson, principal of Megginson Technologies, today announced a new initiative for news information delivery over the Internet. XMLNews uses the popular Extensible Markup Language (XML) to enable exchange of news information and metadata across different platforms and system configurations. Dr. Megginson, who chairs the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) XML Information Set Working Group and maintains the widely-implemented Simple API for XML (SAX), said that XMLNews brings together existing Web and Industry standards into a single package. 'XMLNews is good news for everyone in the industry," he said. 'With a single standard format for all feeds, XMLNews will make it easier to share news all along the distribution chain, from reporters in the field and international press agencies to end-users such as news portals and corporate intranets'." See "XMLNews." [local archive copy]

• [April 07, 1999] "WavePhore Announces Support of XMLNews Initiative; A Suite of Open XML Standards for Internet News Delivery." - "WavePhore, Inc. announced its active involvement in the XMLNews initiative, which will promote and support the use of open standards for news delivery. WavePhore will be delivering most of the major news feeds in the two open, XML formats defined by the XMLNews initiative: XMLNews-Story for content and XMLNews-Meta for metadata. XMLNews-Story is a fully compatible subset of the September 1998 XML version of the News Industry Text Format (NITF) developed by the International Press Telecommunications Council and the Newspaper Association of America. XMLNews-Meta uses XML together with two other standards from the W3C: The Resource Description Framework (RDF) and Namespaces in XML." See "XMLNews."

• [April 07, 1999] "WavePhore Introduces NewsPak." - "WavePhore's NewsPak product will deliver most of the major North American news feeds in the two open XML formats defined by the XMLNews initiative. These include XMLNews-Story for content and XMLNews-Meta for metadata. Both formats are compatible with open industry standards such as RDF (Resource Description Format) and NITF (News Industry Test Format). They can also be processed with any XML-enabled software. In addition to fully conforming implementation, WavePhore incorporates appealing enhancements. For example, news story metadata items are presented in a single, standardized format, but original vendor-supplied metadata tags are available as well, all appropriately identified in the XML file." See "XMLNews." [local archive copy]

• [April 07, 1999] "WavePhore Announces Internet Broadcast Service NewsPak. Real-time News Feeds from Associated Press, PR Newswire, COMTEX, and Others Available for Integration Into Web Sites Using XML." - "WavePhore announced the beta release of WavePhore NewsPak. NewsPak enables easy integration of streaming real-time news, selected from more than 70 industry categories, into web sites. NewsPak includes both real-time news feeds and the NewsPak Software Developers Kit (SDK). The NewsPak SDK is based on XML, the new universal standard for information exchange. The SDK contains the tools necessary for web site owners to accept a real-time streaming XML news feed from WavePhore, store extracted content on their local server, then display this content in a style consistent with the rest of their site. The NewsPak architecture supports such enhancements as Internet broadcasting of streaming audio and video. Content Agreements [have been] announced with Associated Press, PR Newswire and COMTEX." [local archive copy]

• [April 07, 1999] "BookWorks eBook Tools Power BookExpo America '99 Directories." - "BookWorks eBook tools support the emerging Open eBook format based on HTML, XML and common tag sets which provides authors, editors and publishers a quick and cost effective way to prepare eBook titles for the desktop PC, notebook, Internet, Intranet, and a variety of portable eBook devices." See also [March 30, 1999]: "International Companies Announce Support for the Open eBook Standard."

• [April 07, 1999] "webMethods Launches Executive Webinar Series On XML for Business-To-Business E-Commerce." - "webMethods announced that the company will deliver a series of executive Web-based seminars (Webinars) focusing on the use of XML and the Internet for business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, and VPs or Managers in charge of E-Commerce Strategies, EDI, Supply Chain Management, Procurement or ERP Systems are invited to attend the first executive Webinar which will take place on Thursday, April 8th from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. PST. The series continues on April 15 and April 22."

• [April 05, 1999] "DataChannel XMLFramework extends Cross-Platform Functionality with New Solaris Edition. DataChannel's RIO 3.2 Builds Enterprise Information Portals Powered by XML." - "RIO, an Enterprise Information Portal (EIP), is the core offering for Solutions Software within DataChannel's XMLFramework which consists of Solution Software, XMLToolkit, XMLBlueprint, XMLTraining, and XMLServices, providing the computing foundation for enterprises competing in today's Global Information Economy. As more enterprises turn to universal Web technology standards to manage their information, they are discovering the benefits of extensible markup language (XML). This flexible, new data schema used by the Internet makes it easier for organizations to access information anywhere on the Internet and local legacy systems and exchange it with their knowledge workers, customers, and suppliers."

• [April 05, 1999] "Miva Corporation Introduces Miva Commerce Server to Provide Small To Medium Sized Businesses with Encompassing E-Commerce Solution. Provides Enterprises with Powerful Application Engine, Scripting Language and Electronic Storefront Development and Management System." - "Miva today introduced the Miva Commerce Server, a complete e-commerce solution designed for small- to mid-sized enterprises to enable their Web servers with a powerful application engine, an XML-based scripting language and a browser-based electronic storefront development and management system. The product gives enterprises complete autonomy in the development, deployment and management of robust and scaleable commerce applications, data-driven Web sites and corporate Intranets. The Miva Commerce Server includes an application engine and enables enterprises with Miva Script, an XML-based scripting language currently used by more than 25,000 developers."

• [April 05, 1999] "UWI.Com Announces First XML Digital Signature Solution Interoperable with Netscape Products. Netscape Certificate Management System and Netscape Communicator Products Now Supported by UWI.Com's InternetForms System." - "Customers can now take advantage of UWI.Com's open, reliable, and legally-binding XML InternetForms in e-commerce applications that use Netscape products. The InternetForms System is the first third-party solution offering digitally-signed XML documents compatible with Netscape Communicator and Netscape Certificate Management System. UWI.Com's InternetForms System is a complete suite of XML software that allows organizations to conduct secure, verifiable business-to-business e-commerce transactions on the Internet. InternetForms are based on Extensible Forms Description Language (XFDL), the world's first open XML protocol for legally-binding transactions on the Internet." See also "Signed XML: Experiences from the Creation of XFDL," a Position Paper for The W3C Signed XML Workshop.

• [April 02, 1999] "Utah's Third District Court Now Accepting Electronic Criminal Filings with Help from Technology Developed by iLumin Corporation. Utah Court's Project is First in the Country to Implement Electronic Filing Solution Using XML and Digital Signatures." - "Utah's Third District Court, enabled by technology from iLumin Corporation, this week became the first court in the United States to accept legal filings via the Internet using XML and digital signatures. The first filings are the result of a cooperative effort known as the Utah Courts Electronic Filing Project involving Utah's Third District Court, the Utah Administrative Office of the Courts and the Salt Lake District Attorney's Office. iLumin Corp. worked closely with the courts to develop and implement the new filing system. The Utah Courts project has gained national attention as the first project to use both digital signatures and XML to electronically file and manage documents. Jim McMillan, Director of the National Center for State Courts Technology Laboratory, says, 'XML is the future of electronic filing. Utah is way out in front with a fully XML-based electronic filing implementation. We can look to Utah as one of the leaders in this area'." Cf. "Electronic Filing and Courts - XML - the wave of the future?" and the XML Work Group hosted by Utah Electronic Law Project (UELP).

• [April 01, 1999] "Ufficio Italiano W3C [W3C Italian Office]." - "Il World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) e l'istituto CNUCE del CNR di Pisa annunciano l'inaugurazione dell'ufficio italiano del W3C. L'Ufficio italiano W3C diffonderà notizia delle attività tramite media e mantenendo un sito Web: http://w3c.cnuce.cnr.it/. In occasione dell'inaugurazione dell'ufficio sarà tenuta, in Pisa il 22 Aprile 1999 presso la Limonaia, una giornata di presentazione dell'ufficio e delle attività W3C. Il World Wide Web Consortium sarà presente con il suo staff e i rappresentanti dei 4 principali domini nei quali sono state organizzate le attività di sviluppo." [posted by Fresta Giuseppe to XML-IT]

• [March 31, 1999] "Microsoft Delivers Industry's First XML-Compliant Browser Comprehensive XML Support Enables Developers to Build New Generation Of Data-Driven Applications." - Microsoft Corp. today announced that Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 is the first commercially available browser software to support the Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 recommendation developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). XML provides a universal language for data interchange and powers a new generation of data-driven applications such as consumer and business-to-business electronic commerce, enterprise application integration and interoperability across disparate systems, data sources and business processes. Complete XML support in the Microsoft Windows operating system lets developers focus on building great applications, as opposed to spending time implementing their own XML infrastructure. Internet Explorer 5 is the only shipping browser with complete support for XML 1.0. Further, Internet Explorer is the first and only shipping browser to support a wide variety of other XML technologies, including a subset of the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) W3C working draft, the XML Document Object Model (DOM), the XML Namespaces 1.0 Recommendation and a technology preview for advanced XML schemas. By making these technologies an integral part of the Windows operating system, developers and end users can count on widely available, consistent and complete support for XML. Further, this implementation makes XML easily accessible to developers, regardless of their programming language choice." [local archive copy]

• [March 31, 1999] "Hynet Releases Version 2.1 of Internet Publishing Tool." - "Hynet Directive is an XML-based electronic publishing product currently being used by leading financial institutions and high-tech manufacturers to convert documents and easily publish up-to-date information to the Internet and CD-ROM. The Directive conversion engine, which can be purchased separately from the Directive publishing product, provides a flexible conversion of Microsoft Word and Adobe FrameMaker documents to HTML or XML. This tool is now enhanced for batch processing environments with command line access and APIs for C++, Visual Basic, and Java."

• [March 31, 1999] "Informatica Announces General Availability of First Object-Based API For Metadata Exchange. Leading Business-Intelligence Vendors Business Objects, Cognos, Seagate Software and Anubis Integrate MX2 Into Their Applications." - "MX2 enables the integration of Informatica's data warehousing applications with a wide variety of decision support resources, including enterprise data modeling applications, business intelligence tools, analytic applications, OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) products and other front-end query tools from multiple vendors through enterprise-wide metadata synchronization. . . Along with the release of MX2, Informatica has distributed a functional specification for an XML- (Extensible Markup Language) compliant version of MX2 to key partners for their review and feedback. In recognition of the fact that metadata exchange is critical to obtaining maximum value out of business analysis applications and as part of Informatica's ongoing support for emerging industry standards, all future releases of MX2 will support XML."

• [March 31, 1999] "gXML - Open Exchange of E-business Schemas. An open XML based model for storing schemas and achieving interoperability between schema consuming applications." - "Edifecs Commerce, the leader in EDI and electronic commerce modeling and collaboration tools, announced the immediate availability of Guideline XML (gXML) for the open exchange of electronic commerce guidelines. Guideline XML is a file structure that allows the open exchange of electronic commerce guidelines, otherwise known as EDI Transaction Sets and Schemas. Guideline XML (gXML) is the world?s first XML standards-based exchange format specifically designed to simplify the integration of EDI translators, validation engines, forms builders, and specification tools." For references to the draft specification and the DTD, see "Guideline XML (gXML)."

• [March 31, 1999] "Mellon Bank Selects Innovision XML Financial Protocol Server To Power Bill Payment, Other OFX Services. New Capabilities Make It Easier, Safer for Retail Customers to Use Leading PFM Applications to Pay Bills and Manage Banking Transactions Online." - "Innovision Corporation, technology leader in open financial standards based on extensible markup language (XML), today announced Mellon Bank Corporation will use Innovision Financial Server to drive its new open financial exchange (OFX) retail banking services. Mellon customers will have the ability to access their bank and bill payment information using Quicken and Microsoft Money PFM applications that connect directly with Mellon's internal systems via Innovision Financial Server. Acting as a messaging interchange engine, Innovision Financial Server sends, receives and manages OFX-formatted data. Innovision Financial Server is a component of Innovision XP (XML Protocol) Series. The product is the financial industry's most widely deployed OFX server." See also: "Open Financial Exchange (OFX/OFE)."

• [March 29, 1999] "Commerce One Redefines Electronic Commerce with World's Largest, Open Business-to-Business Marketplace Industry Leader Announces Open Marketplace, New Products and Services, and New Customers." - "In a series of bold announcements made today, Commerce One, Inc. unveiled plans to change the face of the business-to-business e-commerce market. Commerce One has enabled the world's largest business-to-business trading community comprised of interoperable marketplaces deployed across three key geographies currently representing a total annual buying power of $161 billion. Together these announcements offer unprecedented economies of scale for buying organizations, suppliers and commerce service providers across the globe."

• [March 29, 1999] "Commerce One Receives Unprecedented Industry Support for MarketSite Market Leaders Endorse World's Largest Open, Business-to-Business Marketplace." - "Commerce One, Inc. today announced it has received broad industry support for Commerce One MarketSite from a wide variety of market leaders including leading software and services providers, global telecommunications companies, industry standards organizations, systems integration and consulting firms, buying organizations, and supplying organizations."

• [March 29, 1999] "UWI.Com and Commerce One partner to bring global, XML-based e-commerce to all sizes of trading organizations. Integration of InternetForms and MarketSite provides economic XML forms-based business document exchange for supplier integration into online marketplaces." - "The integration allows a trading community's suppliers to interact with MarketSite using InternetForms, which provides simplified supplier integration into the MarketSite marketplace. Typically, suppliers are small and medium-sized organizations (SMEs) who still use costly channels such as paper, email, and fax to perform transactions with a MarketSite trading community. For example, historically a supplier has used email or fax to exchange catalog content updates, status updates, invoices, and purchase orders with its trading community, which were then manually entered into MarketSite. Soon, suppliers will be able to connect to a MarketSite trading community with a web browser, open an InternetForm (for example, a catalog content update), fill it out, sign it and submit it, facilitating e-commerce trading with the community and removing manual entry from the process."

• [March 29, 1999] "XML Expands Open Technology of Smith-Gardner's WebOrder." - "Smith Gardner & Associates, Inc. announces that it is adopting eXtensible Markup Language (XML) for its WebOrder system. WebOrder is an Internet commerce system designed to automate the operations of retailers, direct marketers and manufacturers that are selling through non-store channels. XML provides WebOrder with a powerful facility to share back-end enterprise data with other applications in real-time. In addition, WebOrder's XML DTDs will facilitate ease of integration into heterogeneous web environments. Intelligent information is formatted in multi-dimensional documents that will simplify the exchange and make it available in a user-friendly format. XML will interpret and standardize data from WebOrder, such as real-time inventory status, customer records, customer order history, customer preferences, demographics and further enterprise information. . ."

• [March 29, 1999] "Scriptics Hosts Tcl Extension Architecture Summit. World's Leading Tcl Engineers and Developers Converge on Silicon Valley. Discuss and Plan Next-Generation Scripting Language Extension Architecture." - "Scriptics Corporation, the leading developer of tools and resources for the Tcl scripting language, hosted the first Tcl Extension Architecture (TEA) Summit in Mountain View, CA, on March 15 and 16. Summit attendees discussed a draft of The Tcl Extension Architecture Document, which sets forth new standard criteria for authoring new Tcl extension scripts. In other major developments resulting from the Summit, it was agreed that [...] Scriptics will introduce a new XML based format for Tcl technical documentation along with tools to convert the XML to other formats."

• [March 29, 1999] "Intraware Selected by Bluestone Software as Primary Web-Based Channel Provider for XML Suite. Special Introductory Promotion Offered through April 30, 1999." - "Intraware, Inc., a full-service web-based software management services company, and Bluestone Software, Inc., the leader in Enterprise Interaction Management, today announced the companies have expanded their existing partnership, whereby Intraware will provide primary web-based software services for Bluestone XML Suite, comprising Bluestone XML-Server, Bluestone Visual-XML, and XwingML." [local archive copy]

• [March 25, 1999] "XMLSolutions announces the Exeter E-commerce Engine. First Product to Seamlessly link EDI and XML E-commerce systems." - ". . . XMLSolutions announced the Exeter E-commerce Engine, the first Internet application for integrating XML and EDI e-commerce systems. This product will help level the playing field by allowing small companies to exchange data with larger companies with out having to pay the large price tag associated with EDI systems. Exeter is a true multi-tier web-based application. At the heart of a new product is the Lotus XSL Processor running with IBM's WebSphere Application Server. Exeter also employs Object Design's eXcelon XML data server. All business logic is written in Java and all transformation instructions are written in extensible style language (XSL). Exeter includes an interchange engine, a data transformation engine, mapping tools and application connector architecture." Supports: X12, EDIFACT, OBI, CBL, cXML. (Q2 1999) [local archive copy]

• [March 24, 1999] "webMethods Announces webMethods B2B 2.1 for XML-Based Business-to-Business E-Commerce." - "webMethods, Inc., provider of cross-platform XML solutions for business-to-business e-commerce and integration, today announced availability of webMethods B2B 2.1, a significantly enhanced version of the company's XML-based solution that facilitates inter-enterprise integration between ERP applications, Web sites and legacy data sources. webMethods B2B 2.1 offers guaranteed delivery and enhanced continuous operation capabilities to support high-volume, mission-critical applications. In addition, webMethods B2B 2.1 includes support for OAGIS Document Type Definitions (DTDs) developed by Open Applications Group (OAG) to provide XML-based interoperability APIs for financial, human resources, manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain management systems."

• [March 24, 1999] "The SABRE Group, IBM and Nokia Team to Create Traveler Service for Enhanced Mobile Phone." - "The SABRE Group, IBM and Nokia today announced they are working on a real-time, interactive service - delivered via mobile phone utilizing the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), a new open industry standard for mobile Internet - that will allow travelers to initiate flight changes and even receive updates from airlines anywhere, anytime. The service will combine SABRE Business Travel Solutions, the company's online corporate travel purchasing system, IBM e-business technologies and the latest mobile communications technology and terminals from Nokia." See also 'First WAP Services'. [For more on WAP Wireless Markup Language (WML), see "WAP Wireless Markup Language Specification."]

• [March 22, 1999] "Interleaf Acquires Texcel, Accelerating e-content Technology Vision. Advanced Web Desktop Environment Complements and Extends BladeRunner Functionality." - "Interleaf, Inc. today announced it has agreed to acquire substantially all of the assets of Texcel International AB, a leading provider of XML-enabled content management solutions. Texcel, founded in 1991, provides software and services to corporations and government agencies that depend on information access and efficient reuse for competitive advantage, through its flagship product, Information Manager. Texcel, known for its expertise in XML and SGML, application development, workflow design and database management systems, will transfer significant XML-related technology and resources to Interleaf. The integration of Information Manager's end-user desktop environment with advanced search capabilities and flexible, easy-to-use workflow features, along with a Web interface for most desktop features, will complement and extend BladeRunner's authoring, composing and publishing strengths. BladeRunner enables companies to easily leverage "e-content for e-commerce" through a solution that provides for the universal creation of reusable content through Microsoft Word, combined with the power of XML-based structured content for dynamic publishing to Web-enabled applications."

• [March 22, 1999] "Timing Diagram Markup Language 1.0 Released. Si2 and ECIX Accept 1.0 in XML." - "Silicon Integration Initiative Inc. (Si2), an industry organization that provides synergistic multi-company engineering services, today announced the release of the Timing Diagram Markup Language (TDML) v1.0, an open industry-standard language for the exchange of interactive timing diagrams for digital systems. TDML is based on the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), which has been hailed as the "next generation" HTML for the Internet. EDA tool vendors adding support for TDML will benefit from the existing base of XML-related software; there are several freely available XML parsers which provide file validity checking and simplify the creation of TDML parsers. Component suppliers will benefit from TDML by allowing the use of one format to describe timing diagrams in both human- and machine-readable form. Design engineers will benefit from TDML during browsing functions where a timing diagram can be interactively changed to evaluate a component's design." For DTDs and documentation, see: "Timing Diagram Markup Language (TDML)."

• [March 22, 1999] "Miva Corporation Announces Miva Empresa v3.6 for the Creation of Advanced E-Commerce Applications. Provides ISP and Web Hosting Customers With XML-based Scripting Language and Application Engine." - "Miva Corporation, a leading provider of Web commerce software, today introduced Miva Empresa v3.6, an application engine designed for Web hosting companies, ISPs and enterprises to enable users on their servers with Miva Script, the XML-based scripting language used by more than 25,000 developers. Individual users on a Miva-enabled Web server can utilize Miva Script to create and deploy e-commerce and data-driven Web sites. The new Miva Empresa v3.6 edition includes full CyberCash, CyberSource, and PaymentNet support using the MvCOMMERCE tag which can be embedded in a Web page to automate robust payment processing.The Miva Engine is a language pre-processor for parsing and executing applications that have been developed using the HTML based, XML compliant, Miva Script language. Available in two editions, it can be installed on Windows 95/98/NT for development and staging or on any major UNIX OS or Windows NT for publishing to the Internet. Applications built to run on the developer edition, Miva Mia, can be moved - source code, data, and indexes - to a Miva Empresa enabled Internet web server. The applications will run and execute identically on either."

• [March 22, 1999] "MicroStrategy Announces DSS Broadcaster 5.5. Award-Winning Intelligence Platform Enables Development of Second-Generation E-Commerce Solutions and Enterprise-Wide Information Broadcasting Applications." - ". . . announced the general availability of DSS Broadcaster 5.5, an intelligence platform for developing second-generation e-commerce solutions and enterprise-wide information broadcasting applications. DSS Broadcaster 5.5 allows organizations to develop active information portals that leverage both relational and non-relational data sources to target the right audience with the right information at the right time. DSS Broadcaster 5.5 is designed to allow organizations to develop sophisticated, targeted e-business intelligence solutions. This requires the seamless inclusion ofinsightful information and web functionality such as ordering, purchasing and subscription to bring the opportunity to fruition. DSS Broadcaster 5.5 includes a new XML generation engine that leverages the power of XML and XSL, to provide customized, functionality-rich HTML output. As a result, broadcasts are richer inpurpose, flexibility and functionality, and are delivered in presentation-quality format. [The XML engine enables business intelligence to gain ground, moving towards the portal mode of deployment -- synthesizing information to provide a single point of entry to tap into all information source."

• [March 22, 1999] "Datastream First Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Vendor to Incorporate Microsoft Windows DNA for Manufacturing Architecture. Web-Based Products Use Microsoft Windows Distributed interNet Applications for Manufacturing to Maximize Ease of Use and Scalability." - "Windows DNA is a framework based on Microsoft technologies that enables multi-vendor software applications to work together in a single, distributed, enterprise-wide system. These technologies include Windows NT, Windows CE, SQL Server 7.0, XML, and COM/DCOM."

• [March 20, 1999] "Aeneid Supports Microsoft Internet Explorer 5. XML and XSL support in Internet Explorer 5 enhances flexibility and performance of the Aeneid Aggregation Platform." - "Aeneid Corporation, a Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 launch partner, today announced its support for Internet Explorer 5. The combined Aeneid Aggregation Platform and Internet Explorer 5 support for Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) gives Aeneid customers optimum flexibility and improved performance for exchanging and viewing Internet content."

• [March 19, 1999] "LivePage Unveils LivePage Enterprise for Linux Beta Program. First Unix Beta Now Available on LivePage Web Site With More Unix Versions Under Development." - "This new version will enable deployment of LivePage ContentServer on the rapidly expanding installed-base of Linux web servers. LivePage Enterprise now allows users to leverage the functionality, performance and value of the Linux platform. . . LivePage Enterprise 2.0 delivers multi-user, collaborative management for content including XML, SGML and HTML, as well as digital media such as graphics. LivePage separates management of content and presentation style, enabling personalization (presentation style based on user attributes) and supporting the use of standard tools and storage formats (XML, SGML) for content." See LivePage ContentServer for Linux Beta.

• [March 19, 1999] "CheckFree Rolls Out First Large-Scale System Support for OFX Specification for Electronic Banking and Bill Payment. CheckFree's electronic payments engine now supports OFX for transactions processed on behalf of 400,000 users, making it the largest in-production OFX -compliant system in the industry." - "CheckFree today announced that its next-generation electronic banking and payment transaction processing engine now supports the standards specified in the currently approved Open Financial Exchange (OFX) specification. OFX was co-developed by Intuit, Microsoft and CheckFree, and is the industry's technical standard specifying how electronic banking and bill payment transactions should be structured, which facilitates interoperability among solutions provided by different vendors who support OFX. [local archive copy]

• [March 19, 1999] "Wall Data Embraces the Benefits of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 With Enhanced Web Solutions. Wall Data's Cyberprise and RUMBA 2000 Products Take Advantage of Enhanced Functionality of Internet Explorer 5." - "Wall Data's Cyberprise products extensively leverage the advanced DHTML and XML capabilities in Internet Explorer 5 to provide a rich environment for developing multi-tier applications, as well as creating a more dynamic user experience. Customers utilizing Cyberprise products will save time with user friendly features such as auto-completion of fields in Web forms and will help reduce the total cost of support and deployment with automatic installation of components."

• [March 19, 1999] "OASIS Brings Daily Content to XML.com. International XML/SGML Consortium Collaborates with Songline Studios and Seybold Publications to Raise Awareness of XML-Related Current Events." - "OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, announced that it will provide XML.com, a premier Web resource for XML professionals, with content in the form of daily XML-related news. OASIS will supply the popular "What's New" page from the OASIS/Robin Cover SGML/XML Web Page for re-publishing on XML.com. As a result of the new agreement between the two organizations, OASIS will become a content provider for XML.com. 'Part of the OASIS charter is to serve as a resource to the marketplace by providing reliable, objective information about structured information standards, including XML,' explained Bill Smith (Sun Microsystems), vice president of the OASIS board of directors. 'The OASIS sponsorship of XML.com will make our XML information accessible to an ever wider audience'."

• [March 19, 1999] "XML/EDI Group Exceeds 1,000 Members and 100,000 Web site Visitors." - "On 26 February 1999, Matteo Mariani of Italy became the 1,000th member of the XML/EDI Group. The next week, Robert Fuchs of Austria became the 100,000th visitor to the XML/EDI Group's web site at http://www.xmledi.org/. These two events signify how the XML/EDI Group has become the largest and fastest growing grass-roots organization for applying XML to electronic commerce. The European Community is seizing key opportunities by supporting the XML/EDI Group's work. Under the leadership of Europe chapter co-chairs Bryan and Marchal, the European Standardization Bureau's (CEN's) workshop on electronic commerce has started a pilot test of XML's ability to exchange business data, especially with smaller businesses. This pilot test focuses on statistics gathering, health care, and transportation industries. Bryan will discuss these developments at GCA's April 1999 XML Europe conference in Granada, Spain. The XML/EDI Group's networking structure makes it possible for participants to quickly learn XML/EDI principles and apply them to their own business needs. An impressive and growing list of applications . . . [see the description]." [local archive copy]

• [March 18, 1999] "Microsoft Launches Newest Version of Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer 5, Passport to the Global Online Community." - "Even before the release of Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 5 browser today, more than 2 million people had answered that question by downloading the beta version of IE 5. Now, with the official launch of IE 5, a key group of Internet service providers, portal sites and content providers are adding their endorsement of this fast, flexible, easy-to-use browser. More than 140 Internet service providers, seven of the top nine portal sites and more than 300 radio stations worldwide have chosen Internet Explorer 5 technologies as the best way to serve their customers. They are capitalizing on several key enhancements to IE 5: a new Windows Radio Toolbar that provides one-click access to streaming audio content on the Internet while users simultaneously browse the Web; a 25 percent performance boost over Internet Explorer 4.0; a 30 percent-60 percent performance edge over Netscape Navigator 4.5; easy-to-use IntelliSense features that simplify complex browsing tasks; and customization capabilities that enable access providers to modify the interface and add new functionality of their own." See also: Microsoft Delivers World's Fastest Modern Browser Available Today."

• [March 18, 1999] "SoftQuad Software Teams with Microsoft for Launch of Internet Explorer 5. SoftQuad Software's HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 and XMetaL Enable Users to Take Full Advantage of New Features of Internet Explorer 5." - "SoftQuad Software Inc., a leading provider of standards-based content publishing tools, today announced that its products HoTMetaL PRO 5.0 and XMetaL work with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 to provide an ideal platform for building applications for the Web. SoftQuad Software's products are optimized for quick development and ideally suited to take advantage of the rich development platform of Internet Explorer 5. Together, HoTMetaL and Internet Explorer 5 enable professional- level web developers to create rich, enterprise-ready web applications with low support costs."

• [March 17, 1999] "Oracle's Project Panama First to Enable Dynamic Web Content for Mobile Devices." - "Oracle will preview the first technology for seamlessly delivering dynamic Web content to users of mobile devices, including GSM smart-phones, Windows CE devices and Palm Pilots. The technology, code-named 'Project Panama,' will allow Internet and mobile service providers to deliver personalized services directly to mobile devices without having to modify content for them. . . Project Panama will remove the limitations of retrieving Web-based material by automatically translating the HTML- or XML-based format of Internet content to the languages understood by wireless devices. Utilizing protocols including Wireless Access Protocol (WAP), Project Panama will enable access to all existing Web content through mobile devices." See also the 'Project Panama' Home Page and the Oracle white paper.

• [March 17, 1999] "Radian Systems, Inc. Releases XML-Based Products: WSDOM XML-Xpress and WSDOM XML-Portal." - "Radian Systems announced the extension of its WSDOM family of products by releasing two software applications, WSDOM XML-Xpress and WSDOM XML-Portal, based on the Internet XML standard. These advanced applications, built around eXtensible Markup Language (XML), provide the means to take legacy data in any form and distribute it via the Internet." [local archive copy]

• [March 16, 1999] "OASIS Forms Registry & Repository Committee for XML. Non-Profit Consortium Plans to Develop a Specification for Storage and Distribution of XML Entities." - "OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, has formed an XML Registry and Repository Technical Committee for XML-related entities such as schemas relevant to the growing field of e-commerce, business-to-business transactions and tools and application interoperability. The new committee will actively investigate technology for registering XML Document Type Definitions (DTDs) and related materials and make them available for search by developers and users. It will also research technology for serving DTDs on-demand. OASIS intends to develop specifications to support these functions and to implement a trial service, with a target date of Fall 1999." See also: "XML Registry and Repository."

• [March 16, 1999] "Flashline.com Offers New Commercial Version of alphaBeans." - "The alphaBeans collection consists of 250 JavaBeans that range from utility and file processing JavaBeans to components that will XML-ize Java applications. The newly enhanced versions of alphaBeans have been upgraded to implement suggestions from thousands of developers worldwide who have used and tested the alphaBeans on the IBM alphaWorks Web site."

• [March 16, 1999] "Andromedia Advances State of E-Marketing. Company delivers Smart eMarketing Platform combining its award-winning ARIA Web Site Activity Analysis software and market-leading LikeMinds Personalization Server." - "Specifically, Andromedia is announcing four new products, a strategic relationship with BroadVision, support for the Information and Content Exchange (ICE) protocol, and partnerships with leading e-commerce platform vendors. . . Andromedia has embraced the ICE (Information and Content Exchange) protocol and will introduce the ARIA Event Syndicator Module to make ARIA's high-value, realtime data available to third-party applications. The ICE specification describes a protocol for syndicating content. More generally, it describes a means for applications to publish and subscribe to well-formed data messages."

• [March 15, 1999] "IONA Technologies Announces Immediate Availability of HomeBase Enterprise JavaBeans Toolkit." - "EJBHome's HomeBase Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) toolkit provides a full and complete implementation of the Enterprise JavaBeans 1.0 specification with advanced support for transactions, XML (Extensible Mark-up Language), GUI deployment tools and integration with the world's leading Java development environments. HomeBase is available free-of-charge to developers . . . XML support - introducing EJBML - a new XML language [which] can be used to define deployment descriptors and will be updated when the official XML deployment descriptor format is published. HomeBase also uses XML internally for the capture of statistics for performance analysis and for providing management and monitoring information."

• [March 15, 1999] "ICE (Information & Content Exchange) Standard Heralded as 'Technology Trailblazer' in Field of Web Publishing by Seybold Editors' Awards. XML-Based Protocol Praised as a 'Significant Step Forward for Those Trying To Automate the Distribution of Content on the Web.'" - "The ICE Authoring Group today announced that ICE (Information & Content Exchange) has won a Seybold Editor's Award in the field of Web publishing. Announced in March 1999, the 1998 Seybold Editor's Awards recognize products, technologies and companies that have already made a notable impact, or are likely to have a substantial effect, on the future of online and print publishing. ICE is designed to significantly reduce the cost of online business by providing the standard to build Internet value or trading networks, such as syndicated publishing networks, Web superstores and online reseller channels."

• [March 12, 1999] "Groveware Announces the Release of MainEvent Backpack 1.2." - "Groveware Inc. announced the release of MainEvent Backpack, Groveware's powerful, Web-based system for posting, managing, and distributing public event information via the Web. Targeted at small academic institutions or at divisions within institutions (such as a student affairs office), MainEvent Backpack has all the features needed to manage the posting of public event information, and to distribute this information via searchable Web calendars. And, like its more powerful sibling, Campus MainEvent, MainEvent Backpack is simple to install, manage, and use. MainEvent Backpack is shipping today for Windows NT, Sun Solaris and Linux." See the Groveware technology document for description of the underlying use of XML.

• [March 11, 1999] "UWI.Com Introduces InternetForms Designer 1.2. Leading Visual XML Forms Creation Tool Adds Security, Productivity, and Ease-of-Use Features." - "InternetForms Designer 1.2 enables developers to easily create and deploy secure, intelligent, and legally-binding documents for their e-commerce applications while taking advantage of the openness of XML. The new release also includes several new features that improve developer productivity and enhance ease-of-use. The release of InternetForms Designer 1.2 completes the newest version of the InternetForms System, a suite of products based on XFDL (Extensible Forms Description Language), the world's first open XML protocol for legally-binding transactions on the Internet."

• [March 11, 1999] "Interleaf to Host Introductory XML Seminars With Microsoft. Training Sessions Will Highlight XML's Impact on E-Commerce, Relationship Management and Publishing Applications." - "The training seminars will be held in eight cities around the United States in late March 1999 and will focus on the evolution of XML technology, how to implement XML-based applications without becoming experts in the underlying language, and how XML-based applications can benefit businesses, particularly in e-commerce, relationship management and publishing applications."

• [March 10, 1999] "Leading Corporations Worldwide Choose Internet Explorer 5. Companies Cite Browser's Ease of Use and Reduced Cost of Ownership As Key Reasons for Deployment." - "A critical aspect of a corporate browsing solution is its ability to provide a powerful development platform for building enterprise Web-based applications. Internet Explorer 5 offers support for the latest Web technologies, including HTML 4.0, the Document Object Model (DOM), Cascading Style Sheets and Extensible Markup Language (XML), and also offers a rich componentized authoring solution with Dynamic HTML behaviors. Together, these technologies speed development of powerful line-of-business applications designed to improve business efficiency."

• [March 10, 1999] "Sun Launches the NetDynamics 5 Application Server as the Linchpin for the New Portal Computing Model. New Product Line Provides Record-setting Scalability and Triples the Number of Enterprise Integration Options." - "The NetDynamics 5 product delivers record-setting scalability and performance, triple the number of enterprise integration options, and fastest time to portal -- the ability to develop and deploy applications more quickly. . . In addition, new PACs [Platform Adapter Component] support . . . Extensible Markup Language (XML).

• [March 09, 1999] "Sun Unveils XML Technology Support in the Java Platform. Leading Efforts to Define Java Standard Extension for XML Language." - "Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced its intent to create a Java platform standard extension for Extensible Markup Language (XML) through the Java Community Process. The XML standard extension will be an industry-developed application programming interface (API) that enterprises and developers can rely on for high quality XML language integration with the Java platform. Sun has outlined an initial version of the XML standard extension that provides basic functionality including the ability to read, manipulate, and generate XML technology-based data streams and formats. These core features form the building blocks for developing fully-functional XML language oriented applications. . . The XML standard extension will consist of a specification, reference implementation, and compatibility test suite. Demonstrating Sun's commitment to the consensus-based development process and industry standards, the XML standard extension will conform to the XML 1.0 specification, will leverage existing efforts around other Java technology-based APIs and will be developed using the Java Community Process. Sun designed the Java Community Process for the development and revision of Java technology-based specifications in a fast, flexible, and industry-participative manner." See further information at the Java.Sun.Com Web site and in the February 26, 1999 news entry. Also, [quoted] comments from Nancy Lee, Sun's senior product manager for XML.

• [March 09, 1999] "Netscape Announces Plans to Integrate XML Into E-Commerce Applications. Netscape CommerceXpert Applications to Support XML to Enable Collaborative Business Processes." - "Netscape Communications Corporation announced that it will integrate comprehensive support for XML across its portfolio of e-commerce applications. This process is enabling business customers to harness the benefits of XML to streamline interoperability between companies to better manage their commerce foundation in the Net Economy. The Netscape CommerceXpert solutions are expected to use XML to facilitate management of cross-company business processes between trading partners. For example, ECXpert and TradingXpert allow companies to send and receive data transmissions over the Internet, an Intranet or an Extranet in an encrypted manner. Using XML as the enabling technology, customers can integrate ECXpert's or TradingXpert's communications features with other industry defined processes to build their own e-commerce structure. Netscape CommerceXpert products that are scheduled to support XML include Netscape BuyerXpert, Netscape ECXpert, Netscape SellerXpert, and Netscape TradingXpert." See also the announcment from the Netscape Web site, and the related press release, "Planet 411 and Netscape Announce Agreement to Use Netscape Software to Build Virtual Cities E-Commerce Sites. Planet 411 to Provide Easy-to-Adopt E-Commerce Solutions Based on Netscape MerchantXpert Software for Small Businesses and Consumers."

• [March 09, 1999] "Xerox Ships DocuShare 2.0, Creates Powerful Knowledge Sharing Platform. New Release Delivers Powerful New Customization Tools, Support for Web and IT Standards."" Xerox Corporation today announced immediate availability of DocuShare 2.0, the company's flagship knowledge sharing software platform. DocuShare 2.0 includes significant new features and extensions that allow users, developers and value added resellers (VARs) to build highly-customized solutions for sharing knowledge over the Web. Central to DocuShare's enhanced power and usability is its adherence to open Web standards. DocuShare 2.0 is the first commercially available implementation of WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning), the emerging standard endorsed by Netscape, Microsoft and Oracle for managing large document repositories across the Web. Support for this and other standards such as ODMA and XML allows developers to rapidly build powerful, scalable multi-platform solutions based on DocuShare."

• [March 09, 1999] "OnDisplay Announces New XML Features That Reduces Trading Partner Integration Time By Two-Thirds. XML Features Added to CenterStage, OnDisplay's Next Generation Solution for E-Business Integration." - "OnDisplay announced the immediate availability of CenterStage 3.3 which provides next-generation XML support for rapid business-to-business application integration. Leveraging CenterStage's graphical approach to heterogeneous content integration, the enhanced XML features allow trading partners to be integrated in less than one-third the time required using first generation programming oriented business-to-business integration tools. The industry leading XML support allows companies to easily parse, query, transform and map XML bi-directionally with ERP applications, E-Commerce applications, databases and legacy systems. CenterStage extends a company's return on investment by leveraging legacy, ERP and e-business applications to link with external trading partners using a non-intrusive approach."

• [March 08, 1999] "Arbortext, Inc. Advances Power of XML with 'Free-Form XML Editing' Capability. XTech Attendees to Preview New XML innovation from Arbortext's Epic." - "Arbortext, Inc., today demonstrated a ``free-form'' eXtensible Markup Language (XML) editing capability that will be available in upcoming releases of Epic and ADEPT products. Content management systems that allow free-form editing enable an author to create and refine XML documents without a corresponding DTD, or document type definition, a type of file associated with SGML and XML documents that define how the markup tags should be interpreted by the application presenting the document. Arbortext's support for free-form editing means Epic and ADEPT users can edit well-formed XML documents as easily as they edit valid XML documents today."

• [March 08, 1999] "Lucent Technologies Joins Si2 ECIX Project. PTAB Accepts New Customer Advisory Board Proposal, Moves to XML." - "Silicon Integration Initiative Inc. (Si2), an industry organization that provides synergistic multi-company engineering services, today announced that Lucent Technologies has joined industry leaders, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, IBM, Intel, Philips Semiconductors, Motorola, and Texas Instruments on the Project Technical Advisory Board (PTAB) of the Electronic Component Information Exchange (ECIX) project. Another important decision made by the PTAB is that all ECIX specifications will become XML-compliant in 1999. The impact of the Internet on the business world has been very large, and is still growing. Many users of the Internet are preparing for adoption of the emerging eXtensible Markup Language (XML) suite of standards in the near term. The ECIX team also believes that XML will play a large role in Internet component information transfer and related applications development, and has therefore adopted XML in all ECIX specifications. This includes the Component Information Dictionary Specification (CIDS), the Timing Diagram Markup Language (TDML) Specification, as well as PCIS and the new PCIS-based specification for Quick Reference Data." See further information in "Electronic Component Information Exchange (ECIX)." [announcement from Si2]

• [March 08, 1999] "Interleaf's XML-Based E-Content Solution Selected by European Leaders Fiat Avio and Alcatel SA. Implementations Demonstrate European Commitment to XML-Based Content Management and BladeRunner." - "Fiat Avio, an Italian aerospace manufacturer, and telecommunications leader Alcatel SA, have selected Interleaf's XML-based e-content solution, BladeRunner, to solve their enterprise content management business issues. . ."

• [March 04, 1999] "XML Leader DataChannel Announces Support For Microsoft's BizTalk Vision With XML Framework." - "DataChannel, announced today that its XML Framework, comprehensive portfolio of XML software solutions and services, will support Microsoft's BizTalk to enable cross platform electronic commerce over the Internet. DataChannel's XML Framework enables the enterprise to exchange information between disparate systems while protecting their investment in existing technologies."

• [March 04, 1999] "PeopleSoft and Microsoft Team to Deliver Internet Business Solutions. PeopleSoft Business Network to Feature Enterprise Portal and Community Applications Built on Microsoft Technology." - "The two companies also today announced that Microsoft plans to provide development guidance for the PSBN initiative based on current and future versions of the Microsoft Commerce Platform. PeopleSoft plans to collaborate with Microsoft on the new Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based BizTalk framework for application integration and e-commerce."

• [March 04, 1999] "SAP and Microsoft Work Together to Establish Common Business Frameworks for Electronic-Commerce Content. Companies Will Jointly Develop New XML Specifications to Seamlessly Link Corporations Engaging in Electronic Commerce and Enable User-Centric Internet Business Scenarios." - "The collaboration will focus on developing new Extensible Markup Language (XML) specifications for the SAP Business Framework and Microsoft's BizTalk framework announced today. The BizTalk framework will provide the foundation for SAP and Microsoft to help accelerate semantic interoperability -- a common business language -- by providing schemas for catalog and business document interchange between SAP and Microsoft applications."

• [March 04, 1999] "Vitria Announces Strategic Vision for Business Process Automation And Integration. Vitria BusinessWare Enterprise Application Integration Solution Supports And Embraces Microsoft Commerce Interchange Pipeline and BizTalk." - "Vitria Technology Inc. today announced in conjunction with the Microsoft Commerce Solutions Briefing that it will integrate its complete XML-based Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) with the Microsoft' Commerce Interchange Pipeline (CIP)."

• [March 04, 1999] "Microsoft Announces BizTalk Framework for E-Commerce, Lets Software Speak the Language of Business. SAP, PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards and Other Leading Industry Vendors Endorse New Cross-Platform E-Commerce and Application Integration Initiatives" - "The BizTalk framework is based on new Extensible Markup Language (XML) schemas and industry standards that enable integration across industries and between business systems, regardless of platform, operating system or underlying technology. Microsoft also announced plans to incorporate the BizTalk schema into the Microsoft Commerce Platform, initiatives for the MSN network for Internet services, and future versions of Office, the BackOffice family and the Windows family of operating systems."

• [March 04, 1999] "Microsoft Announces E-Commerce Strategy, with New Software and Services Designed to Transform the Web into a Bustling Marketplace." - "Microsoft today announced a comprehensive e-commerce strategy to make it easier for companies and consumers to conduct business over the Internet. Microsoft's e-commerce solution includes new software and services . . . The company announced BizTalk, a new framework that makes it easier for companies to integrate software applications and exchange data with suppliers, distributors and other business partners. BizTalk is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML) schemas and industry standards. . ."

• [March 04, 1999] "Microsoft Expands Commerce Platform to Deliver Comprehensive, Integrated Software and Services. Three New Products and Services Will Enable E-Commerce for Businesses of All Sizes." - "Microsoft Corp. today announced plans to expand its popular Commerce Platform with three new software products and services -- Microsoft BizTalk Server, Microsoft Small Business Commerce Services and Microsoft Commerce Server -- to provide a comprehensive and integrated platform for businesses of all sizes. By supporting the BizTalk framework, also announced today, these products and services make it easier to effectively conduct business with partners and reach consumers over the Internet. The company also demonstrated new points of integration between its platform and MSN commerce services to enable businesses of all sizes to promote products and services easily to qualified consumers." Microsoft BizTalk Server is new technology that will make it easier for companies to take advantage of BizTalk. By supporting BizTalk and the underlying Extensible Markup Language (XML) technology, BizTalk Server will enable companies to exchange data and integrate applications over the Internet. The server extends Microsoft's Commerce Interchange Pipeline features found in Site Server Commerce Edition version 3.0 with scalable and reliable interchange and data transformation capabilities, as well as enhanced trading partner management tools."

• [March 04, 1999] "Level 8 to provide support for XML based E-Commerce Solutions. Level 8 supports Microsoft CIP and BizTalk for E-Commerce." - "Geneva E/A Integrator is a Windows NT Server-based enterprise application integration product that supports XML based messaging and workflow integration across heterogeneous platforms and applications. Geneva provides the infrastructure for integrating Windows applications with back-end systems using XML based transactional workflow and cross-platform message queuing. Geneva will be officially launched at the end of March as an EAI product that utilizes the recently announced Microsoft Application Server technologies."

• [March 04, 1999] "HomeSeekers Joins the Co-authoring Effort of the XML based RELML Specification for the Real Estate Industry." - "HomeSeekers.com joins the XML Open Standards Process by participating with OpenMLS and 4thWORLD Telecom to co-author the RELML specification. The XML based RELML (Real Estate Listing Markup Language) specification has gained momentum this week as HomeSeekers.com has joined OpenMLS.com and 4thWORLD Telecom to participate in the co-authoring process of describing real estate listings." See further at OpenMLS - Real Estate DTD Design." [local archive copy]

• [March 04, 1999] "webMethods Announces Support for Microsoft's Commerce Interchange Pipeline and BizTalk Vision. First Cross-Platform XML Support for Commerce Interchange Pipeline." - "webMethods announced support for both BizTalk, Microsoft's vision for cross-platform electronic commerce, and the next generation of the Microsoft Commerce Interchange Pipeline (CIP). BizTalk uses XML as a common language for a comprehensive set of industry and cross-industry business schemas defining common business documents such as purchase orders, invoices and shipping notices. webMethods will provide XML development tools and adapters for future CIP offerings, including cross-platform XML adapters for major enterprise applications such as SAP R/3 and real-time conversion of HTML-based Web data to XML formats." [local archive copy]

• [March 04, 1999] "POET and Ariba Form Strategic Partnership to Provide Supplier Tools For Ariba.com Network. POET's Experience in Object Technology and XML Management Allows Suppliers To Use Legacy Data for e-Commerce." - "POET Software today announced that Ariba Technologies is leveraging POET's industry-leading expertise in XML and object management to provide critical tools to suppliers participating in Ariba.com Network, a new business-to-business e-commerce service that connects buyers to suppliers worldwide. POET's technologies will allow suppliers to convert their legacy data into Commerce XML (cXML) to allow them to exchange content and transaction information with buyers through Ariba.com Network."

• [March 04, 1999] "Vitria Is First Major EAI Vendor to Deliver Native Support for XML. Emerging Data Interchange Standard Simplifies Application Integration Problem." - "Vitria Technology Inc. today announced that BusinessWare, Vitria's industry-leading software solution for Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), now provides native support for XML (eXtensible Markup Language). Architected from the ground up to provide native support for multiple message definition languages, Vitria BusinessWare now provides native support for both XML and IDL. Using BusinessWare, customers can integrate CORBA-enabled and XML-enabled applications without the need for connectors or adapters thus moving the EAI industry one step closer to 'connector-less' or 'adapter-less' application integration."

• [March 03, 1999] "webMethods Announces Support for cXML Standard for Business-to-Business E-Commerce. Leveraging Industry Standards to Ensure Open Trading Communities." - "webMethods Inc., the leading provider of XML-based business-to-business e-commerce and integration solutions, today announced that it will support Commerce XML (cXML), an open XML-based standard created to facilitate e-commerce within trading communities. webMethods is among 40 leading companies that have joined Ariba Technologies in the development of cXML, a suite of lightweight XML Document Type Definitions (DTDs) and their associated processes that define the exchange of catalog content and transaction information between buyers and suppliers.

• [March 03, 1999] "Ariba Launches Ariba.com Network: Ariba Establishes the Largest Worldwide Business-to-Business Commerce Network for Operating Resources on the Internet." - "Ariba.com Network automatically routes and translates transactions between buyers and suppliers using many major eCommerce standards, including Commerce XML (cXML), Internet Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), VAN-based EDI, Open Buying on the Internet (OBI), secure HTML, e-mail, auto-FAX, and Catalog Interchange Format (CIF). Additional support for future standards, such as that proposed by CommerceNet and RosettaNet, will be added as they emerge. This enables buyers to conduct business with suppliers independent of the type of Web infrastructure used by the supplier."

• [March 03, 1999] webMethods Partners With Ariba to Deliver Business-to-Business Solution for Network Commerce. Ariba.com Network Delivers XML-Based Service Linking Buyers and Suppliers." - "webMethods provides Ariba.com Network with XML- and HTTP- based infrastructure for flexibly and cost-effectively connecting buyers and suppliers over the Internet via the webMethods B2B product. Ariba.com Network leverages XML and the distributed architecture of the Internet to route transactions and supplier catalog content between buyers and suppliers."

• [March 02, 1999] "AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Motorola Create VXML Forum. Companies Seek Open Standard to Promote Voice Access to Web Services." - "AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Motorola announced today the formation of the Voice eXtensible Markup Language Forum (VXML Forum) to make the resources of the World Wide Web accessible by telephone. The Forum aims to drive the market for voice- and phone-enabled Internet access by promoting a standard specification for VXML, a computer language used to create Web content and services that can be accessed by phone." See also announcement from Bell Labs and "VXML Forum (Voice Extensible Markup Language Forum)."

• [March 02, 1999] "Inso Announces Version 3.1 of DynaBase, the Leading XML-based Web Content Management and Dynamic Publishing Platform for the Enterprise. Doubles Performance for Personalization and Searching, Adds Support for Multiple Content Repositories, Includes New Java API, Enhanced Java Client, and XML Authoring Templates." - "DynaBase 3.1 delivers 100% performance improvements versus version 3.0 for content personalization and searching, while also adding new usability features and Java-based management capabilities that address the most demanding requirements of large-volume corporate and commercial publishers. DynaBase 3.1 includes a new Java API (application programmers interface) that provides full content management functionality (e.g., check-in/check-out, version control, etc.) and can be used to automate much of the Web publishing process. Full content management capabilities have also been added to Web Author, DynaBase's Java-based interface, providing Macintosh, Solaris and other Java users with access to all content management functions. The new version of DynaBase also includes a unique XML template system, along with sample templates, to make it possible for designers to create dynamic HTML pages without programming."

• [March 02, 1999] "Adobe Founders Chart Direction of Web and Print Publishing. Geschke and Warnock Announce Adobe Strategies, Products and Technologies That Address the Publishing Industry's Needs for the 21st Century." -"Adobe Systems co-chairmen Charles Geschke and John Warnock outlined the company's strategy for continued leadership in providing Web and print publishing solutions. They used the forum to unveil the industry's much-anticipated state-of-the art page layout software, Adobe InDesign. Their presentation also featured a demonstration of Adobe GoLive, the company's new cross-platform professional Web design and publishing software. . . 'Industry collaboration that is based on standards will always be the key to true innovation for both print and the Web,' Geschke continued. 'That is why we are active members of the WWW consortium as co-editors of XML, XSL and CSS and the chairman of the Scalable Vector Graphics committee. I cannot overstate the importance of SVG to the future of Web production'."

• [March 02, 1999] "DataChannel Announces XML Framework, the First XML Solution for Cross-Platform Enterprise Information Portals. With General Motors as the First Enterprise Customer and Microsoft as a Strategic Technology Partner." - "DataChannel, the premier XML value added integrator for the delivery of on demand corporate data through Enterprise Information Portals (EIP), announced today XML Framework, the first XML cross-platform solution. DataChannel's XML Framework embraces and extends XML by providing a comprehensive portfolio of training, architectural design and consulting integration services, as well as developer tools, solution software and extensive maintenance and support offerings."

• [March 02, 1999] "iLumin Teams With Intel to Provide Secure Enforceable Electronic Transactions. Product Taps Into the Power of the Pentium III Processor." -"iLumin's software pioneers the powerful combination of intelligent documents based on XML, proprietary automated processing, and secure digital signatures to facilitate the execution and filing of documents of business, government, and commerce over the Internet. iLumin's products are currently in use in the Salt Lake District Attorney's Office, where attorneys are using iLumin's Electronic Filing Suite to create, sign and file documents automatically with the court, and remotely access filed documents over the Internet."

• [March 02, 1999] "National Semiconductor Launches BUY.NATIONAL.COM. Company Also Completes Industry's First Internet Content & Exchange (ICE) Transaction to Enable Efficient Catalog Sharing with Customers and Business Partners." - "Using the Internet Content & Exchange (ICE) protocol, National is the first company to syndicate its entire product catalog to business partners and customers. Based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML), ICE 1.0 is the world's first protocol to enable content syndication. The protocol has been designed to significantly reduce the cost of online business by providing the standard to build Internet value or trading networks, such as syndicated publishing networks, Web superstores and online reseller channels."

• [March 02, 1999] "Infoseek to Ship Ultraseek Server 3.0 for Linux. Infoseek's Award-Winning Enterprise Search and Index Solution to Support Growing Market Demand for the Linux OS." - "Ultraseek Server 3.0 was originally released in November, 1998, and added key enhancements in several areas, including the ability to index documents created in the Extensible Markup Language (XML), the ability to easily manage indices and URLs on mirror sites, support for date range searches, and new language support."

• [March 02, 1999] "Aeneid Demonstrates XML Usage in Commercial Publishing at Seybold Seminars. Aeneid's Chief Technology Officer and XML Expert Will Detail a Framework For Adopting XML." - "Aeneid Corporation, a leader in utilizing XML for data exchange, will present current XML implementations and the vision for XML in commercial publishing at Seybold Seminars Boston/Publishing '99.

• [March 01, 1999] "Object Design Announces General Availability of Industry's First XML Data Server. Company begins shipping eXcelon, a revolutionary data server for building eXtensible Markup Language (XML) Web applications." - "Object Design, Inc. today announced the general availability of eXcelon, the industry's first eXtensible Markup Language (XML) data server. eXcelon is a revolutionary XML data server that enables companies to build and deploy highly scalable XML-based business-to-business and business-to-consumer Web and electronic commerce applications. eXcelon is an easy-to-use, general-purpose solution that works with all data sources, application servers and client software and it fully complies with XML and all related standards as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium."

• [February 26, 1999] "DataChannel Announcement: DataChannel's New XML Framework and General Motors' Enterprise Information Portal (EIP)." - "DataChannel's New XML Framework offers a portfolio of XML solution software, training, architectural design and consulting integration services to build General Motors' Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) and deliver personalized information from disparate legacy sources. The XML Framework provides Microsoft with additional critical capabilities to offer a comprehensive cross-platform solution to address enterprise customer requirements."

• [February 24, 1999] "GCA's XTech '99 Will Be Venue for New XML-Related Product Announcements." - "After months of rhetoric and accolades on the potential of XML, several international and domestic companies plan to announce and demonstrate the first real XML-related applications at the XTech '99 Conference and XIO '99 Exposition, March 7-11, 1999 at the San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California."

• [February 24, 1999] "Sequoia Software Launches i2K: The First Portal Development Software Powered by XML. Sequoia's XML-Based Portal Product Vital To Emerging 'Information Relationships'." - "Sequoia Interchange2000, or 'i2K,' is aimed at the fast growing market for Enterprise, Vertical, and Application Portals that will play a key role in forging the information relationships at the heart of business-to-business e-commerce in the new economy. Sequoia's Portal Development Software, Interchange2000, is a web-based application framework that acquires, manages, and presents application data, content, and documents that can be tailored to any designated audience. i2K, powered by the Extensible Markup Language (XML), is uniquely flexible in its ability to aggregate selected information dynamically from applications, intranets and the web."

• [February 23, 1999] "Nokia unveils the world's first media phone for Internet access. The Nokia 7110 dual band GSM 900/1800 media phone brings Internet content and other services to every pocket." - "Nokia has today announced the world's first media phone that is based on the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) in Mobile Media Mode (WWW:MMM). The Nokia 7110 supports 34 languages and has 35 ringing tones." For more on WAP Wireless Markup Language (WML), see "WAP Wireless Markup Language Specification." [local archive copy]

• [February 23, 1999] "XML Industry Leaders Interleaf and Object Design to Cross License Technologies. Interleaf Leverages the Power of Object-Oriented Technology and XML to Revolutionize Management of e-Content." - ". . . today announced a strategic partnership that will leverage both Companies' core competencies in XML-based solutions and improve their ability to deliver solutions specifically tailored for their customers' evolving business needs. Interleaf and Object Design will cross license their technologies for use in Interleaf's BladeRunner and in Object Design's eXcelon. Interleaf's XML-based e-content solution, BladeRunner, will employ Object Design's object-oriented database, ObjectStore, and Interleaf's Styler&Composer will be integrated into Object Design's eXcelon, a highly scalable XML data server."

• [February 23, 1999] "First Third-Party Product Based On Netscape-initiated Mozilla Open Source Comes from CiTEC in Finland. DocZilla Demonstrates the Most Advanced XML Browsing Capability on the Web." -"Netscape's daring gamble on an open source strategy has borne fruit in the first announcement of a component-based product built on Mozilla from CiTEC Information Technology in Finland. CiTEC's DocZilla takes up Netscape's challenge to 'extend the reach of Mozilla technology'. CiTEC has taken advantage of Mozilla's unique approach to fostering component-based software development in creating DocZilla. The component mechanism is called XPCOM (Cross Platform COM) and has the advantage of working on all major operating systems. DocZilla displays XML and SGML directly, just like HTML, using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and can manipulate the entire document dynamically using the Document Object Model (DOM) and JavaScript." [local archive copy]

• [February 23, 1999] "Innovision Advances New XML Financial Protocols with First FIXML Application. Steps Toward Interoperability Evidenced in Securities Industry's Rewrite Of Pioneering FIX Protocol Using XML." -"Announced the availability of the Innovision FIXML PSOM, the first software application to support the securities industry's new FIXML protocol. The product makes it easy for firms to add FIXML support to existing applications and systems. FIXML is the XML-enabled version of the Financial Information eXchange (FIX) protocol. FIX is a standard for real-time electronic exchange of securities transactions that was developed in 1992 by Fidelity Investments and Soloman Brothers." [local archive copy]

• [February 23, 1999] "Adobe Unveils First Cross-Platform Version of Adobe GoLive 4.0. Cutting-Edge Visual Web Design & Publishing Tool Adds Powerful New Features: Movie Editor for QuickTime 3.0, and XML and ASP Support." - ". . . a wealth of new features that increase productivity and give Web designers the power to build and maintain sophisticated new media Web sites quickly and easily. Adobe GoLive 4.0 adds cross-platform support; redesigned Movie Editor for QuickTime 3.0; improved support for emerging Web technologies like the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP); Adobe PDF integration; new Site Management capabilities; CyberObjects enhancements and new JavaScript actions; user interface improvements; and new table-editing capabilities."

• [February 23, 1999] "GE Information Services Introduces GE InterLinx, First Java-Based Gateway Solution that Supports XML. A New Enterprise Application Integration Software Solution." - "GE Information Services introduced GE InterLinx, a multipurpose message brokering system. GE InterLinx enables businesses to centralize, expand and manage their Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) initiatives, as well as address Electronic Commerce/Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) gateway requirements. GE InterLinxs' unique XML (eXtensible Markup Language) capability identifies XML objects, parses and mailboxes, and routes them to applications that support XML." [local archive copy]

• [February 22, 1999] "STC's DataGate Plays Pivotal Role in New HL7 XML Demo at HIMSS. DataGate Serves as XML Interface Engine Between New HL7 and XML Standards." -"Software Technologies Corp.'s (STC) DataGate enterprise application integration product will play a pivotal role as the interface engine in the HL7 XML Version 3 demonstration at HIMSS. It will translate between HL7 and XML (Extensible Markup Language) and broadcast XML documents among 11 participating vendors. The HL7 XML Version 3 demonstration highlights initiatives that include the adoption of the XML standard -- an emerging standard format for transmitting structured data. Using STC's DataGate integration engine, 11 vendors can now effectively translate and broadcast XML documents and demonstrate how HL7 is used in the 'real world'."

• [February 22, 1999] "Texcel International to Participate in the First Ever XML Patient Record Demonstration. Texcel join forces with other leading technology vendors and the HL7 to show the electronic exchange of patient information." -"Texcel International [...] today announced its participation in the first ever Health Level Seven, Inc. (HL7) electronic patient record interoperability demonstration. Texcel and other leading technology vendors will demonstrate how use of the XML standard facilitates the interchange of vital patient data among various information systems. The demonstration takes place at the HIMSS '99 Conference, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, GA, February 12-25 in Booth 511."

• [February 22, 1999] "Alier Inc. Releases the Alier Network Data Model 2 (NDM 2)." -"Alier, Inc., [...] provider of high-performance solutions for Financial Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), today announced NDM 2, the next generation of the Alier Network Data Model, a platform for enterprise-wide integration of disparate financial applications. 'Our most important new offering is the XML specification for the NDM. Combined with our Java middleware tools, we are blurring the lines between traditional EAI technologies and the new technologies of E-Commerce'." [local archive copy]

• [February 22, 1999] "IDG's InfoWorld and WITI - Women in Technology International - Launch WITI FastTrack." "The premier issue of WITI FastTrack also includes an interview with Christina Jones, president, CEO and founder of pcOrder about starting her own company and staying on track toward an IPO, and the TechTrack department, which explores the significance of Extensible Markup Language (XML), a technology poised to change the way the Web works." [local archive copy]

• [February 19, 1999] "DSR releases WAP Developer Toolkit v1.0." "Dynamical Systems Research (DSR) makes available the version 1.0 release of its Developer Toolkit software for the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). Being completely written in Java, the WAP Developer Toolkit is an ideal suite for multi-platform development. The WAP Developer Toolkit includes DSR's generic WAR (Wireless Application Reader) browser that completely supports (byte-encoded) Wireless Markup Language (WML) as well as WMLScript, including all the WMLScript Standard Libraries. Also included are WML Encoder and WML Decoder for converting WML into the bytecode format." See: WAP Wireless Markup Language Specification

• [February 19, 1999] "Inso and enCommerce Announce Technology and Marketing Partnership. Integration of enCommerce's getAccess with Inso's DynaBase to Enable Rapid Deployment of Secure Enterprise Information Portals." - "The partnership with enCommerce, Inc., the leading provider of enterprise-class secure Web access management solutions, will add significant value to DynaBase, Inso's industry leading XML-based Web content management and dynamic publishing platform. Explosive growth has been slowed by the difficulty of building an e-commerce environment that can manage the complex content, metadata and transaction components required and by tying this information to the right people on both sides of a transaction. The combination of DynaBase and getAccess effectively address this bottleneck directly."

• [February 18, 1999] "Inso Corporation and Basis Technology Corporation Announce Partnership. Basis Develops Asian Language Modules for Inso's DynaText ePublishing System." - "Inso Corporation and Basis Technology Corporation today announced a technology and service partnership at Inso's International User Group Conference in New York City. Under the agreement, Basis has developed Korean and Chinese (traditional and simplified) 'pluggable' language system modules that drop into DynaText, Inso's Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based professional publishing system."

• [February 18, 1999] "Sequoia Software to Introduce World's First Portal Development Software Powered By XML. XML-Based Technology Will Allow Enterprises to Quickly, Simply, Create Web Portals for Powerful Data Delivery." - "At the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Atlanta, on Feb. 22, 1999, Sequoia Software Corp., in conjunction with Microsoft Corporation, will introduce the world's first XML-based Portal Development Software (PDS). Sequoia's new XML (Extensible Markup Language)-based Portal Development Software will give businesses and other large enterprises a single vendor and primary technology standard for all their portal development needs. Prior to launch, Sequoia has contracted over 7,500 licenses to end-users, integrators, application vendors, and vertical portal developers since the first of the year." [local archive copy]

• [February 17, 1999] "Ericsson Signs Balise Corporate License Deal." - "AIS Software today announced that Ericsson has purchased a corporate license of Balise to assist in the production of technical documentation for its telecommunications products. Balise's modern, feature-rich development environment includes a unique XML/SGML-aware interpreted scripting language that includes built-in memory management.

• [February 17, 1999] "BEA and Object Design Forge Strategic Technology and Marketing Relationship. Companies to Work Together to Integrate Leading Web Application Server With Leading ODBMS." - "BEA Systems, Inc., a leading provider of end-to-end middleware solutions for enterprise applications, and Object Design, Inc., the leading provider of object data-management solutions for C++, Java, and XML-based applications, today announced that they have entered into a strategic technical and marketing relationship. The two companies plan to work together on product integration and joint programs designed to help customers build best-of-breed enterprise Java applications by leveraging the integration of the industry's highly acclaimed BEA WebLogic Java-based Web application server with the leading object database, Object Design's ObjectStore."

• [February 17, 1999] "Reed Technology to Build Congressional Quarterly Publishing System." - "Reed Technology has embarked on a multimillion-dollar project for Congressional Quarterly, Inc. (CQ) to develop a Unified Data Repository (UDR) and content management system for publishing to its Web site, CQ.com. . . XML will be used during the conversion of data feeds into the media independent database, as well as for a dynamic product extraction module. Reed Technology's emphasis is on creating a system that makes it simple and easy for CQ's editorial staff to edit and query the relational database, edit in XML, track workflow, and create different product offerings for new market segments."

• [February 16, 1999] "The World Wide Web Consortium Publishes its XML Schema Requirements Document: XML Schema Requirements." - From the W3C XML Schema Working Group. References: NOTE-xml-schema-req-19990215, W3C Note 15-February-1999. Edited by Ashok Malhotra (IBM) and Murray Maloney (Veo Systems Inc.). The XML Schema Working Group is co-chaired by Dave Hollander (Hewlett-Packard) and C. M. Sperberg-McQueen (University of Illinois at Chicago and the W3C). The new requirements document "specifies the purpose, basic usage scenarios, design principles, and base requirements for an XML schema language."

• [February 16, 1999] "Enigma Introduces New INSIGHT Module for Adobe FrameMaker That Incorporates Adobe Acrobat 4.0. Provides a Complete Solution for Publishing Intelligent PDF and XML Web and CD Publications Automatically from FrameMaker." - "The combination of Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe Acrobat 4.0 and INSIGHT allows publishers to create fully functional electronic publications that have the reliability of the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) with the intelligence of XML/SGML. INSIGHT extracts the structured elements of FrameMaker files and uses them to create topic-specific search fields for the publication - which enables fast, focused searching of the content. In addition, INSIGHT automatically creates unified tables of contents (TOCs) and full-text search indices that span the entire document collection."

• [February 16, 1999] "CEDITI, Sequoia Software Form Strategic Marketing and Development Partnership. Belgium-Based CEDITI, 1st European Integrator To Gain Technology Edge With Sequoia's XML-Based Content Management System." - "Business enterprises who embed i2K into their products and/or enterprises, who directly take advantage of i2K, are provided such features as a distributed XML and document repository, data distribution and replication services, XML publishing, XML data entry, standardised security, and workflow with content-based routing."

• [February 11, 1999] "The World Wide Web Consortium Releases First Working Draft of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) specification. W3C Members Collaborate on Dramatic Improvement to Web Graphics." - "The purpose of this publication is to encourage public comments and contributions. SVG is written in XML, which up to now has mainly been used for text. This draft is the first step in the development of a vendor-neutral, cross-platform and ubiquitous Web-specific format for XML vector graphics."

• [February 11, 1999] "GCA's XTech '99 Presents Solutions For Data and Content Exchange on the Web." -"The five-day event includes pre-conference tutorials on XML, related standards, and technologies; three tracks including presentations on XML development issues, applications, case studies, and management paybacks; and the XIO '99 Interoperability Exposition.

• [February 11, 1999] "CAP Ventures' Gilbane Report Now Published Monthly. Focus on critical web and document computing technologies including dynamic content management and XML." - Each issue of the report includes critical analysis as well as relevant news summaries. Some of the topics that have been covered in the Gilbane Report on Open Information & Document Systems are: data and document application interoperability, document and content management, document query languages and search technology, XML and other markup languages, style sheets, formatting technologies and standards, document architectures and standards such as the W3C Document Object Model (DOM), Web authoring, object technologies and databases."

• [February 11, 1999] "CAP Ventures' Document Software Group Adopts New Name and Expands Staff. Document Software Strategies (DSS) becomes Dynamic Content Software Strategies Consulting Service." - "DSS provides market research and strategic consulting services to vendors of dynamic content management software. 'Dynamic content' management software includes Web content management and publishing tools, XML-based products and tools, document management, knowledge management, and groupware."

• [February 10, 1999] "Web3D Consortium Launches X3D Standardization Initiative for Web & Broadcast 3D Graphics. X3D Standard to Define Interoperable, Lightweight Components for 3D Web And Broadcast Applications. Combines Lightweight Runtime Delivery Engine, 3D File Format and XML Integration. Strong Industry Support for Proven Standardization Process." - "The Web3D Consortium today announced that it has initiated the process to define X3D, a next-generation componentized 3D standard that includes integration with XML. Standing for "Extensible 3D," X3D is defined as an interoperable set of lightweight, componentized 3D standards that flexibly address the needs of a wide range of markets, including Internet and broadcast applications. With strong industry support, the Web3D Consortium is driving a fast-paced process to produce a draft standard by mid-1999. X3D is building upon the success of the VRML 97 ISO standard with clearly defined backward compatibility with existing VRML content." [X3D was previously informally referred to as 'VRML NG' - Len Bullard] See also: "XML and VRML."

• [February 10, 1999] "Aeneid Announces XML Support for Inktomi Dedicated Search Clusters. Aeneid distributes data from dedicated search cluster to information publishers using standard XML vocabulary." - "Aeneid has developed an XML vocabulary and Document Type Definitions (DTDs) for exchanging information with its customers. Aeneid's use of XML and its premium business cluster at Inktomi provide a structured query framework that allows information publishers to integrate vertical and business-focused information from the Internet into their web sites." [local archive copy]

• [February 10, 1999] "SoftQuad Software Announces Powerful New Add-Ons to HoTMetaL Application Server. New Quick Apps, Quick Database Pages, Power Parts Extend Application Server Functionality With Free Drag-and-Drop Enhancements, 'Mini Applications'." - "SoftQuad Software Inc. announced new value-added tools for HoTMetaL Application Server, its low-cost solution for deploying e-commerce, customer service and personalized content applications. These tools--Quick Apps and Power Parts--are pre-built mini-applications that are ideal for end-users and developers alike, enabling them to increase the functionality of their sites with drag-and-drop ease. Quick Apps and Power Parts are available at no charge via SoftQuad Software's new value-added web site, www.hmfx.com."

• [February 09, 1999] "CAP Ventures Announces XML Early Adopter Study at Documation '99 West." - "CAP Ventures Inc. announced the industry's first market study on the early adopters of XML, or Extensible Markup Language. The study will provide vital market information to all software vendors and service providers. In addition, it will prove useful for end-user companies who are evaluating the viability of XML projects. The research will uncover user motivations for employing XML, identify the corporate applications it will be used for most frequently by early adopters, and estimate spending on XML projects through 1999. It will also gauge the industry standards and vocabularies related to XML in which users are most interested. Data for the study will be collected through 250 telephone interviews with companies that have XML-based IT projects either planned or underway."

• [February 09, 1999] "MINT Announces Broad Support for XML Format. EAI Vendor Leads Way in Adapting to the New Standard for Integration of Financial Applications." - "MINT Communication Systems Inc. announced its support for the new and highly flexible XML (Extended Markup Language) Standard. Financial institutions are adopting XML as a new standard because its flexible structure can simplify and speed the process of integrating and transmitting complex financial information between banks, securities firms, and clearing networks. The MINT/Rule Manager Module allows users to import and export XML metadata (DTD), and to integrate the data with other financial applications and Industry standards like FIX and SWIFT, avoiding the time and cost for manually re-defining and transforming message formats."

• [February 09, 1999] "DataChannel Launches 'Show Me the XML! Contest' to Reward Developers and Showcase Their Implementations of XML. Contest designed to gauge how thousands of Developers have used the XML Java Parser, beta 2 (XJ2) co-developed by DataChannel and Microsoft." - "The 'Show Me the XML contest!' is designed to let developers showcase their implementations of XML, based on the XML Java Parser, beta 2 (XJ2) co-developed by Microsoft and DataChannel. The winners will be chosen for the Most Creative XML solution, Most Useful XML solution and the "Sexiest" XSL stylesheet. Over 5,000 developers have received the XJ2 since its release in December."

• [February 09, 1999] "Impact Innovations, Sequoia Software Form Strategic Marketing Partnership. Washington D.C.-Based Integrator Gains Technology Edge With Sequoia's XML-Based Interchange98." - "IMPACT joins Sequoia's fast-growing cadre of clients and international distribution partners who use i98, an application framework for acquiring, managing, and presenting tailored, audience-specific information generated by disparate applications. Organizations that use i98 are provided such features as a distributed XML and document repository, data distribution and replication services, XML publishing, XML data entry, standardized security, and workflow with content-based routing."

• [February 09, 1999] "POET Software Receives $9.9 Million in Financing. Poised for XML Market Leadership." - "POET Software Corporation, today announced the completion of a $9.9 million financing round. POET Holdings, Inc., the parent company for the POET group, received $6 million in equity investments in exchange for `Preferred Series D' shares in December 1998 from both new and existing investors. `This capital infusion is a major step to strengthen POET's leadership in the data management market and XML-enabled content management markets,' said Dirk Bartels, POET's president and chief executive officer."

• [February 08, 1999] "Leading Automotive Information Web Sites and Suppliers to Improve Car-Selling On the Internet With Common Communications Standard. Open Standard to Enable Auto Dealers to Streamline Customer Communications And Purchasing Processes." - "The group, composed of AutoSite, Auto Trader Online, AutoVantage, Cars.com, The Cobalt Group Inc., Kelley Blue Book, MSN CarPoint, The Reynolds and Reynolds Co., and Stoneage.com, plans to work to develop a common standard based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML) for conveying consumer e-mail and purchase requests to automotive dealerships. Ultimately, consumers will receive the greatest benefit from this effort, as a result of auto dealers' ability to deliver higher-quality customer service and faster response times."

• [February 08, 1999] "Ariba Announces Support for Commerce XML (cXML) Standard For Business-to-Business E-Commerce. Leading Companies Collaborate on Lightweight Standard for Business-to-Business E-Commerce Transactions. Implementations to Begin In March 1999." - "Ariba today announced support for Commerce XML (cXML), an open Internet-based standard for e-commerce. cXML reduces on-line business trading costs by facilitating the exchange of content and transactions over the Internet. Developed in concert with more than 40 leading companies, cXML is a set of lightweight XML DTDs -- based on the World Wide Web Consortium's XML standard -- with their associated request/response processes. Ariba will begin pilot implementations using cXML over the Internet in March 1999." See also the Ariba Web site.

• [February 08, 1999] "POET to Support Commerce XML (cXML) - Joins Industry Alliance Expanding XML For e-Commerce. Dirk Bartels, POET CEO, Says Ariba is Helping Establish XML as 'The lingua franca for data messaging in the 21st century'." - "POET Software announced support for Commerce XML -- or cXML, Inc., an open-standard subset of XML for electronic commerce designed to reduce online business costs by facilitating the exchange of content and transaction information between buyers and sellers."

• [February 08, 1999] "Sterling Commerce Announces Plans to Support cXML Standard. Partnership with Ariba Strengthened; Collaboration to Broaden Data Standards For Global Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce." - "Sterling Commerce, Inc. announced, in conjunction with Ariba Technologies, its plans to support the introduction of Commerce XML (cXML). cXML is a proposed open industry standard for electronic commerce that reduces online business costs by facilitating the exchange of content and transaction information over the Internet between buyers and suppliers."

• [February 08, 1999] "Ironside Technologies Announces Support of cXML Intitiative. Open Standards Seen as Key to Building Open Business-to-Business Trading Communities." - ". . . announced that it will support Commerce XML (cXML), an open standard for e-commerce that reduces on-line business costs by providing a lightweight protocol for exchange of supplier content and transaction information via an XML-based open architecture. This announcement builds on previous news of Ironside's December 1998 membership in Ariba's Supplier Link (ASL) partner program, whereby Ariba and ASL member companies agreed to work together to define e-commerce standards. cXML is the result of that collaboration.

• [February 08, 1999] "SAQQARA Extends Commitment to Business-to-Business E-Commerce With Support For cXML Standard. Step Search Catalog Management and Publishing Software to Enable Suppliers To Exchange Product Information Automatically With Buyers." - "announced today its continuing commitment to pioneering product information exchange through its support for the emerging Commerce XML (cXML) standard. cXML is an open standard for e-commerce that reduces on-line business costs by facilitating the exchange of content and transaction information between buyers and suppliers. . . cXML provides an XML-based infrastructure that will streamline the process of digitally exchanging, updating, supplying, and controlling catalog content and transactions in a secure manner. cXML supports all supplier content management models, including buyer-managed, supplier-managed, content management services, electronic marketplaces, and web-based sourcing organizations."

• [February 08, 1999] "Extricity Software Announces Support for Commerce XML Standard for Business-to-Business E-Commerce. Extricity Joins Ariba Technologies in Open, standards-based model for e-Commerce to facilitate expansion of business-to-business trading communities." - "Extricity Software, the leader in business-to-business integration, today announced support for Commerce XML (cXML), an open standard for business-to-business e-commerce that facilitates the exchange of catalog and transaction information between buyers and suppliers. Developed by a group of over 50 leading companies including Extricity, cXML is a suite of lightweight, end-to-end protocols that allow trading partners to exchange catalog content and transaction management information securely across the Internet."

• [February 08, 1999] "Web Standards Project Calls for Clarification on Whether Patent Gives Microsoft Control Over Two Key Web Standards." - "The Web Standards Project, an international coalition of Web developers, today called on Microsoft Corp. and the World Wide Web Consortium to clarify whether a recent Microsoft patent gives the company control over two key Web standards developed by W3C."

• [February 08, 1999] "Knowledge Navigators Uses POET Software's XML- and Java-based Technology to Build Learning Engine. Knowledge Navigators Becomes Reseller of POET Object Server Suite." - "POET today announced that the POET Object Server Suite will be embedded into Knowledge Navigators' Learning Engine and used as a repository for a variety of digital learning objects. POET's database is favored over the competition because of its ability to directly store structured objects. Storing these Java objects directly in the ODMG-standard, zero-administration database eliminates the object mapping to relationally joined tables, and thereby provides developers of the Learning Engine with a simple design, more robust code, greater speed and significant savings of development time."

• [February 05, 1999] "OMG Members Unite in Support of XMI Technology. Consensus Brings Implementation a Step Closer." - "Unisys, IBM, Oracle, Platinum, Fujitsu, Softeam, and Daimler-Benz are just some of the many vendors who are collaborating on the Object Management Group's new XMI (XML Metadata Interchange) specification. Other supporters include Rational, Sprint, Sybase, Xerox, MCI Systemhouse, Boeing, Ardent, ICONIX, Integrated Systems, Verilog, NCR, and NTT. XMI is a new open industry standard that combines the benefits of the web-based XML standard for defining, validating, and sharing document formats on the web with the benefits of the object-oriented Unified Modeling Language (UML). It provides application developers with a common language for specifying, visualizing, constructing, and documenting distributed objects and business models." See also "Object Management Group (OMG) and XML Metadata Interchange Format (XMI)."

• [February 04, 1999] "Interleaf Announces New e-Content Authoring and Publishing Solution. Release of Interleaf 7 Provides Complete Web Publishing - HTML, XML, SGML and PDF - for Complex Documents." - "Interleaf announced the availability of Interleaf 7 (I7). This powerful next-generation e-Content publishing solution enables workgroups in either Microsoft Windows or UNIX environments to easily author and publish complex documents to all current Web and e-Content formats - HTML, XML, SGML or PDF - ending costly and time-consuming conversion to Web processes. I7 provides Interleaf's installed base of 2 million users worldwide with a new standard for Web publishing of complex documents by eliminating the need to tie content creation to the publishing format."

• [February 04, 1999] "Rogue Wave Software Announces Objective Toolkit for ATL." - "Objective Toolkit for ATL's extensive feature-set enables the development of a broad range of solutions. Additional features in 2.0 include XML Document Support - [ it] provides an easy-to-use interface for the creation and editing of XML documents."

• [February 04, 1999] "Hynet Ships Version 2.0 of Dynamic E-Publishing Tool." - "With Directive 2.0, users can import both Adobe FrameMaker and Microsoft Word documents into one database -- Directive's XML publishing warehouse. Users can then select specific content from within various converted source documents and create multiple, targeted publications. Hynet's strategic use of XML combined with Directive's simple point-and-click functionality enables users to easily generate multiple electronic publications from within one integrated publishing environment."

• [February 03, 1999] "StarBase Announces Agreement with Analytix to Deliver Agent-Oriented XML Products for StarTeam.com." - "StarBase Corporation announced a licensing and value added reseller agreement with Analytix Inc. to deliver advanced agent-oriented XML products that will integrate with StarBase's upcoming new product code-named StarTeam.com. The integration of the Analytix products will enable the analysis and optimization of XML-based web sites by StarTeam.com. AgentML, from Analytix Inc., is an agent-oriented XML Application Server. It combines a sophisticated XML/HTML document-handling repository with a fast agent-oriented extended dialect of compiled JavaScript."

• [February 03, 1999] "Bitstream Launches PageFlex Inc. New Subsidiary Will Focus Exclusively on the Development, Marketing, and Support of On-Demand Publishing Technology." "Bitstream Inc. announced the formation of a new, wholly owned subsidiary, PageFlex Inc., whose exclusive mission will be to develop, market, and support on-demand publishing software and related technology. On-demand publishing is the ability to dynamically generate business collateral, reports, and other kinds of documents directly from XML-formatted text and graphics data, and personalizing them on the fly for a particular customer. In particular, PageFlex Inc. will focus its sales and marketing efforts on two products: PageFlex, an XML-based publishing application that enables the fully automatic production of customized documents, and NuDoc, an XML-based composition engine, which serves as PageFlex's underlying formatting engine. The current officers and directors of Bitstream Inc. will serve as officers and directors of PageFlex Inc."

• [February 02, 1999] "Bluestone Software Contributes Freeware To XML/Java Movement. XwingML Accelerates the Learning Curve for Early Adopters of XML/Java Tools." - "Bluestone Software, Inc., the independent leader in Enterprise Interaction Management with Sapphire/Web, today spearheaded the early adoption of XML (Extensible Markup Language)/Java by debuting XwingML (pronounced zwing-M-L). XwingML is a public domain contribution from Bluestone labs that accelerates the learning curve for early adopters of XML/Java tools. Available today, XwingML is provided free-of-charge by Bluestone . . ."

• [February 02, 1999] "Arbortext, Inc. Enhances Senior Management Team With CFO, Marketing, Sales and Business Development Appointments. Arbortext Continues To Positions Itself For Success in the Enterprise Software Arena." - "Arbortext, Inc., a leading provider of XML-based enterprise software that lets companies share, manage and reuse vital information across the enterprise product information chain, announced today the appointments of four experienced members to its executive management team. The four executives will provide the talent and experience needed to drive Arbortext's powerful Epic solution (Enterprise Product Information Chain), introduced in November, 1998, as well as the company's market leading SGML and XML editor, Adept 8.0, as the most powerful, integrated solutions for managing the flow of product information across the enterprise."

• [February 02, 1999] "Sequoia Software Completes Second Phase of Equity Funding." - "Sequoia Software Corp. today announced its second successful round of venture funding. Venture funding sources included Anthem Capital, Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds and Flanders Language Valley Fund. The funds are to be used to continue the advancement of Sequoia's product development and global marketing efforts for its XML-based technologies. Businesses that use [Sequoia's] i98 are provided such features as a distributed XML and document repository, data distribution and replication services, XML publishing, XML data entry, standardized security, workflow, and content-based routing." See more on Sequoia in XML industry support.

• [February 02, 1999] "Bitstream Enters Into Multi-Million Dollar Licensing and Development Agreement with Atex Media Solutions, Inc." - "`Atex's selection of Bitstream's NuDoc technology was based on the criteria of its forward-thinking, XML-based design and Bitstream's solid development team,' said Larry Mihalchick, president and chief executive officer of Atex. Bitstream is also the developer of PageFlex, an XML-based application for the dynamic publishing of customized documents."

• [February 02, 1999] "CeBIT '99: Software AG Presents Tamino, the Information Server for Electronic Business." - "Software AG... will debut Tamino, the new Information Server for Electronic Business based on XML standards, at CeBIT '99 in Hanover, Germany from March 18-24, 1999. Tamino, previously known under the code name Odessy, is the new Information Server for Electronic Business based on the XML standard. It will be announced to the international press on March 1 and 2, and then presented for the first time to the public at CeBIT '99. Tamino is Software AG's response to the growing importance of the XML standard on the Web and for electronic business. Tamino is a native XML server, managing all of its data with an XML engine." See more in XML industry support.

• [February 02, 1999] "webMethods Moves XML-Based E-Commerce Into the Forefront at Leading Fortune 500 Companies. Inks Deals with Dun & Bradstreet, 3Com, Hewlett-Packard, Fannie Mae, Marshall Industries, Security First, Orbital, Washington Post, and CareerPath." - "webMethods, Inc. solidified its leadership position in the market for XML-based business-to-business e-commerce and integration solutions today by announcing major customer win . . . These sales are valued in the multi-million dollar range, and are indicative of the explosive interest among FORTUNE 500 companies in using webMethods and XML to solve business-to-business integration problems."

• [February 01, 1999] "The Motley Fool Selects Object Design's ObjectStore for Content-Management System. Internet's Most Popular Investment Site Will Rely on Data-Management Power of ObjectStore for Mission-Critical System." - "Object Design, Inc., the leading provider of object data-management solutions for C++, Java and XML-based applications, today announced that The Motley Fool has selected Object Design's ObjectStore object database management system to power its content-management system."

• [February 01, 1999] "XMLSolutions demonstrates XML-based financial statements. Automatically download trusted online financial statements directly into financial analysis software." - "XMLSolutions, LLC, released today a prototype demonstration that applies extensible markup language (XML) to business financial statements. The prototype demonstrates that XML-based financial statements are easy to create and exchange over the worldwide web. More importantly, the prototype demonstrates that XML-based financial statements can be automatically processed, queried and analyzed online."

• [February 01, 1999] "Arbortext, Inc. Announces $10.25 Million Financing. Leading XML Company Raises Additional Funds to Expand Sales and Marketing." - ". . . announced it has received $10.25 million in second round financing. This round of funding was led by Invesco Private Capital and included investments from Norwest Venture Partners and Access Capital. This funding will be used primarily to expand sales and marketing efforts." See also the announcement on the Arbortext Web site.

• [January 28, 1999] "Group Formed to Set Internet Data Standards for Footwear Industry." - "Daniel Green Company initiated a collaborative effort to develop new, open standards for data exchange among footwear suppliers, retailers, web sites, sourcing and distribution. These new standards are intended for use with the increasingly popular "eXtensible Mark-up Language" (XML). See Footwear Data Xchange.

• [January 27, 1999] "The OMG Initiates Votes on 5 New Technologies. XMI and Air Traffic Control Specifications Top the List of Technology Adoptions." - "The Object Management Group recently concluded its Technical Meeting week, which was sponsored by Concept Five Technologies in Washington, D.C. Almost 600 OMG members met to work on some 90 technologies in process. Over the next five weeks, authorized OMG members will vote on various technologies presented to the Platform and Domain Technical Committees. All of the technologies presented for vote are expected to pass, and will be presented to the OMG's Board of Directors at the group's March meeting for final approval. The Platform Technology Adoption votes initiated include a revision to the existing OMG specification for CORBA Security, an Interoperable Naming Service that provides a common methodology for supporting naming conventions from multiple vendors, including Internet names, and an XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) specification that enhances a standard methodology for exchanging object-oriented programming data over the Internet."

• [January 27, 1999] "Optika to Integrate UWI.com's XML InternetForms Into Web Commerce Solution. Optika eMedia Also to Incorporate PenOp & VeriSign Technologies for Secure Paperless Transactions." - "Under the agreement, the companies will integrate UWI.Com's XML InternetForms System with Optika eMedia to enable businesses to engage in electronic commerce with their supply chain over Internet, intranet and extranet sites. Because UWI.Com InternetForms are built on XML, the emerging Internet standard for data interchange, they also include additional 'metadata' (information about the form and its contents) used by Optika eMedia systems to automate form processing. For example, a company can use an InternetForm to order additional materials from a supplier simply by going to an extranet site."

• [January 26, 1999] "The World Wide Web Consortium Releases CSS1 Test Suite." - "the World Wide Web Consortium today released a test suite for its Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) language. CSS is a widely supported style sheet language that describes how Web documents (e.g., written in HTML or XML) are presented on screen, paper, in speech, etc. The CSS1 Test Suite will help implementors improve CSS1 support in their products and will enable Web page designers to verify the quality of CSS1 support in their browsers."

• [January 26, 1999] "Norwest Venture Partners Invests Additional $3.25 Million in Arbortext, Inc." - "Norwest has invested a total of more than $9 million in Arbortext, and Promod Haque, managing partner with the firm, is a member of Arbortext's board of directors. Arbortext plans to use the funding to expand sales and marketing activities. . . At the foundation of Arbortext's products is the Extensible Markup Language (XML) - an emerging standard for enabling the next generation of intelligent web applications."

• [January 25, 1999] "QAD Solution Breaks New Ground in Interoperability Between Enterprise Applications. QAD's Q/LinQ Helps Businesses Maximize Data Transfer Efficiency and Slash API Integration and Maintenance Costs." - "Available immediately, QAD's new Q/LinQ is one of the first interfaces to offer plug-n-play interoperability, support the Open Application Group Integration Specification (OAGIS), and use extensible markup language (XML) for automatic transaction processing by other applications. . . Using XML, Q/LinQ's functionality allows sales orders, inventory queries, and other important transactions within QAD Applications to be automatically processed by other programs."

• [January 21, 1999] "The World Wide Web Consortium Issues WebCGM Profile as a W3C Recommendation. Interoperability for Industrial-strength CGM Graphics." -"Leading the Web to its full potential, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) today released the WebCGM Profile as a W3C Recommendation. Developed in close collaboration between W3C and the CGM Open Consortium, the profile reflects cross-industry agreement on an interoperable way to exchange dynamic, hyperlinked Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) files over the Web. CGM is an ISO standard graphics format widely used in the aerospace, defence, automotive and medical industries, for example in interactive online technical manuals."

• [January 20, 1999] "Computer Industry Leaders Join the Wireless Application Protocol Forum. Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and Toshiba Are Among Seven New Members Adopting WAP Standard." - "New members include computer industry leaders Hewlett-Packard Company, Oracle Corporation and Toshiba Corporation, as well as telecom innovators Bussan Systems Integration Company, Tokyo Digital Phone, Glenayre Technologies Inc. and One 2 One. These companies joined the 71 other WAP Forum members at the Forum's meeting held last month in Kyoto, Japan, to specify industry-wide plans for releasing WAP-enabled services and applications during 1999. For the XML connection, see the "WAP Wireless Markup Language Specification." See also the announcement from the WAP focum Web site, .doc format.

• [January 19, 1999] "Commerce One Acquires Veo Systems, Inc. Leading Electronic Commerce Solutions Provider Acquires XML Technology Leader to Rapidly Expand Open Internet Trading Communities." - "Commerce One, Inc., the global leader in enterprise procurement solutions, today announced that it has acquired privately held Veo Systems, Inc., the leading solutions provider of Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based open commerce networks. With this acquisition, Commerce One will rapidly accelerate the pace of development of industry-leading XML-based business-to-business electronic commerce solutions to enable open Internet trading communities." See also the anouncement on the Commerce One Web site. [local archive copy]

• [January 19, 1999] "The Open Applications Group Releases XML Application. The Open Applications Group Publishes XML Document Type (DTDs) on Their Web Site." - "The Open Applications Group, Inc. (OAGI), a non-profit industry consortium comprised of many of the most prominent stakeholders in the business software component interoperability arena in the world, today announced publication of a full set of Extensible Markup Language (XML) Document Type Definition (DTD) files that define interoperability APIs for Financials, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Logistics, and Supply Chain components." See: "Open Applications Group - OAGIS."

• [January 19, 1999] "DataChannel's XML Server Technology Demonstrates Interoperability With Microsoft Office 2000 at Showcase '99. Commitment to Open Web Standards Enables New Web-Based Solutions." - "DataChannel demonstrated web integration capabilities between RIO, its advanced XML Java technology, and Microsoft Office 2000 to show how strong support for open Web standards such as XML, WebDAV and Java can be used to extend mission critical applications to the web."

• [January 19, 1999] "Differential Announces Digital Receipt Infrastructure Initiative to Take E-commerce to the Next Level. Differential Initiates Industry Discussion on Digital Receipts at RSA 99." - ". . . announced an initiative for the accelerated development of a Digital Receipt Infrastructure (DRI) for electronic commerce. Differential's DRI initiative will allow corporations to track a broad class of enterprise transactions in a non-forgeable, auditable and notarized format. By implementing a digital receipt infrastructure, corporations and consumers will have definitive proof that electronic transactions and events have occurred. DRI also provides a standardized infrastructure for remote electronic auditing and real-time transaction assurance on the Internet with comparable levels of protection found in private networks."

• [January 19, 1999] "Datum Inc Announces Support of Differential's Digital Receipt Infrastructure Initiative." - "DRI is an XML-based specification that allows corporations to track a broad class of enterprise transactions in a non-forgeable, auditable and notarizable format, which gives corporations irrefutable proof that electronic transactions and events have occurred. Datum Inc. has a long history in the timing industry with over 28 years of experience designing, manufacturing and marketing high precision time and frequency products."

• [January 18, 1999] "Adobe Brings Advances in Web Graphics Into the Mainstream." - "Adobe will show SVG [Scalable Vector Graphics] running within Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer and a 'micro-viewer' technology on a range of clients-from hand-held devices to desktop computers. SVG is a part of XML, so it also works seamlessly with JavaScript, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and DOM (Document Object Model) Web standards. This makes SVG easy to manage and control and provides developers with a fully-integrated solution for posting professional graphic content to the Web." Note: 'The W3C has chartered a Scalable Vector Graphics working group to produce a specification for an SVG format, written as a modular XML tagset and usable as an XML namespace, which can be widely implemented in browsers and authoring tools and which is suitable for widespread adoption by the content authoring community as a replacement for many current uses of raster graphics.' [W3C] [local archive copy]

• [January 18, 1999] "Inso's DynaBase Web Content Management and Publishing Platform Selected by Quantum Corporation for Enterprise-Wide Web Publishing Initiative. Inso Becomes Strategic Technology Supplier to Quantum." - "Quantum, the world's leading maker of desktop hard disk drives and DLTtape drives, is implementing DynaBase in an enterprise-wide project to migrate a variety of loosely linked Internet, intranet, and extranet Web sites around the globe into a single environment that provides customized online capabilities for stakeholders inside and outside the enterprise."

• [January 18, 1999] "The Right Information on Time Comes with Security, Storage Management, and the Most Advanced XML Java Technology in the Upgraded Release of DataChannel RIO." - "DataChannel RIO is an XML-enabled solution designed to build a dynamic two-way corporate portal with input (i.e., publishing) and output (i.e., retrieval) capabilities that make Intranets and Extranets easier to use, integrate, manage, and support. With this release, new features and functionality have been added to ensure smoother deployment in a secure environment, help better manage documents and integrate data. This newest release also represents the first implementation of the XML Java parser co-developed by Microsoft and DataChannel in a commercial product." [local archive copy]

• [January 12, 1999] "Inso Corporation Acquires AIS Software S.A. from Berger-Levrault. Complements Inso's XML Distribution Solutions." - "Inso Corporation today announced that it has acquired AIS Software S.A. (AIS Software) from Berger-Levrault S.A., a leading French publisher, for approximately $3.0 million in cash. AIS Software, based in Paris, is the developer of Balise, a premier SGML and XML transformation tool and scripting language, as well as Dual Prism, a Web-based XML and SGML publishing system. With more than eight years of experience with data conversion and distribution, and over 100 customers, AIS Software will add significant technical expertise and a strong installed base to Inso's Electronic Publishing Solutions business and Inso's Enterprise Information Platform." See also the announcement on the Inso Web site.

• [January 11, 1999] "Texcel International Announces New Release of Information Manager Web Application. Upgrade From Leading Provider of Content Management Solutions Allows Remote End Users to Collaborate Across the Document Lifecycle." - "Building on its momentum as a leading provider of XML-enabled content management solutions, Texcel International today announced the availability of the latest release of the Texcel Information Manager Web Application. This latest release of Information Manager?s Web-based client offers new capabilities, including the ability to check documents and other content in and out of a repository, and to author and update information from a remote site using the Web."

• [January 11, 1999] "JetForm Announces Major Initiative to Support Government Service With Free E-Forms for the Public and Government Agencies. Open, Secure 'FormFlow 99 Public-Use Web Forms' Leverage XML, Electronic Signatures to Create Legal, Lightweight, Portable Signed Records of Fact." - "FormFlow 99's unique implementation of XML and electronic signature support, means that public responses are authenticated, non-reputable, take very little storage, and are legally binding records of fact."

• [January 11, 1999] "NAA Task Force Unveils Classified Ad Exchange Standard." - "The Newspaper Association of America's Classified Advertising Standards Task Force has introduced a common format that allows classified ad publishers, advertisers and online enterprises to readily exchange and publish classified ads. The standard is represented electronically through a document type definition, or DTD, a virtual road map for classifieds. The DTD has a set of elements, or fields, which describe the product being soldThe DTD is built using the XML markup language, allowing it to be easily modified. It is free and available for download from NAA's Web site . . ." See also the database entry, Newspaper Association of America (NAA) - Classified Ads Format.

• [January 11, 1999] "VSI Announces VSI-Fax Gold Series 3.5 -- Introduces Faxing From Outlook. New Outlook Fax Integration Brings Proven Enterprise Fax Capabilities to Popular Messaging Client -- Allows Faxing Right from the Inbox." - "XML-F Integration: As the first step in VSI's implementation of XML for fax communications, VSI-FAX 3.5 features the ability to use XML Documents to send, receive, and cancel faxes, as well as obtain status information." See: XML-F ('XML for FAX').

• [January 05, 1999] "Blue Angel Technologies Announces New XML Tool. Automatically Generates XML from Microsoft Desktop Applications." - "Blue Angel Technologies Tuesday announced MetaDoor InterChange, an XML authoring tool that generates XML from desktop applications like Microsoft Word and Excel. Unlike most other XML authoring tools, MetaDoor InterChange separates the data entry process from the record structure. . ."

• [January 05, 1999] "Navisys Introduces Industry's First Open Platform to Facilitate Straight Through Processing." - "The platform, called NaviSys Straight Through Platform (NaviSys STP), fully integrates sales illustrations, policy administration and the Internet. NaviSys STP uses OLifE standards and XML protocols in an N-tier, client/server architecture to enable insurers to integrate traditionally disconnected insurance applications."

• [January 04, 1999] "Object Design Announces Free Beta Version of Industry's First XML Data Server. Beta Software for eXcelon XML Data Server Now Available for Download From Object Design's Web Site." - "eXcelon is a revolutionary eXtensible Markup Language (XML) data server that enables companies to build enterprise Web applications using XML. eXcelon can be used as an XML application cache for existing data sources, or as a complete data management system for new XML-based applications."

• [January 04, 1999] "Software AG: Native XML Database Server Offers Clear Performance Advantages." "Instead of artificially expanding an existing relational database kernel with a XML layer, Software AG steps up with a native XML database server approach. This technology provides clear performance advantages over other solutions. . . Software AG uses a native XML data server."

• [January 04, 1999] "XML: RightDoc Company Announces the Immediate Availability of RightDoc 1.0, an XML-based Content Management and Publishing Engine." - "RightDoc provides for the dynamic creation of XML documents in Enterprise or Web server based Visual Basic, C++, J++, Delphi, Excel, Access applications, etc., and extends the power of those applications by automatically creating visually appealing highly personalized XML-based forms, reports, billing statements, legal contracts, letters and more. . ."