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Last modified: March 30, 2001
XML Industry News: October - December 2000

XML News

This XML Industry News section consists mainly of links to company press releases announcing support for XML/XSL/XLink, October - December 2000. An effort has been made to include representative items, but the collection is not exhaustive. Other documents with reference collections:

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

Search: [Indexed Search]

  • [December 29, 2000] "eBusiness Technologies Submits Two Notes to the World Wide Web Consortium. Leading Developer of Standards-Based Content Management and Workflow Solutions Proposes XML-Based Scripting Language and Transition Network Format." - "eBusiness Technologies, a leading provider of solutions and services for e-business applications, today announced that Gavin Nicol, the Company's Chief Scientist and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Advisory Committee representative, has submitted two Notes to the W3C. The Notes are published on the W3C Web site. One Note, titled XEXPR Language Definition, would ease the requirement of using XML in conjunction with a scripting language, which often results in a scripting language being bound within the XML content. The Note defines XEXPR, a scripting language that uses XML as its primary syntax, thereby making is easily embeddable in an XML document, and allowing XML tools to manipulate the scripted content of documents. The other Note, XTND-XML Transition Network Definition, defines an XML- based format to enable the integration and interchange of different sets of states and the transitions between them. The intent of XTND is to define an XML-based interchange format for process definitions. Such definitions could facilitate e-business and eCommerce by fueling interoperability between different workflow engines used in end-to-end business processes, including such functions as editorial review (e.g., creating and reviewing content) and business process automation (e.g., order processing). "The W3C is the most open standards body and the center point for Internet-related technologies," said James Ringrose, president and CEO of eBT. "An XML-based scripting language and transition network format will enable organizations to maintain greater flexibility and control over Web content and the business processes they operate and with which they interoperate. eBT is pleased to submit these Notes to the W3C to further the discussion on these important topics... Leveraging ten years of experience in developing standards-based content management systems for the corporate marketplace, eBT's engenda is a turnkey, XML-enabled content management and workflow automation solution created to support ongoing Internet, intranet, and extranet requirements. Designed for rapid deployment and easy operation, engenda integrates with existing data communications infrastructures and e-business/eCommerce application servers. Intended for mid- to large-sized organizations, engenda is a flexible, collaborative solution for building and sustaining business-critical Web projects."

  • [December 28, 2000] "MISMO Application Workgroup Chair Presents XML Status Report. Dynatek's Todd Luhtanen provides update on XML Data Interchange Standards for mortgage industry." - "The Mortgage Bankers Association of America's Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) Mortgage Application Workgroup Chairman, Todd Luhtanen, today offered his evaluation of the organization's progress related to the establishment of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) data standards for the mortgage industry. According to Luhtanen, MISMO's first year in operation has been a successful, cooperative effort by all lenders, vendors and agency participants and he anticipates all MISMO strategic objectives to be met, if not surpassed, in the organization's second year of operation. Luhtanen, also director of technology for Dynatek, an established provider of mortgage software, was elected to serve on the Governance Committee of MISMO. The committee was formed by the MBA to establish XML data interchange standards for the mortgage industry, and held its third and final working session of 2000 during the last week of September. More than 100 industry leaders attended the five-day conference in Milwaukee, Wisc. to discuss the latest developments concerning mortgage industry standards with XML, the universal format for structured documents and data on the Web. Luhtanen's first task was determining the scope of the Mortgage Application Workgroup and then structuring the timeline for its activities. Luhtanen's chief focus is to lead MISMO's efforts in establishing a thorough data model representing the origination aspects of the mortgage lending process. This group's mission is to build on the established logical data dictionary, encompassing information from all distinctive workgroups throughout the mortgage industry. The working draft of the 'Mortgage Application Logical Data Dictionary' is slated for release by the end of 2000. The Mortgage Application workgroup is defining the primary data set to be used throughout the origination process. Until this time, standards have focused on external processes like credit, underwriting and service ordering. The workgroup will extend and combine these processes and bring them all together. The integration of these processes will result in an XML document that could begin at a consumer based Web site, move to an LOS system, be passed to a credit agency, and returned with credit data attached. From there, it could be sent to an AUS system and returned. All other services could happen in the same manner. This will allow the XML mortgage application to live longer than the transaction it was initially created for and the result of one transaction can become the input of the next transaction. Each vendor performs his portion of servicing the loan, and it is then passed on to the next vendor in the process. The responsibility is on the receiver to understand his or her own business, rather than the sender being required to understand the business of all vendors involved. This will allow greater freedom of service providers to enhance their services, resulting in faster time to market improvements and additional services, while protecting their competitive advantage. The core data concept is integral to this vision and has provided the necessary data elements for the basis of the process. The first release of the mortgage application will include credit, underwriting and additional data necessary to provide initial disclosure information for loans..." See "Mortgage Bankers Association of America MISMO Standard."

  • [December 22, 2000] "World Wide Web Consortium Issues XHTML Basic as a W3C Recommendation. XHTML Basic Provides the Key to Full Web Access to Mobile Devices." - "Continuing its mission to create one Web for all users, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) today released XHTML Basic as a W3C Recommendation. The specification reflects cross-industry agreement on a set of markup language features that allows authors to create rich Web content deliverable to a wide range of devices, including mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, and television-based Web browsers. A W3C Recommendation indicates that a specification is stable, contributes to Web interoperability, and has been reviewed by the W3C Membership, who favor its adoption by the industry. In January 2000, W3C published the XHTML 1.0 Recommendation, which combined the well-known features of HTML with the power of XML. In another W3C specification entitled 'Modularization of XHTML', W3C's HTML Working Group describes a mechanism that allows authors to mix and match content from well-defined subsets of XHTML 1.0 elements and attributes. The XHTML Basic Recommendation combines some of these XHTML modules in a manner well-suited to mobile Web applications. 'Interoperability has always been essential to the Web,' said Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. 'The simplicity of early versions of HTML made interoperability easy. While XHTML 1.0 is a powerful language, support for the full XHTML 1.0 feature set may be too much to expect browsers on cell phones and other small devices to handle. XHTML Basic offers the simplicity and wide interoperability of early versions of HTML and reflects ten years of Web experience, including advances in XML and accessibility.' XHTML Basic is designed so that it may be implemented by all user agents, including mobile devices, television-based devices, and other small Web devices. 'The minimalist nature of the XHTML Basic document type ensures that all Web clients, including mobile phones, PDAs, pagers, set-top boxes, and PCs, can support a common subset of XHTML,' said Dave Raggett, W3C Fellow and Senior Architect at Openwave Systems Inc. 'XHTML Basic provides a powerful building block for use across increasingly diverse platforms, and can be extended with various specialized markup such as for multimedia (SMIL), mathematics (MathML), vector graphics (SVG), and forms (XForms).' The XHTML Basic specification is the result of significant collaborative efforts of the W3C HTML Working Group, including participants from AOL/Netscape; CWI; Ericsson; IBM; Intel; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.; Microsoft; Mozquito Technologies; Openwave Systems Inc.; Philips Electronics; Quark Inc.; and Sun Microsystems. In addition, the Working Group integrated feedback from the W3C Mobile Access Interest Group and the WAP Forum in an effort to ensure demonstrable functionality in wireless devices. Many industry players support, or have plans to support, XHTML Basic, including the WAP Forum. Today, content developers interested in making XHTML Basic documents can create them with W3C's own browser/editor, Amaya..."

  • [December 22, 2000] "New Internet Markup Language Provides Massive Boost to Mobility." - "MobileAware, a leading provider of e-business mobility infrastructure, will unveil one of the first working examples of modularized XHTML at the WAP Forum meeting which starts today in Munich and runs until 15th December. The company has developed a unique markup language known as TML (Task Markup Language), an extension of XHTML which enables content from a single source to be structured for delivery to any Internet enabled device, fixed line or wireless. The new markup language has been designed to minimize dependence on IT resources by empowering the original content author to pre-purpose web pages for delivery to any device. A simple set of tools is added as an extension to any standard web-authoring package, replacing the need for low-level programming code and allowing non-technical authors to determine for themselves how content and applications will be displayed on a PDA, a smart phone, a laptop or any other web-connected device. Existing web authors do not need to learn any new skills to make use of TML because there is little difference between applying TML and standard HTML. As it presently stands, companies are often forced to deploy valuable IT resources to re-engineer enterprise content and applications for delivery to different devices, however this is an incredibly complex task which most companies don't have the resources to sustain in the long-term. Consequently, many corporations are resisting change because of concerns about set-up and maintenance costs and the need for in-house expertise. TML is XML compliant and offers a convenient and low-cost way for companies to mobilize their enterprise resources by enabling them to re-use existing enterprise content and applications. This removes many of the IT resource dependencies traditionally associated with the wireless Internet. For example, a person with little or no experience of Internet technology can easily mobilize a corporate Intranet by simply adding TML tags to the existing web pages, Mr. Collins concluded..." [source, cache]

  • [December 22, 2000] "Balanced Scorecard Collaborative Announces the Formation of an XML Standards Committee." - "Balanced Scorecard Collaborative Inc. today announced the formation of a Standards Committee to research and propose an Extensible Markup Language (XML) standard to facilitate the seamless integration of balanced scorecard related applications. The Balanced Scorecard XML Standard will remove many of the technology and software barriers that currently exist when transferring performance management and strategy related information between some applications and across enterprises. Participating in this Balanced Scorecard XML Standards Committee will be representatives from CorVu Corporation, Gentia Software, Hyperion Solutions Corporation, INPHASE Software Ltd., Oracle Corporation, PeopleSoft Incorporated, PROCOS Professional Controlling Systems AG, Prodacapo, QPR Software, SAP AG, and SAS Institute Incorporated. The Balanced Scorecard Collaborative will lead this initiative. Dr. David P. Norton, President of Balanced Scorecard Collaborative and co-author with Dr. Robert Kaplan of 'The Balanced Scorecard' and 'The Strategy Focused Organization' said, 'The Balanced Scorecard Collaborative ensures that the Balanced Scorecard name maintains meaning through specific processes. These are the establishment of the Balanced Scorecard Functional Standards and the accompanying process to certify software applications for conformance to these standards. Working collaboratively to establish XML standards for the Balanced Scorecard is the logical extension of this process that will help bring alignment to this rapidly growing market space and ensure lasting value for customers of vendors who follow the XML standard, once set.' Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Inc. (BSCol) is a new kind of professional services firm that facilitates the worldwide awareness, use, enhancement, and integrity of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as a value-added management process. Founded and led by the creators of the Balanced Scorecard concept, Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton, BSCol provides Strategy-Focused Organization and Balanced Scorecard excellence through consulting, conferences, training, publishing, consortia, certification, partnerships, and online services that deliver know-how to global audiences."

  • [December 12, 2000] "United Nations CEFACT and OASIS to Deliver ebXML Technical Infrastructure Ahead of Schedule. Proof-of-Concept Demo with Thirteen Vendors Proves Readiness of Electronic Business Infrastructure." - "The United Nations CEFACT and OASIS today announced that the core technical infrastructure of ebXML, the Electronic Business XML Initiative, nears completion and will be delivered in March 2001, two months ahead of schedule. The technical specifications for the transport, routing and packaging (TRP), trading partner agreements (TPA), and registry/repository (REG/REP) components of ebXML provide the required pieces to ensure interoperability based on XML standards for global business on the Internet. Enterprises are demanding a standards-based framework for global trading, and developers are demanding the availability of an open, business-quality architecture that they can begin evaluating and implementing now. Progress on the 18-month ebXML initiative has been so substantial, organizers agreed to move the delivery date forward to meet this demand. At a recent ebXML meeting in Tokyo, hundreds of organizations from Asia, Australia, Europe and North America gathered to advance the development of ebXML. As a highlight of this meeting and a ratification of this decision, sixteen companies collaborated in an interactive proof-of-concept demonstration of the ebXML technical infrastructure. 'The ebXML specifications for transport, routing and packaging, trading partner agreements and registry/repository are stable and ready for evaluation and early adoption. This is great news for Web developers who want to get a jumpstart on creating electronic commerce applications built on global standards,' said Klaus-Dieter Naujok, chair of ebXML and member of the UN/CEFACT Steering Group. 'We are very excited to report our progress is significantly ahead of schedule and that we are in a position to deliver the ebXML technical infrastructure in 90 days.' Cisco, Fujistu, IBM, Interwoven, IPNet, Netfish Technologies, NTT Communications, Savvion, Sterling Commerce, Sun Microsystems, TIE, Viquity and XMLSolutions collaborated to build an interactive implementation of ebXML interoperability. In addition, Extol, webMethods and XML Global tracked the POC event closely and indicated that they would be interested in participating in future ebXML events. The demonstration, which was presented in North America for the first time today at a media event in San Francisco, showed how businesses can use ebXML to dynamically formulate trading partnerships through a registry service and exchange electronic business transactions using a consistent XML-based messaging infrastructure. The ebXML demonstration showed dynamic business transactions using payloads from the Automotive Industry Action Group. 'These vendors, many of whom are competitors, came together to prove that one of ebXML core strength's is interoperability', said Robert S. Sutor, Ph.D. of IBM, vice chair of ebXML and member of the OASIS Board of Directors. 'Early completion of the ebXML technical infrastructure will pave the way for rapid availability of multiple commercial integrated ebXML-compliant solutions. These will reduce the costs of deployment and ensure the flexibility required for e-commerce success in the global market." See references in "Electronic Business XML Initiative (ebXML)."

  • [December 12, 2000] "Lighthammer extends XML capabilities with the release of Illuminator Version 8.5." - "Many CEOs, CTOs and CIOs recognize the link to real time systems in manufacturing represents the 'missing link' in the complete e-manufacturing strategy, says Russ Fadel, CEO of Intellution, Inc., an Exton, PA-based supplier of Plant Information Portal technology. However, while many business systems do an adequate job in providing a view of 'business' metrics, Fadel says they all lack the resolution to provide a current view of production activities and performance. As one solution, Lighthammer's Illuminator acts as a way to complement and extend investments in Enterprise Knowledge Management by expanding the 'reach' into plant/production systems. Illuminator, now in Version 8.5, connects to manufacturing automation and information systems and leverages Web technology to facilitate cost-effective, real-time access to information throughout the internal and external supply chain. Illuminator enables users to make informed operational and tactical decisions and to achieve true 'zero latency' manufacturing, a prerequisite for any manufacturing organization undertaking an e-business strategy. Visibility to operational measurements also provides the foundation for ongoing process improvement and can be an important enabler for Six Sigma and Balanced Scorecard initiatives. Version 8.5 extends Lighthammer's deployment of XML technology as an enabler for acquisition, analysis, distribution, and presentation of information from manufacturing systems. Enhanced functionality includes built-in transformation of data into any standard XML message structure such as BizTalk, RosettaNet, and others, as well as the ability to interface with peer or enterprise systems using XML as the default data format for both incoming and outgoing data. Illuminator 8.5 introduces an Intelligent Agent subsystem, which can be used to: (1) enable interapplication messaging on detection of production events or exceptions; (2) automatically calculate key performance indicator (KPI) metrics; (3) automatically transfer information between XML, database, and e-mail sources; (4) gather and convert data from external Web sources..." See also "Lighthammer Showcases Plant XML Portal Technology at ISA Expo 2000."

  • [December 12, 2000] "XML Global supports ebXML Thirteen Vendor Proof-of-Concept Demo." - "XML Global Technologies, Inc., architects and builders of XML powered e-business platforms, announced it enthusiastically supports and endorses the ebXML Proof- of-Concept demo held today in San Francisco. The POC demo, sponsored by the United Nations CEFACT and OASIS and involving thirteen vendors, proves the readiness of the ebXML technical infrastructure as the foundation for global e-business. As an active participant in the ebXML working group, XML Global Technologies, Inc. has contributed significant resources to the ebXML project. Specifically, XML Global's work in registry and repository interoperability has been integral to the recent proof of concept demos in both Tokyo and San Francisco. The San Francisco demonstration showed how businesses will use ebXML to dynamically formulate trading partnerships through a registry service and then exchange electronic business transactions using a consistent XML- based messaging infrastructure. The ebXML demonstration showed dynamic business transactions using payloads from the Automotive Industry ActionGroup. XML Global Technologies, webMethods and Extol, tracked the event and collaborated closely with the thirteen POC vendors for the interactive demo in San Francisco. XML Global, however, will be very involved at the next ebXML event and POC demo as it works closely with OASIS to co-sponsor the upcoming ebXML conference scheduled for February 12-16th 2001 in Vancouver, B.C." See the ebXML announcement.

  • [December 12, 2000] "ebXML Passes Critical Interoperability Milestone. 'Could Become First Global Trading Standard,' stated One of the Proof-of-Concept Authors, JP Morgenthal of XMLSolutions." - "At a news conference held in San Francisco today, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) demonstrated the results of a proof-of-concept for ebXML, a new, open, standards-based framework for facilitating global trade. An initiative of the United Nations body for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business Information Standards (UN/CEFACT) and OASIS, ebXML offers the only integrated electronic business infrastructure currently available. According to OASIS, the vision of ebXML is to create a single global electronic marketplace where enterprises of any size and in any geographical location can meet and conduct business with each other through the exchange of XML-based messages. ebXML's proof of concept was first demonstrated in Tokyo on November 2, 2000. XMLSolutions, a leading worldwide provider of software for conducting XML-based direct materials procurement, has participated with Cisco Systems, Sterling Commerce and Sun Microsystems to advance the development of ebXML as the four registry and repository providers in the development of ebXML. These four companies provided the specifications for the trading partner management component of ebXML by demonstrating interoperability with their existing software. XMLSolutions' Business Integration Platform supportsebXML."

  • [December 12, 2000] "Documentum Extends Leadership Role in XML-Based Enterprise Content Management, Becomes Advisor to the UDDI Project. Advisory Role Enables Documentum to Help Drive Open Standards Development for Next Generation Web Services Facilitating e-Business for Global 2000." - "Documentum, a leading provider of Internet-scale content management solutions for powering e-business applications, today announced that they have become an advisor to the Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Project, a coalition of business and technology leaders working to create a platform-independent, open framework for describing Web services, discovering e-businesses, and integrating business-to-business services using the Internet. Documentum's advisory role demonstrates the company's ongoing commitment and leadership in the development of open standards for B2B interoperability, facilitating e-business and enterprise content management for Global 2000 companies. [Said] Howard Shao, chief technology officer and co-founder at Documentum. 'Leveraging the years of experience we've gained serving the enterprise content management needs of Global 2000 companies, it is our goal to help UDDI determine and create comprehensive open standards required by the greater B2B community to enable seamless content interchange. In addition, our close ties to the UDDI project will provide users of the 4i eBusiness Platform with the ability to quickly and easily create and leverage Web services in order to expedite the swift development and implementation of the B2B applications they need.' 'Businesses of all sizes can benefit from UDDI, because the standards we are developing comprehensively address problems that restrict the growth and synergies of B2B commerce and Web services,' said Tom Glover, general program manager at UDDI. 'The UDDI standard is not industry-specific. Any industry, worldwide, offering products and services can benefit from this open initiative. We appreciate the support given to us by Documentum and welcome their extensive B2B experience'." See references in "Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)."

  • [December 11, 2000] "iPlanet Unveils Industry's First Full-Up B2B Commerce Platform. New Commerce Applications Leverage Smart Services and Internet Service Deployment Platform to Deliver Integrated E-Commerce Solutions. BP, ECsoft, Firmbuy and John Hancock Among Customers and Partners Adopting iPlanet Commerce Solutions." - "E-Commerce Solutions, a Sun-Netscape Alliance, today unveiled its next-generation commerce platform, the industry's first to include buying, selling, billing, market making and trade facilitation software solutions, designed exclusively for the Internet to deliver continuous services with massive scale. The iPlanet Commerce Platform contains all of the company's next-generation Java-based business applications, including iPlanet BuyerXpert, iPlanet BillerXpert, iPlanet TrustBase Transaction Manager, iPlanet Market Maker and iPlanet SellerXpert. Each of these applications leverages the infrastructure platform, enabling customers to offer smart services in a dynamic e-commerce environment. The iPlanet Commerce Platform delivers the next level of integration, secure identity, extensibility and customizability to accommodate the demands of commerce on a global scale... The iPlanet Commerce Platform includes the following next-generation commerce applications: (1) iPlanet BuyerXpert 4.0 is a comprehensive, automated procurement solution that streamlines internal processes and centralizes control of product and service acquisitions. Integrated with the iPlanet Application Server and rearchitected in Java, iPlanet BuyerXpert offers a new, more intuitive user interface, robust workflow, support for direct and indirect purchasing, and other enhancements. (2) iPlanet BillerXpert, B2B Edition builds on the success of the BillerXpert (B2C) and BillerXpert Consolidator products to enable a new level of bill presentment and payment that every business can use. iPlanet BillerXpert B2B, which is also integrated with the iPlanet Application Server and architected in Java, offers hierarchical billing, dispute resolution, multi currency support, full workflow management for approvals and dispute resolution, and support for discreet and cyclical billing. (3) iPlanet Trustbase Transaction Manager 2.2 enables financial institutions to provide trade facilitation services such as payments, credits and identity verification, to their corporate customers. It provides digital certificates to help manage identity risk, links identity services and back end systems, and allows organizations to interface new services to their existing business systems using XML. Trustbase Transaction Manager 2.2 also includes an implementation of the Identrus Transaction Coordinator specification... The iPlanet Commerce Platform uniquely leverages the award-winning iPlanet Internet Services Deployment Platform. Portal services allow the creation of a customized procurement portal, providing multiple simultaneous views of commerce transactions, data or information. Commerce communities can be connected through multiple communication vehicles such as e-mail, AOL Instant Messenger, Calendar, Unified Messaging and Wireless devices. All of these interactions occur in a highly integrated environment that conforms to numerous open standards, including XML, Java, J2EE, PKI, OBI, SOAP, UDDI, EBM XML, OFX/IFX, Spectrum, Identrus and others. In addition, the iPlanet Commerce Platform is the only platform on the market that has strategically integrated Internet bill presentment and payment, as well as secure identity and trust services supporting the Identrus initiative."

  • [December 08, 2000] "Perl Now Available for Visual Studio.NET. Visual Perl Beta First Modern Perl IDE." - "ActiveState, a leading provider of Internet programming software and services announces the beta release of Visual Perl, a plug-in for Microsoft's Visual Studio.NET. Visual Perl offers a full-featured integrated development environment that enables programmers to rapidly build software using the most popular open source programming language for development on the Internet. The GUI environment has all the standard features of a modern IDE such as rich syntax-aware editor, method tips, on-line help, and debugger support. Visual Perl features: (1) Syntax-based colorized editor for instant feedback as you write code; (2) Code-completion assistance such as method tips and call tips that save extra documentation trips; (3) Online documentation; (4) Ability to run programs in a debugger or shell; (5) Automatic highlights of syntax errors as they are introduced; (6) Linking of error messages in a task list to the error source. 'Visual Perl programmers will recognize the supporting environment and can concentrate on solving problems,' stated Eric Promislow, Visual Perl / Visual Python Project Lead, ActiveState. 'Professional developers will appreciate Visual Perl's depth with features like: incremental search, multi-file search, code elision, breakpoint management, and a configurable source-code control interface assist programmers in developing code quickly.' Visual Studio.NET provides enabling technologies to simplify the creation, deployment, and ongoing evolution of secure, scalable, Web applications and Web Services. These include: shared editors for use in all Visual Studio languages; Web and Windows forms; XML-based Web services; and more. ActiveState is at the forefront of open source software, providing Internet programming products and services for all popular operating systems and platforms. ActiveState's key technologies are Perl, the Internet's most popular programming language, Python, a user-friendly scripting language, and XSLT, the XML transformation language. ActiveState solutions provide enterprise-wide deployment of open source programming languages, improved programmer productivity, and seamless integration with other technologies. The Visual Python beta will be released shortly. ActivePython 2.0 includes Windows tools such as the Pythonwin IDE and the PythonCOM system, tkinter, expat for XML processing, zlib for data compression, and more. Available for Linux, Solaris and Windows."

  • [December 08, 2000] "Schemantix (formerly Praxis) to Launch Schemantix Development Platform (SxDP) at XML 2000. Innovative New-Generation Web Platform Makes Its Debut At Premier XML Conference." - "Schemantix today [2000-11-29] announced that it will be launching Schemantix Development Platform (SxDP), the world's first XML schema-driven web development platform, at XML 2000 in Washington, DC. SxDP takes advantage of the innate power of XML to provide a next-generation platform for developing and deploying powerful applications on the Web. Traditional template-based Web development languages (such as PHP, Allaire ColdFusion and Microsoft ASP) have reached their limits, and developers are actively seeking more flexible and robust solutions. Companies using existing systems are particularly frustrated by the overwhelming task of maintaining large-scale applications using hundreds or even thousands of templates. Moreover, since these systems mix application logic and presentation together in each template, it is extremely difficult to reuse business logic in new applications that do not share the same visual design. In contrast, SxDP uses XML schemas to model application data structures, and XSLT stylesheets to produce the desired application look-and-feel. In this way, modifications to the application can be made centrally by adapting the XML schemas appropriately. Pages using the schemas are updated automatically, significantly reducing the effort needed to maintain large applications. In addition, application logic is cleanly separated from appearance and can be associated with a different presentation simply by changing the stylesheet used to produce the final formatting. Preliminary versions of SxDP have already met with favorable response from industry-leading technology companies. 'Commerce One has performed a detailed technical evaluation of Schemantix Development Platform (SxDP). We are impressed by both the vision behind the platform and its excellent technical implementation.' says Mudita Jain, SxDP is being made available as Open Source software with BSD-style license similar to that used by the Apache Software Foundation, a leading Open Source group. Schemantix plans to develop commercial products on top of the platform, with the first product slated for release in Q3 2001." For schema description and references, see "XML Schemas."

  • [December 07, 2000] "SyncML Delivers Tomorrow's Technology Today. SyncML, One of the Fastest Growing Industry Initiatives, Launches SyncML Specification in Record Time, Providing Future-Proof Synchronization Technology for Today's Mobile Solutions." - "SyncML, the initiative sponsored by Ericsson, IBM, Lotus, Matsushita, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Inc., Psion and Starfish Software, has today released the SyncML 1.0 specification providing tomorrow's synchronization technology for today's mobile solutions. In less than one year, SyncML has successfully developed and published a powerful protocol for universal data synchronization of both remote and local data. In addition to the specification, SyncML initiative also released a SyncML Reference Toolkit source code, enabling companies to rapidly bring SyncML-compliant products to the market. "The SyncML initiative is proud to deliver this exciting technology to the market in record-breaking time. Full interoperability among mobile terminals and server infrastructures is a fundamental ingredient in the successful deployment of mobile Internet services. The entire industry will greatly benefit from the success of SyncML," said Ilari Nurmi, vice chairman of the SyncML initiative. SyncML-enabled products and services will offer consumers mobile freedom by synchronizing personal data and providing interoperability among all SyncML-compliant products and services. Consumers and business professionals alike will be able to synchronize their personal data, such as contacts and calendars, in mobile terminals with various applications and services including corporate personal information managers, Internet calendars, Internet address books and more. Synchronization will be possible locally and remotely through various transports, such as infrared, Bluetooth, HTTP and WAP, regardless of platform or manufacturer. This open standard will enable device manufacturers, application developers, Internet companies, and wireless operators to have SyncML-compliant products and services commercially available as early as the Q1 2001. Founded in February 2000, the SyncML initiative has recognized the growing need for a single data synchronization protocol. With the industry-wide proliferation of mobile devices and the evolution of these devices as the major means of information exchange, synchronization of data will be of integral importance. The SyncML initiative, officially supported by more than 500 device manufacturers, service providers and application developers, welcomes new supporters to join the initiative. New members have the opportunity to make contributions to the specification work and will receive advanced solution development tools provided by the SyncML initiative." See "The SyncML Initiative."

  • [December 07, 2000] "Nokia showcases the world's first SyncML implementation with the Nokia 9210 Communicator." - "SyncML, the initiative sponsored by Nokia, Ericsson, IBM, Lotus, Matsushita, Motorola, Palm, Psion and Starfish Software, has today released the SyncML 1.0 specification in London, UK. Nokia has showcased the world's first SyncML implementation with the Nokia 9210 Communicator. The demonstration also included a powerful SyncML enabled Internet calendar solution, the Nokia Mobile Calendar, which in addition to SyncML supports legacy mobile phones too. The Nokia Mobile Calendar is a product, which operators and Internet service providers can offer to their subscribers. 'Nokia is pleased to see that the SyncML initiative is proceeding well and delivering the essential technology for digital convergence devices. The entire industry will greatly benefit from the success of SyncML, and Nokia is committed to continue its strong support of the initiative. We are determined to extend our leadership in applying the SyncML technology,' says Janne Jormalainen, Vice President, Product Marketing, Nokia Mobile Phones. In less than one year, SyncML has successfully developed and published a protocol for universal data synchronization of both remote and local data. As SyncML-enabled products and services offer consumers mobile freedom and interoperability, consumers and business professionals alike will be able to synchronize their personal data, such as contacts and calendars, in mobile terminals with various applications and services including corporate personal information managers, Internet calendars, Internet address books and more. SyncML based synchronization will be possible locally and remotely through various transports, such as infrared, Bluetooth, HTTP and WAP over a mobile network." See "The SyncML Initiative."

  • [December 07, 2000] "Starfish and Motorola Showcase SyncML-Enabled TrueSync At SyncML Launch. Motorola Concept Phone And Excite Planner Wirelessly Synchronize Calendar And Address Book Data Using TrueSync Software." - "Today, at the SyncML launch event, Starfish Software, a leading provider of synchronization software and infrastructure solutions for the wireless Internet, demonstrated SyncML-enabled TrueSync technology wirelessly synchronizing address book and calendar data between a Motorola concept phone and the TrueSync-powered Excite Planner. This demonstration of seamless over-the-air (OTA) synchronization provided a preview to a series of future solutions from Starfish partners including SyncML-compliant Web-based services, mobile devices of multiple platforms and PC applications. Starfish's built-in SyncML based technology further enhances the value proposition of the TrueSync Internet Planner and synchronization services that ISP and wireless operators will be deploying using Starfish's server technology. Starfish's SyncML-enabled TrueSync solution is expected to be available to partners in early 2001. This demonstration also provided a glimpse into Motorola's plans to embed SyncML-enabled TrueSync technology into wireless phone platforms as part of a complete end-to-end solution to its wireless customers. Motorola is demonstrating this capability on a dual-band concept phone solution, which has a compelling feature set including intuitive PIM applications for managing personal information. Starfish's new SyncML-enabled TrueSync solutions will give mobile freedom to end-users by providing TrueSync multi-point synchronization for users' personal data and providing interoperability among all SyncML-compliant products and services, regardless of platform or manufacturer. Starfish recognized the growing need for a single data synchronization protocol and helped establish the SyncML initiative in February 2000. With the industry-wide proliferation of mobile devices and the evolution of these devices as the major means of information exchange, synchronization of data will continue to be of integral importance. In less than one year, the SyncML initiative has developed and successfully provided the world's first protocol for universal data synchronization of remote and local data. As additional SyncML-compliant data types emerge, TrueSync technology will provide support for these data types as well. TrueSync provides true, one click multi-point synchronization -- a fast, easy way for users to synchronize among all the supported phones, devices, PIMs and Internet address books, including Palm-OS powered devices, Pocket PC and Windows CE devices, Motorola wireless phones and paging products, supported Ericsson and Nokia wireless phones, Excite Planner, Yahoo! Calendar and Address Book, eresMas Internet based PIM, soon-to-be-released Eircell e-merge services, Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Organizer, Lotus Notes, Interact.com ACT!, Schedule+, Sidekick and TrueSync Desktop. And only TrueSync gives users the capability to easily download updates for future phones, devices and other applications, absolutely free." See "The SyncML Initiative."

  • [December 07, 2000] "fusionOne Announces Availability of SyncML Technology. fusionOne SyncML Server and fusionOne SyncML Client Now Available to Partners and OEMs." - "fusionOne, a pioneer in the development of next-generation Internet synchronization services, today announced the availability of its SyncML server and client technology. Available to partners immediately, the fusionOne SyncML server enables any SyncML device to seamlessly synchronize with all other fusionOne-enabled devices. These include PCs, mobile phones, handheld devices, Internet appliances and select web applications and portals. fusionOne has also developed a SyncML client available to OEMs and third-party developers. This highly portable agent not only enables devices to be SyncML-conformant, but also extends their reach to the entire fusionOne synchronization service. The SyncML organization develops and promotes an open industry specification for universal data synchronization across multiple networks, platforms and devices. fusionOne's industry-acclaimed Internet sync service is the first sync solution to provide seamless synchronization -- both wirelessly and otherwise -- across differing platforms, operating systems, and protocols, including SyncML. fusionOne has been working closely with many device partners and continue to work with its growing list of partners to implement the SyncML specifications following its official launch today. 'We are happy to see fusionOne bring SyncML solutions to the market in such an aggressive timeframe,' says Ilari Nurmi, vice chairman of the SyncML initiative. 'The leading synchronization vendors like fusionOne have an important role in productizing the SyncML technology and in offering user-friendly synchronization solutions to the market'... fusionOne's Internet Sync is a seamless and automatic way for users to keep their personal digital content up-to-date and "in sync" across their computing and communications devices. Leveraging its unique store-and-forward architecture and the power of the Internet, fusionOne synchronizes and distributes information easily and efficiently, without the need for any contact between devices. With fusionOne, users enter information once on any device with assurance that it will automatically be updated in all their other devices." See "The SyncML Initiative."

  • [December 07, 2000] "Semio Adds New Open Interface to Tagger's Automated Content Management Solution. Semio Tagger 4.1 Makes Sophisticated Content Categorization Capabilities Available to Any Application." - "Semio Corporation today announced a new version of its content categorization solution, Semio Tagger, offering open interfaces to categorization information. Version 4.1 makes the content categorization information generated by Semio Tagger readily accessible to other programs, for easier integration with online content solutions and business portals. Semio Tagger extracts key concepts from a wide variety of document sources to build customized content categories. These categories may be integrated in a variety of online applications, including content navigation and personalization in portals. With Semio Tagger 4.1, Semio Corporation offers a comprehensive and open interface to the results obtained through its patented categorization processes. This interface will support future partnership integration efforts through published interfaces and toolkits... 'Semio Tagger already supports XML-based output for product integration purposes,' said Paul Bradshaw, VP of Research and Development for Semio Corporation. 'We've extended the product integration capabilities by storing categorization information in an industry-standard relational database as well, so other applications can access this information easily.' Semio Tagger 4.1, Semio Taxonomy Viewer 4.1 and Semio Map Viewer 4.1 are currently available from Semio Corporation, available on Sun Solaris 2.7 and above, Windows NT and Windows 2000 platforms." See also the announcement of August 28, 2000 (which states that Semio) "has enhanced its core engine, Semio Tagger, to automatically generate XML metadata" "Semio's New XML Capabilities Automatically Create Comprehensive Indexes for A Wide Range of Business Applications Semio's XML-enabled Tagger Engine allows Portal Vendors to analyze, categorize and personalize large volumes of online content quickly and precisely."

  • [December 07, 2000] "SeeBeyond and DataChannel Deliver e*Way Intelligent Adapter for Enterprise Portal Connectivity. Packaged Portal Adapter Connects Back-Office Applications and Other Systems to EIP Framework for Fast Access to Enterprise Information and Increased Efficiencies" - "SeeBeyond, a leading global provider of eBusiness Integration (eBI) solutions, and DataChannel, Inc., a leader in Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) solutions, today announced the availability of their e*Way Intelligent Adapter for DataChannel Server (DCS). The e*Way Intelligent Adapter for DCS enables the rapid connectivity of disparate CRM, ERP and legacy back-office applications with databases, documents, spreadsheets and Web content, allowing companies to more easily access business-critical data for enterprise portal connectivity. Typically, users working with back-office application data while viewing other enterprise information cannot access both within the same portal view. The e*Way Intelligent Adapter unlocks the proprietary nature of back-end systems and integrates it with structured and unstructured information that originates from both inside the enterprise and outside the firewall. Using XML, the data then is re-purposed for use with DCS and is accessible via a user's personalized start page. The e*Way Intelligent Adapter for DCS is a pre-packaged solution further accelerating access to critical enterprise information through the DataChannel portal and reducing the need for custom in-house development. As companies transition to doing business online, it is necessary to bring business critical information from back end systems like Siebel and Peoplesoft to the Web, said Brenda Fisher, vice president of Business Development for DataChannel. By working with SeeBeyond, we'll be providing companies the connectivity to more than 60 back-end systems through DCS so they can access this critical information, make more informed decisions, and leverage their existing IT investments'."

  • [December 07, 2000] "eKXBRL 1.0 Software Facilitates Generation of XBRL Solutions for Financial Reporting." - "eKeeper.com, a leading provider of Web content management solutions to the middle market, announced today that it has released eKXBRL, a software component that significantly reduces the time it takes for a developer to generate XBRL-compatible code. XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is an Internet specification that first appeared on the financial and accounting scene in October of 1999. It uses a financial reporting specification, agreed upon by key members of the financial information supply chain, which allows an open exchange of financial reporting data across all software and technologies including the Internet. 'eKeeper.com has taken an active interest in the XBRL initiative in great part due to the sophistication of XBRL.org and the power of the XBRL specification. The specification has reached a point where third-party developers like eKeeper.com are now developing software components that will make it easier for developers to create XBRL software,' said Doug Steen, CEO for eKeeper.com and member of XBRL.org. 'In addition, the momentum generated by XBRL.org in signing up members and member countries guarantees a market for our software. Consequently, eKeeper.com is committed to devote significant resources to continued XBRL tools development.' The eKeeper XBRL component (eKXBRL) significantly reduces development time by making it easier to manipulate XBRL items and elements. Currently, a developer would need to repeatedly traverse the XBRL taxonomy and instance document by hand to answer questions like: 'Given an XBRL item, what is its label?' or 'Given a taxonomy element, what other elements roll-up into this element?' By using the eKXBRL software component, these answers are available to the XBRL programmer immediately. The end result is that XBRL has been made easier, whether you are: (1)Adding a Save As XBRL feature to your existing application; (2) Making an XBRL document compatible in multiple languages and multiple currencies; or, (3) Creating XBRL-based Web sites that offer XBRL content or use XBRL content offered by others. XBRL offers several key benefits -- technology independence, full interoperability, efficient preparation of financial statements, and reliable extraction of financial information. Information is entered only once allowing that information to be rendered in any form such as a printed financial statement, an HTML document for the company's Web site, an EDGAR filing document with the SEC, a raw XML file, or other specialized reporting formats including credit reports or loan documents." See: "Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL)."

  • [December 07, 2000] "IONA Creates Advanced Technology Group to Speed Development and Delivery of Next-Generation Internet Technologies. Enterprise Portal Leader Plans Expanded Alliances with Academic Communities and Technology Thought Leaders " - "IONA, the Enterprise Portal Company, today announced the creation of the IONA Advanced Technology Group. Lead by Sean Baker, IONA's Chief Technology Officer, the group will focus on the continued development of next-generation Internet technologies including EJB, XML, SOAP, and UDDI and the utilization of these technologies in the creation and delivery of advanced e-business platforms and enterprise portal systems. The group will be based in IONA's Dublin headquarters and is scheduled to begin work in early 2001. 'IONA has a long tradition of being at the forefront of developing technologies,' said Sean Baker, IONA's CTO. 'Our contributions to such standards as CORBA, J2EE and SOAP are well documented, as is our commitment to new protocols including XML and UDDI. We've created the Advanced Technology Group to energize the development of these and other next-generation Internet technologies, and to reinforce IONA's thought leadership and ongoing contribution to the future of Internet software.' In support of the Advanced Technology Group, IONA has also announced plans to expand and strengthen its alliances within the academic community and with industry thought leaders. Founded in 1991 as a campus company at Trinity College in Dublin, IONA is aware of the importance of continuing its connection with the academic world and its responsibility to contribute new educational and industrial opportunities to the Irish economy."

  • [December 06, 2000] "E-Learning Takes Important Step Forward. Metadata Standards Leaders IEEE LTSC LOM and DCMI Begin Designing Future Metadata Architecture for Web-based Learning, Education and Training." - "The Learning Technology Standards Committee Learning Objects Metadata (LTSC-LOM) Working Group of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) today announced their joint commitment to develop interoperable metadata for learning, education and training. The joint Memorandum of Understanding is signed by officers representing the LOM Working Group and DCMI. The document, regarding the IEEE standard P1484.12, is co-signed by representatives of concurring projects: ARIADNE (Alliance of Remote Instructional Authoring and Distribution Networks for Europe), EdNA (Education Network Australia), GEM (Gateway to Educational Materials), and the IMS Global Learning Consortium. 'No matter how many search engines or information retrieval systems we use today finding a needle in the data-haystack can be a fruitless effort. This enormous problem will not be solved overnight, but LOM and DCMI are building the path that will make information retrieval and exchange a much more rewarding process,' said Stuart Weibel, Director of DCMI. Both LOM and DCMI have been leaders in the formation of metadata specification for the Web. The overlapping constituency has led to the need for increased collaboration and a charge to build a single architecture that promotes creation, interchange and use of metadata. Both organizations seek to increase the use of metadata or 'data about data.' Collaboration will focus on learning, education and training. The principal goal underpinning the MOU is to establish a coordinated discussion between the two groups. The agreement sets out to ensure semantic elements meet the needs of the users and metadata elements can easily work with other descriptions and be refined for specific encoding standards when necessary. 'This is all about critical mass - and building momentum toward interoperable metadata,' said Prof. Erik Duval, Chair of the CEN ISSS Learning Technologies Workshop and technical editor of IEEE-LTSC-LOM. 'Having a common approach to educational metadata is crucial to further speed up adoption of metadata technologies. That in turn is the first, crucial step on the long road to open learning infrastructures'... The IEEE LTSC LOM (Learning Object Metadata) working group will specify the syntax and semantics of metadata needed to describe technology-supported learning, including computer-based training systems, interactive learning environments, intelligent computer-aided instruction systems, distance learning systems, and collaborative learning environments. The IEEE LTSC (Learning Technology Standards Committee) develops technical standards in approximately 20 areas of information technology for learning, education, and training." See "IMS Metadata Specification" and "Dublin Core."

  • [December 06, 2000] "OASIS to Define XML Standard for Secure Electronic Business. Consortium Forms XML-Based Security Services Technical Committee." - "OASIS, the interoperability consortium, today announced that it has begun development of XML standards for security information and services on the Internet. The newly formed OASIS XML-Based Security Services Technical Committee (TC) will define a common language for sharing security information about transactions and end users between companies engaged in online B2B and B2B2C commerce. "Currently, it is difficult to ensure the absolute security of Internet transactions across companies. Businesses need a universal method to assure only users with proper authorization access and execute transactions," explained Karl Best, director of technical operations at OASIS. "OASIS has taken on this development effort to produce a standard, open framework that will enable secure interoperability across company boundaries and heterogeneous platforms." Christian Byrnes, vice president of security strategy at META Group, said, 'Almost all e-commerce involves multiple business partners at some level. The lack of security standards has resulted in difficult, complex, and insecure implementations. A successful standard for integrating security across business partners will make e-commerce faster and less expensive to deploy and more secure at the same time.' The OASIS XML-Based Security Services TC initially plans to base its work on the Security Services Markup Language (S2ML), a joint development effort of Art Technology Group, Bowstreet, Commerce One, Jamcracker, Netegrity, Oracle, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sun Microsystems, VeriSign, TIBCO and webMethods..." See also (1) the TC's publicly archived mailing list, and (2) the the earlier announcement.

  • [December 06, 2000] "Documentum Introduces the First XML Enterprise Content Management Platform That Enables True Global E-Business Content Exchange and Reuse. New Release of Documentum 4i eBusiness Platform Features Complete Support of XML for Content Management and B2B Content Interchange, as Well as Full Internationalization and Software Configuration Management Support." - "Documentum, a leading provider of Internet-scale content management solutions for powering e-business applications, today announced the release of the next generation of its 4i eBusiness Platform. The release features significant enhancements, offering complete support of XML for content management and B2B interchange, as well as full internationalization and multilingual support, automated delivery of content to multiple channels, and seamless integration with industry-leading source code management systems. With the new release, Global 2000 companies can now leverage the full power of XML to support the growing demands of e-business content management. XML content management provides the basis for streamlining the content creation process by enabling content reuse and automating the generation and delivery of assembled content for multiple channels. This is achieved by adding intelligence to content earlier in the process and separating the creation and delivery processes. Content can now be re-purposed rather than re-created and intelligently transformed and customized to suit the characteristics and formats of different devices and channels (e-commerce sites, portals, PDAs, wireless devices, and online exchanges/marketsites). Full lifecycle, workflow, security, and library services enable organizations to automate their business processes, and sophisticated link management services enable the reuse of content globally. Also facilitating deployment of content on a global scale is the full internationalization of the 4i eBusiness Platform to allow the creation, management, and delivery of multilingual content. In addition, the latest platform release is integrated with industry-leading software configuration management systems, so Web site developers can seamlessly manage, and simultaneously deploy, both source code and content. These capabilities, in conjunction with initiatives to standardize upon XML exchange vocabularies, enable organizations to engage in business-to-business content interchange across information systems. Content management becomes the backbone for powering these next-generation B2B systems, enabling cross-enterprise collaboration and worldwide exchange of dynamic content."

  • [December 05, 2000] XMLFund and ActiveState Partner on XML. XSLT to Plug Into Visual Studio and Komodo." - "ActiveState, a leading provider of Internet programming software and services, and XMLFund, the first XML technology investment fund, have partnered to develop an integrated development environment (IDE) for XSLT to work with Microsoft's Visual Studio .NET and with ActiveState's Mozilla-based environment, Komodo. [Komodo is ActiveState's cross-platform, multi-language Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Komodo supports Perl, Python, and JavaScript development on Windows, Linux, and Unix.] The XSLT IDE will be cross-platform and will enable programmers to debug XSL transformations... 'XSLT is one of our core technologies. We use it to integrate enterprise data and deliver information to end-user desktops. ActiveState's background in software development environments and depth in XML knowledge should create a highly productive new tool. This can accelerate the adoption of XSLT and XML technologies in general,' said Carla Corkern, Vice President of Professional Services and Training, DataChannel. 'XSLT is a powerful tool for integrating heterogeneous XML systems and building XML-centric web applications,' said Paul Prescod, Senior Developer ActiveState. 'The two main problems that hinder XML implementation in industry are vocabulary interoperability and difficult tools. Unfortunately, writing XSLT is harder than it should be. We're addressing these issues with a development environment that will make XSLT programmers more productive and increase the pace of XML deployment on the web and in cross-business integration.' Under this agreement XMLFund is providing funding and technical expertise to ActiveState for the development of an XSLT IDE, which will be cross-platform and plug into Komodo and a Visual XSLT that will plug into Microsoft's Visual Studio.NET... ActiveState is at the forefront of open source software, providing Internet programming products and services for all popular operating systems and platforms. ActiveState's key technologies are Perl, the Internet's most popular programming language, Python, a user-friendly scripting language, and XSLT, the XML transformation language. ActiveState solutions provide enterprise-wide deployment of open source programming languages, improved programmer productivity, and seamless integration with other technologies."

  • [December 05, 2000] "Autodesk Delivers XML Tool for AutoCAD 2000i Products With New Product Extension. Latest Milestone in Strategy to Use XML to Extend Digital Designs Beyond CAD Departments." - "Autodesk Inc. today announced the new XML/Data Extension tool for its AutoCAD 2000i family of products -- the latest installment of the Autodesk Product Extension strategy introduced last April. The XML/Data Extension is part of a broader Autodesk XML initiative to create a common, open standard for delivering design data to the Web, ensuring compatibility between products in different segments of the design industry, and facilitating e-commerce around design specifications. In addition, because of the cross-platform, cross-industry acceptance of XML, the XML/Data Extension will allow developers to create tools that help designers share their design data with other mainstream business functions such as marketing, sales, operations, and customer support. The XML/Data Extension extends design intelligence to external business processes and applications. Key to this is DesignXML, a web-centric tool targeted at third-party developers. DesignXML makes it possible to fully represent both graphical and nongraphical data using an open, published XML schema. It extends the value of DWG data by allowing external applications and processes (such as word documents and sales) to seamlessly use and create design data. The XML/Data Extension also comes with a number of new tools that help AutoCAD software designers use the program more efficiently. The new tools include a Block Attribute Manager, an Enhanced Attribute Editor, Enhanced Attributed Extract feature, a Layer Translator, and a Layer Previous function. Autodesk unveiled its XML initiative last June, committing to creating a common, platform-independent, and open standard for communicating design-related information across corporate networks and over the Web. Through XML-based products and initiatives, Autodesk customers are able to deliver design data across the value chain, including contractors, partners, building owners, and separate business disciplines throughout an enterprise. Autodesk is focusing its XML efforts in four areas: adoption throughout the Autodesk product line, ensuring cross-product interoperability, incorporating relevant industry XML initiatives, and publishing XML schemas for design collaboration."

  • [December 05, 2000] "Excosoft XML Client is a 100% Web-enabled XML Editor." - "Excosoft AB, a leading provider of content management solutions, today announced the latest release Excosoft XML Client. Excosoft XML Client has improved support for Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV). Support for WebDAV, a protocol that enables writing, editing and sharing information across intranets, extranets and the Internet, means that Excosoft XML Client is a 100% Web-enabled XML editor. All Excosoft products now support WebDAV, putting Excosoft firmly in the first-wave of technology vendors shipping WebDAV-compliant products. Momentum continues to gather behind the new Web standard with Microsoft, for example, offering support for WebDAV in Office 2000, Internet Explorer, and Exchange 2000 Server. There is also a WebDAV module for Apache, the world's most common Web server... Working with the content of XML documents without first having to convert them to a proprietary binary format is called working in 'native' XML. In Excosoft XML Client XML documents are read and saved in the native XML format. No preprocessing or filtering operations are required for opening or saving documents in XML format. XML documents are structured documents, that is, the content is organized hierarchically. In Excosoft XML Client, when you open an XML document, this hierarchical structure is mapped to expandable outlines. Outlines allow you to view structure levels progressively -- you can view the top level only, all structure levels simultaneously or some levels in outline and some with open sub-levels. For valid XML documents, an editing environment should provide the user with the freedom to combine diverse sources of information. This freedom, however, has a trade-off -- the often arduous task of getting back to a consistent and valid XML document. Excosoft XML Client supports this working process through validation routines, conspicuous error markups and guided correction. The transition from a document that violates a DTD to a fully validated and complete document is straightforward and expeditious..." See "WEBDAV (Extensions for Distributed Authoring and Versioning on the World Wide Web."

  • [December 05, 2000] "TIBCO Software Launches First Infrastructure Software Product for Managing XML Assets. XML Canon/Developer Delivers First Collaborative, Internet-Enabled, XML Schema And DTD Repository." - "TIBCO Software Inc., a leading provider of real-time infrastructure software for e-business, today announced XML Canon/Developer (XCD). XCD, the first member of the XML Canon family, is a comprehensive development platform that enables the life cycle management of XML-based business rules in a Web-accessible repository. XCD allows businesses to dynamically create and adapt XML-based standards that facilitate collaboration for e-business internally and with trading partners, customers and industry groups. The XML Canon product line supports the diverse requirements and various stages of XML development organizations are implementing. First to be launched is XCD for organizations developing and deploying XML infrastructure assets (e.g,. XML schemas, DTDs, instance documents, stylesheets, or adjuncts.) Features: (1) Managing Business Rules and Taxonomies: Access and manage the inter-relationships of an organization's e-business rules or XML schemas at a granular level. (2) Web-enabled Collaboration: internal and external exchange and collaboration of e-business rules based on customizable access control. (3) Life Cycle Management: configurable staging for all XML infrastructure assets, including DTDs, XML schemas, adjuncts, instance documents or stylesheets. (4) Extensible Architecture: extend and integrate with existing applications without having to re-architect them through the processing technology of XCD. (5) Full integration: across TIBCO Extensibility product family: Turbo XML, XML Authority, XML Instance, and XML Console. XML Canon/Developer will run on Windows 2000, NT 4, SP6 with support for SQL 7.0 SP1 or Oracle 8i. Microsoft IE 5.0 or 5.5 is also required. TIBCO's Extensibility client interface Turbo XML is also required." For schema description and references, see "XML Schemas." [source]

  • [December 05, 2000] "Kinecta Announces First Free Internet Application For Business-to-Business Syndication. XML/ICE-Based Tool Automates Distribution of Business-Critical Content." - "Kinecta Corporation, the global leader in content syndication and aggregation infrastructure solutions, announced plans to deliver the industry's first free content distribution tool, Kinecta Syndicator Lite. Kinecta Syndicator Lite, based on the ICE (Information and Content Exchange) standard, offers businesses two important benefits: automation and flexibility. It enables organizations to set up open, dedicated channels for automating ongoing business-to-business content delivery instead of relying on manually intensive and error prone methods such as e-mail or FTP (file transfer protocol). It also avoids unscalable and inflexible click-back methods such as linking and framing. Kinecta Syndicator Lite also manages delivery of multiple content types, formats, content sources and delivery frequencies. Kinecta Syndicator Lite, based on the company's industry-leading Kinecta Interact syndication platform, is the industry's first free ICE-based application. Like Kinecta Interact, Syndicator Lite automates the distribution of any type of digital asset in a wide range of file formats, including XML, HTML, text, PDF, graphics, audio, video and streaming media. The new application is designed to benefit system administrators, developers, and other information professionals requiring a standards-based solution for the automated delivery of information and content to employees, partners, suppliers and customers. Kinecta Syndicator Lite allows companies to establish various syndication business processes, including the ongoing distribution of content such as financial data, manufacturing drawings, product catalogs or inventory data to partners or suppliers; the distribution of industry news to partner sites to increase site traffic and extend brand; or the automated aggregation of content from multiple partners into a single system, intranet or extranet. Users can download the Kinecta Syndicator Lite Java-based server application, and then authorize a limited number of partners to distribute content to. The scope of the application makes it an ideal solution for small syndication networks or for larger organizations wanting to start out using a proven ICE-based content delivery solution on a smaller scale. Businesses that need access to more advanced functionality and support for larger distribution networks can easily upgrade to the enterprise-class Kinecta Interact syndication platform... ICE is an XML-based communications protocol that is the industry standard for syndication. It automates the business rules needed to distribute content reliably within or between organizations. By standardizing content exchange, solutions based on ICE reduce the effort and cost of creating and operating online content distribution networks, and increase the value of business alliances." See "Information and Content Exchange (ICE) Protocol."

  • [December 05, 2000] "Open Source NewsML Toolkit for Processing NewsML Packages." - "Reuters and Wavo will announce version 0.1alpha of the NewsML Toolkit, an Open Source (LGPL) Java2-based library for processing NewsML packages. The library is available at www.xmlnews.org/NewsML/toolkit/ and at the Reuters web site. NewsML is the new XML-based packaging and metadata format for news distribution, approved this fall by the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC). The IPTC's membership includes many of the world's major news providers, such as Reuters, the Associated Press, and Agence France Presse, as well as many other companies working in the news industry. For more information see www.iptc.org. The NewsML Toolkit was written for Reuters and Wavo by David Megginson of Megginson Technologies. The library is a joint project of Reuters PLC, a leading international information services provider, and Wavo, a leading news amalgamator. The NewsML Toolkit works with the Document Object Model (DOM) interface developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)." See "NewsML and IPTC2000."

  • [December 05, 2000] "Reuters and WAVO Team Up to Launch Industry Tool for NewsML." - "Reuters, the global information, news and technology group, and leading news software developer WAVO, have joined forces to launch the NewsML Toolkit, a simple interface that facilitates the implementation of the newly ratified NewsML standard. Developed by Reuters and WAVO with the assistance of XML expert David Megginson, the NewsML Toolkit offers developers with no prior XML knowledge, a fast and simple way to analyse and filter multimedia NewsML items using regular Java. The NewsML Toolkit is being released as Open Source software under version 2.1 of the 'GNU Lesser General Public License' and can be incorporated into commercial software packages royalty free, so long as any modification or improvements are released back to the public. NewsML is the new industry standard for delivering multi-media news. Reuters conceived the idea for NewsML in 1999 and donated it to the news industry for further development. The International Press and Telecommunications Council ratified NewsML in October 2000. NewsML provides a common framework to publish news in any format. It can be used by news providers to combine their pictures, video, text, graphics and audio files into news output available on web sites, mobile phones, high end desktops, interactive television and any other device... The NewsML Toolkit can be downloaded from the Reuters website at about.reuters.com/researchandstandards/firstcontact/newsmltoolkit and at www.xmlnews.org/NewsML/toolkit/..." See "NewsML and IPTC2000."

  • [December 05, 2000] "Whitehill Technologies announces Release of Version 2.0 of Whitehill (xsl) Composer. High Profile Beta Clients Engaged in Pre-release Trial of the Software, including Novell, Sinclair Oil and Ingeniux Corporation." - "Whitehill Technologies Inc., a leading provider of Internet infrastructure software, today announced the second major release of their leading edge, standard-setting XSL software, Whitehill (xsl) Composer, including the addition of a robust XSL editor. As well, companies such as Novell, Sinclair Oil and Ingeniux Corporation have agreed to be part of the beta testing process leading up to the scheduled shipping date of January 15, 2001. Whitehill (xsl) Composer is a desk top development application that revolutionizes the ability for an organization to capitalize on XML based business communications. Using existing XML data, Whitehill (xsl) Composer automatically creates XSL/CSS (cascading style sheets), which can be used to render web versions of electronic bills, invoices, statements and reports as well as for XML/EDI data exchange using XSLT (extensible style sheet transforms). Until now, the creation of XSL to render XML electronically has been a completely manual process. Whitehill (xsl) Composer replaces the need to hand code XSL. With the addition of a robust XSL Editor, Whitehill (xsl) Composer provides the user with the ability to import and edit existing XSL, as well as providing an Absolute Positioning feature, which allows users to position and align fragments in relation to the page layout or to other fragments. This functionality significantly increases the speed at which users create the presentation of their XML data while leveraging any pre-existing investment in XSL." A related announcement ['Whitehill Announces Significant Upgrade of Whitehill (xml) Transport'], was made for the availability of Whitehill (xml) Transport. "Whitehill (xml) Transport is engineered to create pure, or well formed, XML from any data source and can be deployed rapidly without the need for complex programming our modifications to existing data systems."

  • [December 04, 2000] "BDI Systems announces the release of their new XML product, xPower Transform." - "BDI Systems Inc., an XML and database tool developer, announced the release of their new XML product, xPower Transform 1.0. The product offers a visual object mapping tool, customizable value-added transformation rules and a transformation engine to meet enterprise's needs in data transformation and interchange between XML and relational database. The Enterprise Edition offers an API class library with documentation and sample code. It can be either used as a stand-alone tool or integrated into other applications or third party tools. Together with its sister product DB/XML Vision, they offer bi-directional data transformation between XML and relational database, between XML and delimited or positional text formats, and between database and delimited or positional text formats. DB/XML Vision and xPower Transform are scalable with industrial strength, and ideal for data interchange, database integration, data conversion and B2B applications. The standard edition of both products is free of charge for non-commercial use. You can download them from the company's website. For more information about xPower Transform and DB/XML Vision, please visit http://www.bdisystems.com." Contact: Benjamin Zhang, President.

  • [December 04, 2000] "Sun Microsystems Announces Early Access Availability of Key Java Technologies for XML. Java APIs Enable Developers to Easily Leverage XML for B2B Ecommerce Applications." - "Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced the early access availability of two key Java technology application programming interfaces (APIs) for the Extensible Markup Language (XML): the Java API for XML Messaging (JAXM) and the Java API for XML Parsing (JAXP). Both APIs are downloadable free of charge through Sun's Java Developer Connection Connection at http://java.sun.com/jdc. More information on Sun's historical and present work with XML can be found at http://www.sun.com/xml. These two APIs, along with the Java API for XML Data Binding (JAXB), form the core of XML support in the Java 2 platform. JAXB, formerly called Project Adelard is nearing completion through the Java Community Process (JCP) program. These Java technologies for XML give developers a powerful, easy-to-use API tool set for developing and deploying Java technology-based applications that harness the synergies of the Java platform's portable code and XML's portable data. With the delivery of JAXM, JAXP, and the forthcoming JAXB, Sun is providing essential XML functionality to Java technology developers and continuing to deliver on its vision of simplifying development of network-centric applications based on open industry standards. All three technologies are being developed through the JCP program, the open, community-based organization that stewards the evolution of the Java platform. JAXP, JAXM and JAXB are expected to be included in the next releases of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE). (1) JAXM: Enabling B2B Messaging Through Support of the ebXML Standard. The early access implementation of JAXM, known by the code name 'The M Project,' enables the packaging, routing and transport of both XML and non-XML business messages across a number of key communications infrastructures, such as those based on HTTP, SMTP, and FTP protocols. By supporting industry standard packaging and an asynchronous messaging model, Java technology programmers will be able to easily and quickly build robust, reliable, and secure B2B Ecommerce applications with JAXM. JAXM will support a variety of XML messaging methods, such as the evolving XML messaging standard being defined in the ebXML framework. ebXML is intended to provide a global standard for simple, robust, low-cost trade facilitation and is a joint development effort between OASIS and the UN/CEFACT (United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business). (2) JAXP: Supporting Latest XML Standards JAXP enables the reading, manipulating, and generating XML documents through Java APIs by providing a standard way to seamlessly integrate any XML-compliant parser with a Java technology-based application. JAXP v 1.1 supports the latest XML standards, including: the Document Object Model (DOM) level 2, a W3C recommendation that was released last month; Simple API for XML (SAX) level 2, the industry standard for XML parsing; and XSL Transformations (XSLT), an integrated XML transformation standard defined by the W3C. (3) JAXB: Simplifying Creation of XML and Java Technology-Based Applications. JAXB, formerly Project Adelard, will enable Java technology developers to deliver and maintain high-performance XML-enabled applications with a minimum of development effort. JAXB provides two-way mapping between XML documents and Java technology-based objects along with a schema compiler tool. The compiler will automatically generate Java technology classes from XML schemas without requiring developers to write any complex parsing code. In addition, the compiler will contain automatic error and validity of checking of XML messages, helping to ensure that only valid, error-free messages are accepted and processed by a system. With JAXB, developers will be able to more easily develop and deploy Java technology-based applications that leverage XML and enterprises will also cut costs through more productive development."

  • [December 04, 2000] "Sun Microsystems Continues Strong Relationship With the Apache Software Foundation on Technology Development and Distribution. Batik Project, a New XML-based Graphical Toolkit, Is Newest Addition to Joint Technology Initiatives." - "Sun Microsystems today announced that it has been working with the Apache Software Foundation on a new technology initiative, called Batik, an open source, Java technology-based toolkit for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). Batik was released in beta form today by Apache and is the third Apache project to which Sun has donated code and technical resources. Other projects include Jakarta, a collection of initiatives around JavaServer Pages technology (JSP) and Java Servlets technologies, and Xerces 2, a best-of-breed XML Parser. The Apache Software Foundations XML-Batik Project received contributions from a number of industry leaders including CSIRO, Eastman Kodak Company, ILOG, and Sun Microsystems. As with all Apache projects, the project exists through volunteer contributions to ensure each project continues to exist beyond the participation of individual volunteers, to enable contributions of intellectual property and funds on a sound basis, and to provide a vehicle for limiting legal exposure while participating in open-source software projects. These projects with Apache are testament to Suns commitment to deliver the best tools and technologies to developers who are building next generation, network-centric applications. Through partnerships, such as with the expert developers of Apache, and the open, inclusive Java Community Process (JCP) 2.0 program, Sun continues to listen closely to developers requests and quickly deliver on their requirements. Apache is also deeply involved in the JCP 2.0, having served on the interim Executive Committee (EC) and being voted onto the EC again last month in the JCP 2.0 elections... SVGs cross-platform, vendor neutral format for graphics, based on XML and developed through the W3C, is perfectly suited for the Internet and likely to become a solution for delivering graphics over the Web. The Batik project provides a toolkit, comprised of several modules, that enables Java technology developers to build Web-based applications that can handle SVG content. Sun has been instrumental in jumpstarting the Batik project at Apache, is contributing development resources, and has donated code, such as the SVGGraphics2D generator software, which allows Java technology-based applications to export graphics to the SVG format, as well as image encoders, and components such as gradient paints and filter effects. Other modules for Batik include: an SVG viewer that can be easily integrated into any Java technology-based application to display SVG images; an implementation of the Document Object Model (DOM) in SVG; and SVG transcoders, which allow SVG images to be converted to other formats, such as JPEG or PNG. The Batik toolkit itself is written completely in Java technology code, which means developers can rely upon the Java platforms promise of 'Write Once, Run Anywhere' when using Batik. For more information about the Batik project or to download the toolkit please see http://xml.apache.org/batik." See: "W3C Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)."

  • [December 04, 2000] "New ILOG JViews One Of First Products To Support SVG, Emerging XML Graphics Standard. JViews Developers Playing Role in Creation of New Open-Source Batik 1.0 Toolkit." - "ILOG today rolled out the new ILOG JViews Component Suite 3.5, supporting Scaleable Vector Graphics (SVG) and various Java thin clients. In addition to their work on this new release, ILOG JViews developers are playing a key role in the creation of today's beta release of Batik 1.0 by the Apache Software Foundation's XML Project. Batik is the first open-source SVG toolkit based on the Java platform and was developed with contributions from ILOG, Sun Microsystems, Eastman Kodak Company and CSIRO Australia. SVG is the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C's) new graphics language based on eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and is expected to become the standard for web-based graphics. One of the reasons ILOG contributed its well-known expertise in 2D graphics to the development of Batik is because standardizing SVG will give programmers - and ultimately, end users - a vehicle for taking the visual web experience to a new level. Applications built with the Batik toolkit can leverage SVG via higher-quality graphics and interoperability than what has been available. Meanwhile, those applications with the greatest need for high-end graphics can utilize ILOG JViews for seamless integration of intuitive, interactive components such as Gantt charts, workflow modelers and maps. Never before have so many options been available for advanced web graphics. SVG support within the ILOG JViews Component Suite 3.5 combined with the new thin client support enriches the deployment options for ILOG's developer customers. Using the embeddable ILOG 2D libraries, developers can quickly create rich user interfaces deployed on fat clients as well as a range of thin clients. These include DHTML pages - the most common vehicle for displaying graphics in a browser - and SVG files on up to the most graphics-intensive Java applets. Client hardware can include PCs, workstations, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other devices..." See: "W3C Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)."

  • [December 04, 2000] "EDGAR Online Creates Repository for Financial Statements Tagged in XBRL. XBRL Expert Joins Company." - "EDGAROnline, Inc. announced today at the XBRL committee meeting in Washington, D.C. that it is establishing the first public repository for company financial statments in XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) format. The Company also announced it has hired Liv A. Watson as Director to establish and manage its XBRL repository. XBRL, the newly developed business-specific XML financial reporting system developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) and other major financial services, technology, and public accounting organizations, is expected to become the standard way in which U.S. public companies will prepare, report and disseminate their financial information. The EDGAR Online XBRL Repository will provide a single source for analysts, investors, credit and lending institutions, news organizations and accountants to find any company financials prepared and published in this format. The majority of U.S. companies are expected to release their financial statements in XBRL format in the near future. In other news, EDGAR Online Inc. announced that it has hired Liv A. Watson as Director. Ms. Watson will develop short and long-term strategies for implementing XBRL capabilities and functionality into the EDGAR Online Web site and financial information delivery value chain. Through the XBRL Steering Committee Ms Watson has aided in the establishment of the universal 'business reporting language' that will facilitate the worldwide dissemination, analysis and interchange of business reporting. She presently serves as XBRL Education and Communication Committee Co-Chair and has spent fifteen years in film and television production, multimedia training, and information technology consulting in the public and private sector. Among other national and regional projects, she recently led a government project that will automate and streamline records systems for counties across the nation. Ms. Watson is a specialist in information systems project strategies, as well as management and information technology consulting for medium to large organizations. Prior to joining EDGAR Online, Inc., Ms. Watson served as the Managing Partner of Gaither Technologies LLC. The incorporation of XBRL will allow EDGAR Online, Inc., to provide superior services to companies, analysts, investors and other audiences allowing for more informed financial and management decisions. 'However, XBRL does not change existing accounting standards. Rather, XBRL provides an efficient and reliable means for business reporting information exchange and gives the professional and individual user fast and easy access to this SEC information.' said Mike Willis, XBRL Chairman from PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP." See: "Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL)."

  • [December 04, 2000] "FRx Software Supports XBRL Initiative. Denver Firm Among First to Support Internet-based Financial Disclosure Initiative." - "FRx Software Corporation, a Denver-based company specializing in the development of advanced financial reporting and business analytic application software, announced its endorsement and support of the XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) for Financial Statements specification released by the XBRL Consortium. FRx Software is a long-time supporter of the XBRL initiative and was one of the first companies to join the XBRL Consortium. With the release of the first XBRL taxonomy in July 2000, companies across all industries are now able to incorporate XBRL into their business reporting and analysis processes and start reaping its primary benefits. More than 80 percent of major U.S. public companies provide some sort of financial disclosure on the Internet. As a result, investors need accurate and reliable financial information that can be delivered promptly over the Internet to help them make informed financial decisions. XBRL for Financial Reporting meets these needs and leverages the efficiencies of the Internet as today's primary source of business information. In recent remarks made to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Arthur Levitt, chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), acknowledged XBRL and recommended its further development to turn financial statements into meaningful information for investors using this new revolutionary technology. 'The XBRL specification is critical to the financial reporting success of companies across all industries because it empowers people to employ the Internet as a highly efficient channel by which to communicate business information,' said Chris Scherpenseel, President of FRx Software. 'In addition, XBRL is highly conducive to FRx Financial Reporting Version 6.0, which offers Web-based financial reporting as part of its host of product features and benefits.' FRx Financial Reporting Version 6.0 offers XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) as the primary report output when generating FRx financial reports. Leveraging this XML support, FRx plans to release an upgrade to its Version 6.0 product line in early 2001, and will provide an add-on XBRL module so that users can easily begin to take advantage of the benefits of XBRL. With more than 80,000 customers and 320,000 + users worldwide, introducing XBRL support into FRx's product suite will help facilitate rapid global adoption of XBRL. Denver-based FRx Software Corporation produces advanced financial reporting and analysis software that interfaces with more than 50 best-of-breed financial accounting systems and is used at approximately 80,000 sites worldwide. FRx applications, distributed exclusively through 30+ strategic partnerships, enable finance and accounting professionals to streamline processes with ease and generate the financial knowledge necessary to gain a competitive advantage." See: "Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL)."

  • [December 04, 2000] "Leading Security Vendors, Service Providers, and Enterprises Cooperate on Standard for Secure Web Transactions. AuthXML Working Group Unveils List of 45 Charter Members. Prepares Specification for Submission to Standards Body." - "The AuthXML Working Group today announced that 45 organizations representing the vendor, service provider, and enterprise communities have joined the open and vendor neutral initiative to help create a standard way to secure Internet-based electronic transactions. The Working Group is finalizing preparations on the AuthXML specification for submission to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and OASIS. Charter members include Access360, Arcot Systems, Argus Systems Group, Authentify, Authentor, BioNetrix, Bowstreet, Brown University, Calendra, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, CertCo, Check Point Software Technologies, Citrix, Datek Online, Deloitte & Touche LLP, eBenX, Employease, Entact Information Security, Entrust Technologies, Epicentric, Equifax, Internet 2 Project, Keyware Technologies, Mackenzie Financial, McKesson, Novell, Oblix, Outlook Technologies, PricewaterhouseCoopers, ProofSpace, Royal Bank of Scotland, SAIC, Sandhill Systems, Secretariat du Conseil du Tresor, Securant Technologies, Secure Computing, Silverstream, SiteLite, SVi Retail, Thomson Financial, Transport Logistic Centre, University of Western Ontario, Urmet, Valicert, and Wave Systems Corp. The ability of the Internet to support secure electronic transactions that span multiple Web sites and organizations is limited by the fact that each organization has deployed its own separate security systems for performing user authentication and authorization. In order for the Internet to enable seamless yet secure transactions between trading partners, affiliated organizations, and between businesses and consumers, a standard method is required for presenting and maintaining security details as a user or session traverses linked Web sites that are based on disparate technologies, applications and platforms. AuthXML is a vendor-neutral specification that enables the integration of proprietary Web security, network security, B2B infrastructures and applications with individual Internet-based user sessions and transactions. The specification derives its name from the fact that it uses XML and links the two primary components of Web transaction security: Authentication and Authorization. AuthXML is designed to enable the seamless flow of Web-based transactions between trading partner sites that may be using different security systems, and within a given site that may be deploying multiple applications that require integrated security. The goal of the AuthXML Working Group is to achieve a universally accepted standard that enables authentication and authorization functions to be performed across and interoperate with multi-vendor Web security systems, packaged and custom Web applications, and network level security systems - using XML technology." See: "AuthXML Standard for Web Security."

  • [December 01, 2000] "Inera Introduces eXtyles. Inera Incorporated introduces eXtyles, the premier suite of editorial and XML tools for Microsoft Word." - "Inera Incorporated, a leading developer of XML solutions, announces the introduction of eXtyles, the premier integrated suite of editorial and XML tools for Microsoft Word. 'With the advent of rapid electronic publishing, structured information has become more important to organizations than ever before. Most document authors and editors, however, prefer to use Microsoft Word rather than a structured XML editor to create and edit information,' said Irina Golfman, President of Inera. 'eXtyles enables organizations to continue use of Word and meet the demand to deliver XML.' eXtyles automates editorial and XML production processes. It simplifies the time-consuming, error-prone and frustrating task to clean up, style, edit and tag content. eXtyles streamlines molding Word content into a corporate editorial and visual style, and exporting Word documents to XML or other metadata formats. It uses Intelligent Pattern Recognition (IPR) to automatically identify and markup XML elements and automates tedious manual content editing. Developed with direct input from long-time publishers of SGML and XML documents, eXtyles has been specifically designed for the workflow requirements of editorial and production organizations faced with the mandate to produce XML from Microsoft Word under deadline pressure... eXtyles is currently installed at three sites. These sites have achieved significant productivity improvements and cost savings as well as enhanced content quality. Version 1.0 of eXtyles will be available in the 4th Quarter of 2000. eXtyles is compatible with Word 97 and Word 2000, and it runs on Windows 95, 98, NT and 2000."

  • [November 30, 2000] "VeriSign, Microsoft and webMethods Announce Breakthrough XML-based Specification to Enable Interoperable Digital Signatures and Encryption for B2B and B2C Transactions. New Open Specification to Accelerate Deployment of Secure E-Commerce Applications." - "VeriSign Inc., Microsoft Corp. and webMethods Inc. today introduced a breakthrough XML-based framework -- the XML key management specification (XKMS) -- to enable a broad range of software developers to seamlessly integrate digital signatures and data encryption into e-commerce applications. To accelerate the development of applications incorporating these advanced technologies, the XKMS specification -- jointly designed and prototyped by VeriSign, Microsoft and webMethods with industry support from other technology leaders -- was made publicly available today and will be submitted to the appropriate Web standards bodies for consideration as an open Internet standard. In addition, XKMS will be built into the Microsoft.NET architecture to ensure broad and rapid adoption of this framework in both B2B and B2C environments. The new XKMS specification revolutionizes the development of trusted B2B and B2C applications by introducing an open framework that enables virtually any developer to easily access applications from any public key infrastructure products and services. With the XKMS specification, developers are able to integrate advanced technologies such as digital signature handling and encryption into their web-based applications. The XKMS specification promotes the interoperability of advanced technologies because it is based on XML, a rapidly growing standard for application development. Currently, developers choosing to enable applications to handle digital keys for authentication and digital signatures are often required to purchase and integrate specialized toolkits from a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) software vendor which only interoperate with that vendor's PKI offerings. Functions such as digital certificate processing, revocation status checking, and certification path location and validation are all built into the application via the toolkit. With the new XKMS specification, those functions are no longer built into the application but instead reside in servers that can be accessed via easily programmed XML transactions. The XKMS architecture, along with the recently drafted XML digital signature standards and the emerging XML encryption standard, provides a complete framework for ensuring broad interoperability across applications developed by enterprises, B2B exchanges and other Internet communities of interest. XKMS is also compatible with the emerging standards for Web Services Description Language (WSDL) and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)..." See: "XML Key Management Specification (XKMS)." Announcement also from webMethods.

  • [November 30, 2000] "VeriSign Introduces New Suite of XML Specifications for Seamless Links to Web Identity, Online Authentication, Authorization and Payment Services. Enterprise Developers, B2B Exchanges and Independent Software Vendors to Benefit from Open, Interoperable Internet Trust Infrastructure." - "VeriSign, Inc., a leading provider of Internet trust services, today announced a range of XML-based specifications and services designed to enable enterprise developers, B2B exchanges, independent software vendors (ISVs) and service providers to link their applications seamlessly to Web identity, online authentication, authorization, digital signature, encryption and payment services. These specifications are being introduced in conjunction with today's public release of the XML Key Management Specification (XKMS) by VeriSign, Microsoft and webMethods. The new XML specifications are designed to work with VeriSign's existing Web identity, authentication, payment and validation services and greatly simplify interoperability of e-commerce transactions. In addition to the new XKMS specification announced today by VeriSign, Microsoft and webMethods, VeriSign has also developed a suite of XML specifications for Web identity management, online authorization and payment processing: (1) Provisioning of Web Identity Services -- To assist domain name registrars and others in accessing VeriSign's global registry data faster and easier, VeriSign has developed the Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) to support an XML-based management utility for vendors of online identity services. EPP will enable VeriSign's accredited registrar partners to sell domain names, telephone numbers and future identification assets through a new extensible protocol. This protocol will allow for greater sharing of information and flexibility as new identification technologies gain acceptance. The EPP specification has been submitted to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for consideration as an Internet standard. (2) Authorization Across E-Business Platforms with S2ML -- VeriSign is working with multiple industry partners, including Netegrity, to develop S2ML, a common language for sharing authentication and authorization services through XML documents. This standard is compatible with XKMS and enables interoperability between security systems or infrastructure systems that need to communicate about information such as authentication, authorization and profile information. S2ML is designed to work with multiple XML document exchange protocols and frameworks such as SOAP, OAG, MIME, Biztalk, and ebXML. (3) Payment Specifications for both B2B and B2C Applications -- VeriSign's XML Pay is an XML specification for payment requests and responses in a distributed, web-based payment transaction environment. The typical user of XML Pay is an Internet merchant or merchant aggregator who wants to dispatch consumer credit card, debit card, corporate purchase card, automated clearinghouse (ACH), or other payment requests to a financial processing network. Users can create an XML Pay client payment request and dispatch it to an associated XML Pay-compliant server. Responses are formatted in XML and convey the results of the payment requests to the client. XML Pay also helps businesses secure and gain intelligence from their transactions since it supports digital certificate-based identification and authentication, digital certificate-based identification and authentication, digital signatures, and the generation and archiving of digital receipts..." See: "XML Key Management Specification (XKMS)."

  • [November 29, 2000] "Commerce One, Along With Industry Leaders, Establishes Next-Generation Standards to Power Open E-Marketplaces. Compaq, Microsoft, SAP and Sun Microsystems Support xCBL Standards for Business-to-Business E-Marketplaces." - "At the eLink Conference here today, Commerce One, Inc., a leader in global e-commerce solutions for business, announced Commerce One XML Common Business Library (xCBL) 3.0, the next generation of Commerce One's leading interoperability standard for the exchange of business documents. Commerce One also announced that industry leaders Compaq, Microsoft, SAP and Sun Microsystems will leverage xCBL 3.0 as a key standard in the development and delivery of B2B solutions. xCBL 3.0 provides a comprehensive set of standardized XML document formats, allowing buyers, suppliers and service providers to integrate their existing systems quickly and efficiently into e-marketplaces. Since it is built from a thorough analysis of existing e-commerce standards such as EDI (Edifact and X12), RosettaNet and OBI, it is expected that xCBL 3.0 will enable users of different e-commerce standards to communicate with one another with an ease that has previously not been possible. xCBL 3.0 is built from a set of document components or 'building blocks' that are reused by businesses to support automation of multi-company supply chains, collaboration, direct and indirect procurement, planning, auctions, invoicing and payment in an international multi-currency environment. It is expected that this component architecture will enable more efficient, robust, and scaleable integration of trading partners and gives e-marketplaces the flexibility to support diverse business services. Furthermore, xCBL 3.0 will be the underlying XML technology that will enable the interoperability of all the e-marketplaces within the Global Trading Web (GTW). In addition, xCBL 3.0 will make it much simpler for suppliers to participate in e-marketplaces by providing significant enhancements that make it easier to define, construct, manage, maintain and share catalog content across multiple e-marketplaces. Like earlier releases, xCBL 3.0 is available for free to other organizations and businesses to use on an unrestricted basis. The full set of xCBL 3.0 documents and accompanying documentation will be available in mid-December at the www.xCBL.org website. Commerce One is working with its partners, customers and industry standards organizations to place xCBL completely in the public domain and align with initiatives such as ebXML. Commerce One continues to work with leading standards, including RosettaNet and the ebXML initiative chartered by UN/CEFACT and OASIS to build this effective XML standard. xCBL 3.0 was built based on an analysis of existing EDI standards for a number of large industries, including automotive, aerospace, finance, transport, energy and retail."

  • [November 29, 2000] "Leading Financial Institutions and Standards Bodies Endorse Interactive Financial Exchange Specification." - "Financial institutions around the world in concert with several standards groups are working together to implement the Interactive Financial Exchange (IFX) framework in e-business environments and related industries. Spearheaded by BITS in 1999 to facilitate the sharing of financial data among banks, their customers and service providers, the IFX Forum builds on the industry experience of the Open Financial Exchange (OFX) and Integrion GOLD specifications, which are currently implemented by major financial institutions and service providers. This emerging IFX specification utilizes Extensible Markup Language (XML) for optimal business level information flow and drives widespread adoption of online financial services. Providing a foundation for users to build new Internet delivery channels and applications for customers, the IFX framework also supports Spectrum, a consortium of banks, and offers Bill Presentment & Payment functionality. Participation in the IFX Forum continues to grow dramatically with recent additions of member organizations, such as American Management Systems, Business Logic Corporation, Metavante and Unisys. In addition to the financial industry, a number of groups have expressed clear interest in cooperating with the Forum in XML message development and in utilizing the IFX architectural framework. (1) In January 2001, the IFX Forum will launch the Brokerage Working Group to facilitate the needs of the brokerage industry. (2) The student loan community, which is working to design one standard based on an XML format to be used by student lenders, universities and the U.S. Department of Education, is eyeing the IFX framework. (3) The Mortgage Bankers Association of America's Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization is coordinating with the IFX Forum to standardize real estate finance transactions, with the goal of eliminating duplicative standards efforts in the loan applications area. (4) Internationally, there is a great deal of interest from financial institutions in the Far East in using the IFX Forum's architectural framework. The IFX Forum boasts an active membership of financial institutions and service providers, such as Bank of America, EDS, First Union Bank, IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, NCR Corporation, and Wells Fargo Company, and receives managerial support from the Data Interchange Standards Association. An active player in the insurance industry, the IFX Forum formed a cooperative relationship with ACORD, a nonprofit insurance standards organization. ACORD sits on the IFX Forum Steering Committee and currently contributes property and casualty business messages based on the IFX XML architecture. The forum is organized into the following five working groups: Bill Presentment & Payment; Business Banking; Loan Application; Insurance; and Aggregation, which will launch January 2001. The IFX Forum, open for worldwide participation, was founded to provide a variety of benefits for financial services companies and their customers. IFX Forum members develop open and interoperable specifications that meet the financial services industry business requirements for serving consumer and corporate customers. The mission of the IFX Forum's open membership is to expedite the development and implementation of the IFX specification, which defines the business message format for the electronic exchange of data." The IFX XML Specifications are available online. See "Interactive Financial eXchange (IFX)."

  • [November 29, 2000] "IRML.org Unveils Initial Working Groups and 'Proof of Concept' Prototype for XML Standards for Investment Research." - "IRML.org, the first global industry consortium established to develop a nonproprietary, industry-wide standard for the creation and exchange of Investment Research content using XML technology, today publicly announced its three working groups. Additionally, the consortium announced plans to build a 'proof of concept' prototype for evaluation during Q1 2001, along with the draft specification for public comment. The Consortium is comprised of firms from major banks, brokerages, relevant third parties and buy side institutions. The group consists of over 30 firms globally, including participation by: ABN AMRO, AXA, Barings Asset Management, BARRA, Bloomberg, Charles Schwab & Co, CLSA Emerging Markets, Deutsche Bank, Digital Capital Limited, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, FactSet, Fortis Bank, Greenwich Associates, HSBC, JP Morgan Asset Management, Lehman Brothers, Lipper, Inc, Multex.com, Morningstar, Newton Investment Management, Reuters, Robertson Stephens, SG Cowen, Schroders Investment Management, Standard & Poor's, and US Bancorp Piper Jaffray, among others. The group plans to release a 'Proof of Concept' working prototype early in 2001. Several brokerage houses have already made commitment to outputting research content into this draft standard, which will then be evaluated by a special panel of Buy Side representatives for its utility and ability to create greater efficiencies between parties in the financial information supply chain... The Organization seeks to create accepted, concise standards for Investment Research for use by all market participants. Benefits of the standar