Manage.Com and DataChannel, Inc., announced an alliance aimed at helping the emerging generation of on-line businesses make effective use of XML in managing the disparate systems and applications on their networks. The alliance calls for DataChannel to develop XML-based product extensions that will assist Manage.Com’s partners and customers in adapting its FrontLine e.M management software product, which is used to discover, monitor, analyze and diagnose problems across the extended electronic community, or extranet. The development effort will result in an XML “wizard” that gives users an automated way to create documents in manageXML, Manage.Com’s extension of XML specifically for e-management; the documents will specify XML data access, content and display rules for specific, commonly-used network devices, NT systems, web servers and applications. The wizard will be available by the end of 1999 from Manage.Com. www.datachannel.com, www.manage.com.