Informix Corporation announced support in Informix Internet Foundation.2000 for XML. With XML, Internet Foundation.2000 customers will be able to integrate existing data with their new E-commerce applications and efficiently exchange data with their customers, partners, and suppliers. Informix also announced its strategy to support XML across all of its products. Specifically, Informix announced: XML support in Internet Foundation.2000 – Available immediately, XML is supported through the newest version of the Informix Web DataBlade module. Hierarchical XML Data Storage – Allows Internet Foundation.2000 users the ability to import, export, store and query/index XML structures in their native hierarchical format. It provides a unique performance advantage over other approaches to storing XML documents in flat relational tables, where the use of a document’s structures when processing queries is lost. In the first half of the year 2000, Informix will deliver other XML-enabled products, including a server-based workflow engine that supports the communication of XML documents and enables rules to be embedded in documents for exception handling or processing. An XML metadata repository is also in development, which will make metadata uniformly accessible to tools and applications, regardless of the data source. Other XML-related standards like XSL, XML Schema, XML Query Language (XQL), XML Linking, and XML Infoset are planned to be supported as they are finalized by the W3C. Informix also announced its membership in the W3C and OASIS. www.informix.com