OASIS unveiled plans to host the XML-DEV mail list through its industry portal, XML.org. Since 1997, XML-DEV has served as an open, unmoderated list supporting XML implementation and development. In the closing plenary of the XML 99 conference today, Prof. Peter Murray-Rust of the University of Nottingham (UK) announced that XML-DEV, presently hosted by Imperial College (UK), will soon become an OASIS resource. XML-DEV, which has global membership of approximately 1500, averages more than 1200 postings a month from XML developers around the world. It emphasizes active participation through code development, creation of protocols and specifications, and other material contributions such as reference resources. The XML-DEV transition to OASIS will take place over the next few weeks and details will be announced on XML-DEV and the OASIS web sites, www.oasis-open.org and http://xml.org
Year: 1999 (Page 3 of 97)
OASIS announced public availability of the OASIS Draft Registry and Repository Technical Specification. The new OASIS Specification will be used in building the XML.org Registry & Repository and will contribute to the infrastructure needed for deploying interoperable XML repositories across the Web. The OASIS Draft Registry & Repository Specification is being well received by leading industry standards organizations, including the Object Management Group. The OASIS XML Registry & Repository Technical Committee includes representatives from Arbortext, Commerce One, DataChannel, Documentum, DMSi, Dun & Bradstreet, Enigma, Extensibility, IBM, Isogen, Oracle, STEP, Sun Microsystems, XyEnterprise and others. The OASIS Draft Registry and Repository Technical Specification is available on www.oasis-open.org/html/rrpublic.htm
MessageMedia Inc. announced it has signed an exclusive agreement with R.R. Donnelley Online Services, the Internet solutions group of R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company. Under the agreement, MessageMedia will offer e-mail-based newsletters to customers of R.R. Donnelley Online’s ePublish, a program designed to allow magazine publishers to quickly develop a quality web site and online presence. ePublish (www.rrd-epublish.com) will design, build and run web sites for magazine companies, incorporating tools and technology that are centered on content management, community building and commerce. The program brings technology and functionality to its product platform to meet the demanding needs of magazine publishers and online users. www.messagemedia.com
Document Sciences announced the general availability of DLS Web Express, the latest version of its Document Library Services (DLS) product. DLS Web Express now provides users an end-to-end solution for compliance document management and production in traditional print and electronic web distribution environments. DLS Web Express supports on-demand transactional creation of highly personalized documents in a three-tiered Web Server environment. With DLS Web Express, users can design complex document automation applications using a Windows interface and Microsoft Word. These applications and the DLS Web Express transactional client are integrated into a Web Server environment using any of today’s Web programming technologies like Active Server Pages (ASP), Java, and Cold Fusion. The output of DLS Web Express produces multiple file formats from a single source of input. Documents are generated in the web-standard HTML format for format-independent applications, and in Adobe’s PDF. www.docscience.com
SoftLock.com, Inc. announced it’s active role in the securing, marketing, and selling of eBooks across the Internet. SoftLock.com’s expansive collection of over 100 eBooks are available in topics ranging from business and finance to sports and travel, including fiction, nonfiction and reference from authors such as Lewis Carroll, Mary Shelley and Virginia Woolf. SoftLock.com’s initial group of eBook publishers include AIL/New Media Publishing, Arrose Enterprises, Best Solutions, Boson Books, Clear Springs Press, Exemplary/OmniMedia Digital Publishing, Invisible Path Publishing, LifeQuest, Novelwriter.com, Roger White Associates, and John Zakour Publishing. EBooks can now be sampled, instantly purchased and passed from one interested reader to another. EBook publishers can be secure in the knowledge that their intellectual property will not be pirated, because SoftLock.com’s patented system builds copyright protection right into the eBook. When passed-along, the document automatically re-locks itself, allowing the Consumer to view the enticing sample of the eBook. The document will not re-open until the Consumer purchases the full eBook, and will once again automatically re-lock when that Consumer finds the eBook compelling enough to pass along. This complete, turnkey e-commerce solution allows publishers to profit from the widespread electronic distribution of their secured eBooks. www.softlock.com.
Bridges for Islands, Inc. announced the availability of its XML-based BRAHMS B2BEngine. The new product connects previously disparate trading partners, enabling the automation of their business processes. Since BRAHMS B2BEngine is based on XML, its integration solution can meet the needs of any business integration scenario. Bridges’ technology is based on a distributed communities architecture, which produces a highly robust and stable infrastructure. The BRAHMS B2BEngine solution bridges the different information sources, operating systems and platforms and allows for rapid integration. As a result, BRAHMS B2BEngine provides the means for trading partners to achieve real-time integration across their entire supply chain, and enter the e-Business age with minimal changes to their core IT infrastructure. www.b4i.com
IONA Technologies announced that it plans to include support in IONA iPortal Suite for the WAP Forum’s Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). Support for WAP will be built into IONA iPortal Server, a component of IONA iPortal Suite. IONA iPortal Server is a portal access and central control point that provides integration between front-end Internet applications and back-end systems, manages customized views of all internal applications, and provides reliable, secure and scalable access to internal and external applications. IONA iPortal Server provides the view into back-end enterprise applications by interoperating with IONA iPortal Integration Server, and new component-based application logic by interoperating with IONA iPortal Application Server. WAP support will be provided in the form of an Adaptive Runtime Technology (ART) plug-in. ART is a flexible, transport-independent architecture, which underlies all of the components of iPortal Suite. ART’s flexibility alleviates iPortal Suite developers from having to maintain a separate set of WAP-formatted pages. iPortal Suite will check the end-user’s protocol on login, and will automatically supply wireless device users with WAP-formatted content. www.iona.com
A forum of Internet-focused companies announced a major initiative aimed at delivering value added services that leverage the Internet’s infrastructure, increasing the intelligence and flexibility of networks. The goal of the forum is the cooperative review and consideration of ideas and concepts to create an open standards-based protocol – Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP) that is expected to be presented to the IETF early in 2000. The proposed standard will allow enterprises, content providers and ISPs to seamlessly conduct e-services such as targeted Web advertising, virus scanning, content filtering, data compression and language translation on any Internet access device. The ICAP Forum is hosted by Akamai Technologies and Network Appliance, and is joined by Internet companies including content delivery service providers, application and content developers, and Internet infrastructure companies. Forum members who have endorsed the drafting of the open protocol include: Allaire Corporation, Appliant, Inc., BroadVision, Cobalt Networks, Direct Hit, DoubleClick, eBuilt, eColor, Engage, Entera, Exodus, Finjan Software, Frictionless Commerce, Globix, Google, Inc., Idiom, Inc., InfoLibria, Ingeniux, iWeb.com, Inc., Lionbridge Technologies, Network Associates, Novell, N2H2, Open Market, Optibase, Oracle Corp., Pandesic, Predictive Networks, Rulespace, Secure Computing, SightPath, Trend Micro, Inc., Vignette Corporation, Websense, and WWWhoosh. Additional partners are welcome and can join by sending email to partners@i-cap.org. The development of ICAP is only an example of the specific work under way by participants in the forum, with an objective to have a draft for review (prior to submitting to the IETF) at the group’s first meeting on February 14 in San Francisco. The first value added services solutions are expected to reach the marketplace in Q1 2000. www.i-cap.org.
