Intuit Inc. and Microsoft Corporation announced proposed additions to the next version of the Open Financial Exchange (OFX) specification. The new features would include 401(k) extensions, 1099 capability and transfers between brokerage accounts. In addition, the companies are proposing XML compliance in version 2.0 and intend to make the new version backward compatible with OFX 1.0.2, OFX 1.5.1 and OFX 1.6, the versions widely used by financial services companies today. Finally, Intuit and Microsoft have indicated that they will propose adding insurance data and transactions in subsequent versions of OFX. Intuit and Microsoft are actively engaged with the Interactive Financial Exchange (IFX) Working Group to support the creation and rollout of the IFX standard. At whatever point IFX becomes established and a certification process exists for high-quality implementations, Intuit and Microsoft plan to work closely with the IFX Working Group to create a migration path for existing OFX Solution Providers and to preserve the existing investment in OFX by these companies. This will be important as the number of financial institutions and technology providers that use OFX continues to grow, because OFX is here now, it works, and these companies have relied on OFX to bring their online financial services offerings to market quickly. Intuit is drafting the proposed 2.0 specification and will submit it to Microsoft and CheckFree for their review and input. Together, the three companies develop and maintain the OFX specification. Intuit is targeting release of the specification in Q1 2000. www.intuit.com, www.microsoft.com
Year: 1999 (Page 7 of 97)
Microsoft Corp. and Ericsson announced a strategic partnership to develop and market end-to-end solutions for the wireless Internet, based on a shared vision of convenient and fast access to information anytime, anywhere, from any device. Ericsson and Microsoft will form a joint company to market and deliver mobile e-mail solutions for network operators. Ericsson will own the majority share of the new company. As part of the partnership – the first between the two companies – Ericsson will provide its WAP stack to Microsoft and will adopt Microsoft Mobile Explorer for feature phones. The joint company will focus on building, marketing and deploying solutions that utilize Microsoft Windows NT Server and Exchange platforms, and Ericsson’s infrastructure and mobile Internet technologies. Microsoft and Ericsson also agreed to collaborate in their support of developing open industry standards – including Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), WAP and Bluetooth. The new dual-mode microbrowser displays both HTML and WAP 1.1-compliant content, thus eliminating the need for operators and developers to choose between technologies. Microsoft Mobile Explorer is a modular mobile phone platform for enabling secure corporate data access, e-mail, Internet, location-based services and electronic commerce from feature phones and smart phones. www.ericsson.se/pressroom, www.microsoft.com/presspass/
Wysdom Inc. announced it has joined the WAP Forum. WAP Forum members represent over 95% of the global handset market, carriers with more than 100 million subscribers, leading infrastructure providers, software developers and other organizations providing solutions to the wireless industry. The WAP Forum includes other wireless industry leaders such as Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and Microsoft. By increasing the ease of communication with the mobile user, the standards developed by the WAP Forum are a catalyst for making the wireless Internet a reality. Wysdom’s WAPvision product suite is a rapidly deployable turnkey solution that will allow any e-business to establish a wireless presence and extend its services to the mobile user. As a fully adaptable and customizable solution, the WAPvision suite provides the flexibility and scalability required to deliver value added Internet content from e-businesses to wireless end-users. www.wysdom.com
The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Forum and the W3C announced a formal liaison relationship to define next-generation Web specifications that support the full participation of wireless devices on the World Wide Web. The WAP Forum and W3C are working together to develop a common process of producing next-generation, XML-based Web specifications, define testing and implementation processes, and promote these specifications to the industry at large. By working together, the WAP Forum and the W3C will enable wireless devices to participate as full peers in the universal information space of the Web, largely through the incorporation of WAP’s Wireless Markup Language (WML) features into the W3C’s XHTML, the next-generation markup language for the Web. Coordination between the two bodies began this week in Sydney, Australia, in conjunction with the WAP Forum’s members meeting. The WAP/W3C coordination committee will meet on a regular basis to maintain consistency between the specifications of the WAP Forum and the W3C, promote common specifications wherever possible, and enable cooperation between the working groups in the WAP Forum and the W3C. Work items include the joint work on XHTML; compatibility with SMIL, the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language; ensuring user control over privacy information; and CC/PP, a universal device profiling system based on W3C’s RDF Metadata technology. The two organizations are also producing a joint workshop in position-dependent information services, to be held in Sophia-Antipolis, France, in February 2000. The WAP Forum is dedicated to enabling advanced services and applications on wireless devices. The W3C is dedicated to leading and advancing the development of the World Wide Web. Together, the two organizations will face the technical challenge of mobile access to information on the Web. WAP Forum and W3C will coordinate on the future development of XML applications and in content adaptation through the use of vector graphics and style sheets. Instead of developing diverging sets of solutions, it is the intent of both groups to find common solutions that will address mobile requirements. www.w3.org, www.wapforum.org
GoToWorld.com announced the launch of their Universal Translator Dictionary, an online translation dictionary offering translation in 33 languages. While most translation dictionaries focus on translating from or into English, Universal Translator Dictionary can translate directly between any of 33 languages, allowing both English and non-English speakers access to a multitude of languages. The result is instant understanding and comprehension of information. GoToWorld.com’s free Universal Translator Dictionary and Universal Translator Messenger are available at www.GoToWorld.com
DataChannel Inc. and Wavo Corp. announced that Wavo’s NewsPak will be immediately incorporated into the next release of DataChannel’s portal solution. NewsPak is a solution for delivering pre-licensed, real-time news content to Web servers worldwide. It aggregates content streams from a catalog of over 600 media sources, including CNBC, Ziff-Davis, Financial Times, USA Today, Comtex, Knight Ridder and UPI. Providing these streams in a richly meta-tagged XML format, NewsPak will give DataChannel customers unparalleled ability to search, manage and personalize news information. www.wavo.com, www.datachannel.com
In a joint announcement announced a partnership to deliver advanced XML industry solutions. Extensibility will create a validated schema for DataChannel’s Portal Markup Language 1.0. (PML 1.0). PML 1.0 has been submitted to OASIS as an industry standard markup language for content display and management by an Enterprise Information Portal. XML Authority, Extensibility’s schema processing and validation server will contain PML 1.0 support in its next release. DataChannel will accelerate its lead in providing XML training and solutions by becoming the lead training partner for Extensibility, creating new curriculum and certification for XML Authority as well as other company offerings. These courses, along with other advanced tutorials from DataChannel will be offered in both open enrollment and customized training sessions, available the first half of next year. Additionally, DataChannel will include an evaluation copy of XML Authority in the SDK of its XML-based Enterprise Information Portal, DataChannel Server 4.0 scheduled for first quarter of 2000. As part of the agreement, Extensibility joins DataChannel’s XpertPartner Program. Other aspects of the agreement include joint development efforts on future offerings that were not disclosed by the companies. www.extensibility.com, www.datachannel.com
Northern Light Technology, Inc. and DeepCanyon announced a partnership agreement in which DeepCanyon will deploy Northern Light
