Members of the international standards consortium, OASIS, have organized to create a standard for sharing, linking, and synchronizing data over the Internet and other networks using XML documents and Extensible Resource Identifiers (XRIs). XRI is a URI-compatible abstract identifier scheme also developed within OASIS. The new OASIS XRI Data Interchange (XDI) Technical Committee will enable implementers to automatically interchange XDI documents and to express controls over the authority, security, privacy, and rights of shared data as XDI links. XDI will address interoperable, automated data interchange across distributed applications and trust domains. OASIS XDI Technical Committee members include representatives of AMD, AmSoft Systems, Booz Allen Hamilton, Cordance, Epok, Neustar, NRI, and others. Participation remains open to all organizations and individuals; OASIS will host a mail list for public comment. www.oasis-open.org
Day: February 3, 2004
Universal Conversion Technologies (UCT) announced the release and availability of version 3.0 of their Data Conversion Architecture (DCA) product. DCA 3.0 is designed specifically for the conversion of large legacy system record files to XML-based systems. The target XML systems can include any XML schemas, including the ACORD XML standard schemas. DCA 3.0 offers two strategies for converting legacy records to XML. Users can import an entire XML schema as a target (or any manageable subsection of a schema) and can map from their existing legacy system records. Users can also choose to create one-to-one mappings of individual XML elements. After mapping is completed, DCA 3.0 automatically generates the conversion programs to convert legacy system data into XML streams, which can be fed to the target system through the DCA browser. DCA 3.0 includes enhanced record definition and XML schema management, with the ability to view, download, and export record definitions and XML schemas. When DCA automatically creates a datamap, insurers can now determine whether the map is a standard map, a balance map or a special-purpose map. www.uctcorp.com
Vignette Corp. announced initial availability of Vignette Application Portal 7.0, part of the Vignette V7 family of products. Vignette Application Portal 7.0 has been certified by Vignette on the Sun Microsystem’s Test and Compatibility Kit (TCK) for compliance with the recently adopted JSR 168 portlet interoperability standard. In conjunction with its support for JSR 168, Vignette will provide plug-ins for integrated development environments (IDE) to provide developers with a seamless experience when deploying IDE-developed JSR 168 portlets within Vignette Application Portal 7.0. In addition, the latest release of Vignette Application Portal provides enhanced localization of portal administrative consoles and multibyte support for compliance with Section 508, enabling disabled administrators to easily manage portal sites, and i18N, allowing diverse administrators in multidialect regions to access a shared portal console that is localized for each individual administrator’s dialect. www.vignette.com
Open Text Corporation said it is introducing new software tools for corporate governance compliance, including the ability to upload information from internal controls databases, such as Deloitte’s Risk and Controls Knowledgebase or RACK. The new features for Livelink for Corporate Governance include an XML-based bulk import loader, which uploads internal controls information from Deloitte’s RACK as well as other databases that produce Excel or XML representations of control structures. Once internal controls data is uploaded into Livelink, project teams can use the data in the workspace to create, manage and monitor procedures for each area where internal controls are needed. The workspaces provide workflows and checklists for each control; process documentation; audit practices; risk mitigation and issue remediation plans; policy documents; and records of a company’s assessments of its controls. Other new features Open Text is introducing for Livelink for Corporate Governance include Risk Register and Collaborative Document Review. www.opentext.com
Nstein Technologies announced it has joined the Cognos Partner Program (CPP) as a Technology Partner. Cognos has created a network of companies dedicated to best practices in business intelligence and enterprise planning. By combining Nstein’s technology solutions to Cognos’ current offering, organizations will be able to explore their vast amount of unstructured data and apply transformations to their data to produce new insights. These insights can be analytical or predictive, and may support decisions as well as automation. Nstein’s technology is easy to integrate within a corporate performance management system to perceive trends and produce key business performance indicators and other management metrics. www.nstein.com, www.cognos.com
Astoria Software announced a partnership with Data Conversion Laboratory where Astoria will now resell DCL’s data conversion services. Astoria and DCL share a common vertical market focus in commercial technical documents, government, military and publishing. Customers utilize Astoria’s native XML-content repository and applications to manage the authoring-to-publishing content lifecycle for structured content, along with DCL’s data conversion services for the migration of legacy data. Astoria’s content repository and software applications provide the authoring-publishing process with granular control of content that enables reuse, revision, and repurposing of complex content. DCL’s data conversion process allows clients to integrate existing content assets into the XML content environment regardless of format. www.dclab.com, www.astoriasoftware.com
