IBM announced new software designed to help customers access, integrate and analyze all forms of information across and beyond the enterprise. The new integration software allows businesses to access and integrate both structured and unstructured information, as if it were stored in one place, including XML, email, multi-media, Web Services, and competitive data sources such as Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server databases. The new software offerings, the DB2 Information Integrator and DB2 Information Integrator for Content, are the first products available to customers based on IBM’s Xperanto project. The DB2 Information Integrator is tailored to the SQL-based developer community and the DB2 Information Integrator for Content supports a content management programming model. While both offerings provide federated access across both structured and unstructured data, each has tailored features that support the programming model of the developer community they support. DB2 Information Integrator software provides rich XML support both for accessing and integrating XML documents as data sources and generating XML documents as a query result. The new software is also tightly integrated with IBM’s WebSphere Business Integration software. The DB2 Information Integrator and DB2 Information Integrator for Content are currently available in beta for customers. www.software.ibm.com/data

Software AG, Inc. announced the availability of PowerLynX, an interactive client communications management solution. PowerLynX enables organizations such as financial institutions and government agencies to create, customize, send and manage electronic communications with clients. PowerLynX uses XML to transform static documents into interactive communications that can be created dynamically and distributed through email, Web portals, wireless devices and any other existing channels. PowerLynX presents a consolidated view of client communications, even though the content of the communications might have been drawn from different systems throughout the organization. Organizations can track client responses, as well as determine the cost of communicating with each client through multiple channels. PowerLynX combines modifiable document templates with database content and distribution list information to create personalized interactive documents that can be sent over the Internet. PowerLynX is based upon XML and Web Services, integrates with existing security systems, and incorporates current encryption and authentication technologies. PowerLynX for Windows is available now. A UNIX-based version is planned for delivery later in 2003. www.softwareag.com

FatWire Software announced a technology integration partnership with Advanced Software, Inc. (ASI). FatWire will offer ASI’s DocuComp feature with FatWire’s UpdateEngine dCM software. Docucomp’s comparison technology provides FatWire clients with new features to enhance the content management process. DocuComp, best known as the “compare documents” feature in Microsoft Word, will provide FatWire’s enterprise customers the ability to simplify content review, localization and approval processes involved with authoring and publishing Web content. The DocuComp comparison engine uses sophisticated pattern matching techniques to compare any two versions of a file, reporting inserted, deleted, replaced and even moved text. www.DocuComp.com, www.fatwire.com

Interwoven Inc. has released MetaTagger 3.5. MetaTagger is now a stand-alone product that can be used in conjunction with Interwoven TeamSite content management software. MetaTagger 3.5 now enables businesses to extend the benefit of metadata to any repository. Content management systems, document archives, file servers, and databases can all be processed through MetaTagger’s out-of-box capabilities and API. Interwoven introduces the MetaTagger Studio as part of the MetaTagger 3.5 platform. The Studio simplifies the development of enterprise taxonomies by providing a systematic, process-driven approach for discovering, editing, testing, refining, and promoting taxonomies and thesauri. MetaTagger now supports over 150 different file formats, and can extract document properties from Microsoft Office to preserve existing metadata and process media formats such as TIFF and MP3. Customers can use industry taxonomies in finance, hi-tech manfacturing, health care and medical, government, energy and industrial, and general business. Additional vertical market vocabularies can be imported from industry sources. MetaTagger 3.5 is available immediately and supports French, German, Spanish, and Italian. www.interwoven.com/products/content_intelligence

Veridocs announced that it will offer XMLdocs, an XML authoring and document management system, at no cost to single subscribers. XMLdocs Beta Version is available free for a limited. XMLdocs Version 1, slated for release in March 2003, will be available on a hosted basis. Using XMLdocs, organizations can create XML document templates for everything from press releases and product descriptions to knowledge-based articles and help documents. Using these templates, non-technical users write XML documents using the XMLdocs Editor’s intuitive, word-processor-like interface. Documents can then be exported for publication on a Web site or elsewhere through a simple Web Service. www.xmldocs.com

Stellent, Inc. announced expanded XML conversion capabilities for Stellent Content Management. Using Stellent, business users contribute content in its native file format for conversion to XML, and an XSL style sheet is automatically applied based on metadata criteria. Once the new XML document is created, it is automatically validated and made available for integration with other applications or for Web presentation. Since the XSL style sheets are managed inside the Stellent Content Server, functions such as library services, workflow and security can be applied to them. Stellent also provides an XSL for automatic conversion to the DocBook format. In addition, Stellent’s new validation feature verifies the XML conversion with the Document Type Definition (DTD) specified in the user-defined XSL. If a conversion fails, Stellent Content Management creates a workflow that enables users to identify the cause of the conversion error. www.stellent.com

The W3C HTML Working Group has released the fourth public Working Draft of “XHTML 2.0.” XHTML 2.0 is a relative of the Web’s familiar publishing languages HTML 4 and XHTML 1.0 and 1.1. The draft contains XHTML 2.0 modules for creating rich, portable Web-based applications. The CSS Working Group has released an interim Working Draft of “Cascading Style Sheets, Level 2 Revision 1 (CSS 2.1).” The draft brings CSS2 in line with implementations and CSS2 errata, and removes obsolete features. The Web Services Description Working Group has released updated Working Drafts of the “Web Services Description Language (WSDL) Version 1.2” and bindings for use with SOAP 1.2, HTTP, and MIME. WSDL is an XML format for describing network services as a set of endpoints operating on messages containing either document-oriented or procedure-oriented information. www.w3.org/MarkUp, www.w3.org/Style/CSS. www.w3.org/2002/ws

W3C announced the creation of the XForms Activity. More flexible than previous HTML and XHTML form technologies, XForms separate purpose, presentation, and data. The Activity is producing advanced forms logic, improved internationalization, and rich user interface capabilities. Read the XForms Activity statement and visit the XForms home page. W3C also announced the advancement of the “Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) Version 2.0” to Candidate Recommendation. Comments are welcome through 10 April. VoiceXML uses XML to bring synthesized speech, spoken and touch-tone input, digitized audio, recording, telephony, and computer-human conversations to the Web. www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms, www.w3.org/Voice