The Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) announced the release of the Workflow Standard – XML Process Definition Language – XPDL 1.0. Together with other WfMC standards, XPDL provides a framework for implementing business process management and workflow engines, and for designing, analyzing, and exchanging business processes. XPDL is the culmination of a 15-month effort by multiple vendors and users to provide a standard that satisfies the needs of diverse organizations. One of the key elements of the XPDL is its extensibility to handle information used by a variety of different tools. Based upon a limited number of entities that describe a workflow process definition (the “Minimum Meta Model”), XPDL supports a number of differing approaches. A process defined in XPDL (a set of XML statements) can be imported into any workflow engine that supports XPDL. The related objects and attributes (data associated with the process) are now also included in the XPDL process definition. The XPDL process definition can be generated by workflow modeling and simulation tools, or can be manually coded, or can be exported from another XPDL-compliant workflow engine. Described as Document WfMC-TC-1025, it may be downloaded at www.wfmc.org/standards/docs.htm

FileNET Corporation and NS Solutions Corporation announced a new strategic partnership to penetrate the Japanese ECM market. The partnership will have a strategic focus on developing and marketing solutions for the Financial Services, Insurance, Pharmaceutical, Government, Manufacturing and Utilities markets in Japan. NS Solutions, which has been involved in the technical drawing and content management business for more than 15 years, has more than 400 customers in Japan. www.ns-sol.co.jp/e/index.html, www.filenet.com

Veridocs announced the upcoming availability of XMLdocs Beta Release. XMLdocs is a Web-based system for creating user-friendly XML content management solutions. The Beta Release will be available free. XMLdocs Version 1, slated for release in February 2003, will be available on a hosted basis. With 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 and edit XML documents in XMLdocs XML word processor. Documents can then be exported for publication on a Web site or elsewhere through a simple Web Service. www.xmldocs.com

Corel Corporation announced Corel XMetaL 4. XMetaL 4 provides customizable XML editing solutions that support dynamic validation for both DTDs and W3C Schemas. XMetaL 4 is comprised of four separate components: Corel XMetaL Author, Corel XMetaL for ActiveX, Corel XMetaL Developer and Corel XMetaL Central. XMetaL Author is a customizable XML authoring environment that features the authoring aids and advanced construct support necessary to create valid, well-formed XML documents. XMetaL for ActiveX is an authoring interface that developers can embed into any ActiveX-compliant Windows application, including Web browsers. XMetaL Developer is a centralized development environment for creating Corel XMetaL customizations and applications. Designed as a plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, it enables developers to use existing Web programming skills in Script, COM and DOM. XMetaL Central enables IT managers to use Web services to remotely manage customizations and uses SOAP to provide access to up-to-date XML customization files, including style sheets, scripts, CSS and templates. XMetaL 4 will be available in early 2003. www.corel.com/xmetal4

Kontiki announced that it has added new Grid Delivery Server software to its enterprise software suite, the Kontiki Delivery Management System (DMS). The DMS enables enterprises to upgrade their existing networks to securely and automatically deliver corporate video and documents. Kontikis DMS is based on the companys grid delivery technology. Like grid computing, which taps underutilized CPU processing power, Kontikis grid delivery software pulls together existing networks and storage space on both PCs and servers to create a network capable of delivering rich media with greater efficiency and lower costs than traditional delivery methods. Kontiki claims the DMS has resulted in reductions in the cost of rich media delivery by a factor of 10 to 25 times, compared with traditional methods of delivering similar content. This improvement is driven by the hardware, bandwidth, and operations savings of Kontikis grid delivery technology. The new Grid Delivery Server runs on standard PC hardware and improves network efficiencies by time shifting deliveries to smooth demand, eliminating failed deliveries with pause/resume, and adaptively multi-serving the content from the delivery grid. www.kontiki.com

Microsoft Corp. announced a new set of technologies designed to enable developers to build business solutions based on the next version of Microsoft Office, code-named “Office 11.” A new set of tools, code-named “Visual Studio Tools for Office,” enables Visual Studio .NET developers to use Microsoft’s application development tool to build solutions based on Word and Excel documents, as well as several new XML development experiences. Microsoft will continue to support Visual Basic for Applications. Using “Visual Studio Tools for Office,” developers can create applications written in Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and Microsoft Visual C# .NET that run in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. “Visual Studio Tools for Office” will be available in conjunction with “Office 11” in mid-2003. “Office 11,” features enhanced support for XML, including improved object model programmability, the ability to use XML schemas, built-in support for XML Web services and a new smart document solution model. Word and Excel templates can be designed with an underlying customer-defined XML structure. Integrated support for XML Web services in “Office 11,” along with support for XSL and XPath, leverages existing Office and Web development skills. www.microsoft.com/office/developer/preview

eMotion, Inc. announced the launch of CreativePartner Project, a service that allows customers to engage eMotion’s digital media management software solution and hosting services on a project-by-project basis. The new offering enables eMotion to target a much broader range of customers seeking a digital media management and collaboration solution for creative projects, but not necessarily on a continuous basis. The CreativePartner Project service includes set-up, hosting, operation and administration of a web-based digital media management solution for as little as two weeks to as long as six months or more. Clients can establish a project workspace for their assets (graphics, photos, video and audio files). In addition to CreativePartner Project, eMotion offers licensed software solutions MediaPartner Enterprise, CreativePartner and ArchivePartner. www.emotion.com