The Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA) launched the Collaborative Services initiative that expands the association’s reach to XML and Internet technology development. Embracing an innovative dynamic that is continually evolving, DISA is working on developing XML specifications with a wide array of organizations, including OpenTravel Alliance (OTA), Interactive Financial Exchange (IFX) Forum, and Mortgage Bankers Association of America’s (MBA) Mortgage Industry Data Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) initiatives. Other DISA partnerships, such as BizTalk, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), and the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12, are also crafting XML and Internet-related technologies. DISA offers today’s organization a constellation of separate services that together provide a comprehensive package for every e-business initiative, including XML and Internet technologies. Favored for its professionalism and international recognition, DISA covers everything from managing membership administration to providing information technology services. www.disa.org

Artesia Technologies, Inc. announced that it’s TEAMS 3.0 Digital Asset Management solution supports a full-scale implementation on the Oracle8i database with Oracle interMedia. This integration of TEAMS 3.0 and Oracle8i provides an enterprise-class and infinitely scalable framework that enables the delivery of multi-media and streaming video content directly from the Oracle Internet Platform.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) released two specifications, XSL Transformations (XSLT) and XML Path Language (XPath), as W3C Recommendations. These new specifications represent cross-industry and expert community agreement on technologies that will enable the transformation and styled presentation of XML documents. A W3C Recommendation indicates that a specification is stable, contributes to Web interoperability, and has been reviewed by the W3C membership, who favor its adoption by the industry. As more content publishers and commercial interests deliver rich data in XML, the need for presentation technology increases in both scale and functionality. XSL meets the more complex, structural formatting demands that XML document authors have. XSLT makes it possible for one XML document to be transformed into another according to an XSL Style sheet. As part of the document transformation, XSLT uses XPath to address parts of an XML document that an author wishes to transform. XPath is also used by another XML technology, XPointer, to specify locations in an XML document. Together, XSLT and XPath make it possible for XML documents to be reformatted according to the parameters of XSL style sheets and increase presentation flexibility into the XML architecture. The XSLT Recommendation was written and developed by the XSL Working Group, which includes key industry players such as Adobe Systems, Arbortext, Bell Labs, Bitstream, Datalogics, Enigma, IBM, Interleaf, Lotus, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, O’Reilly & Associates, RivCom, SoftQuad Inc, Software AG, and Sun Microsystems. Notable contributions also came from the University of Edinburgh and a range of invited experts. The XPath Recommendation pooled together efforts from both the XSL Working Group and the XML Linking Working Group, whose membership includes CommerceOne, CWI, DATAFUSION, Fujitsu, GMD, IBM, Immediate Digital, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Textuality, and the University of Southampton. www.w3.org

At their recent meeting in Amsterdam, members of the IPTC agreed to revamp their operating structure and establish a new work program, IPTC2000, which will deliver an XML-based standard to represent and manage news through its life-cycle, including production, interchange and consumer use. Entitled NewsML, it is intended that the new framework standard will build on the intellectual property invested in existing IPTC standards such as the Information Interchange Model (IIM), News Industry Text Format (NITF) and the IPTC’s widely used Subject Classification Standard. Using XML, it is intended that NewsML will draw appropriately on existing and emerging W3C recommendations. Three working groups have been established to develop the key components of the programme. These are News Structure and Management, News Text and News Metadata. Earlier this year, the IPTC announced the publication of its first XML based standard, News Industry Text Format (NITF). This work, together with the Information Interchange Model (IIM), will form the basis of NewsML. All existing IPTC standards are copyright IPTC and are administered by the International Press Telecommunications Council, based in England. Information on NITF, IIM and Subject Matter Coding is available at www.iptc.org

Sequoia Software Corporation announced a partnership with Architag University to offer the public training courses in XML at Sequoia’s Columbia, Maryland corporate offices. The joint training program addresses the exploding demand for programmers with experience at developing XML-based information systems and reflects Sequoia’s long-standing commitment to accelerating the adoption of XML. Schedules and registration information for January, February and March 2000 sessions are posted on both the Sequoia Software and Architag University Web sites. Among the classes scheduled, Architag University will present XML 101, a five-day session covering a wide range of content from XML basics to using XML for developing data-driven Web architectures, from January 10 to 14. For the latest class information visit www.architag.com/university or www.sequoiasoftware.com

Xerox Corporation provided the first public look at askOnce, information agent software that helps organizations leverage the information in documents and take action on it. askOnce is meta-search software that provides secure access to multiple internal and external knowledge sources (e.g., DocuShare or other corporate repositories, databases, web sites) to simplify and improve search, retrieval and manipulation of information. askOnce passes queries to many search engines, directories, or databases and then summarizes all the results. askOnce can even search “metadata” from each information source that is not normally visible (this might include information about the data

Xerox Corporation provided the first public look at a new release of its DocuShare software. DocuShare is a secure, web-based software product for managing and sharing knowledge throughout any organization. DocuShare 2.1 is easy to install, use, and maintain, and provides a secure, convenient environment to manage documents and information. Users can access DocuShare through any current web browser on any platform to share, search for and manage information. New features include: Saved Queries – “Query Collections” can be created and saved so frequently used queries are always available and up to date. Notification – email is sent to users notifying them of defined collection changes via DocuShare 2.1

Oracle Corp. announced Oracle Integration Server, providing XML-enabled infrastructure for enterprises and e-business exchanges. In combination with Oracle’s portal strategy, Oracle Integration Server incorporates business process integration on all levels-including user interfaces, applications and back-end data-to easily transfer data internally and business-to-business. Also, the Oracle Integration Server includes message warehousing to enable analysis and optimization of business processes. As e-businesses expand electronic commerce initiatives beyond consumer storefronts to Internet exchanges, business process integration is crucial to success. When dealing with numerous partners or merging with other companies, e-businesses often find a mixture of incompatible IT infrastructures which make information exchange nearly impossible. Rather than a wholesale replacement strategy or point-to-point solutions, Oracle Integration Server provides a standards-based integration layer above these different systems, enabling information to flow easily between different applications and systems. By utilizing XML the Oracle Integration Server facilitates data exchange, reduces integration costs, and increases customer flexibility. Oracle Integration Server is expected to be the first among mainstream vendors to enable message interchange between heterogeneous messaging systems such as IBM MQSeries, TIB/Rendezvous, and Oracle Advanced Queuing. In addition, the software supports different methods of message transmission, including publish, subscribe, point-to-point, and multicast. As part of its e-business integration strategy, Oracle is working with a number of industry-leading vendors such as TSI Software, Vitria Technology, TIBCO Software, Active Software, STC, and Oberon to provide a comprehensive enterprise integration solution. The Oracle Integration Server is scheduled to be available in Q1, CY 2000. www.oracle.com