Endorsements for OASIS’s Launch of XML.org

Charles Goldfarb
Commerce One
Database Publishing Systems Ltd.
DataChannel
Document Management Solutions, Inc.
Enigma
Extensibility
GE Information Services
Graphic Communications Association
IBM Corporation
Jon Bosak
Novell, Inc.
Object Management Group (OMG)
Open Applications Group (OAGI)
Oracle
POET Software
Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2)
SoftQuad Software Inc.
STEP Electronic Publishing Solutions GmbH
Sun Microsystems
The CommerceNet Consortium
The XML/edi Group
Tim Bray, co-editor of XML 1.0
Xyvision Enterprise Solutions

Charles F. Goldfarb, the father of markup languages and a member of the Advisory Board for the founding of OASIS, said “This latest action by OASIS moves us even further toward the vision of universal information interchange that motivated the original creation of vendor-neutral structured information standards.”

“Commerce One’s XML specialists have been involved with OASIS since its inception, so we strongly endorse XML.ORG,” said Bob Glushko, Director of Advanced Technology at Commerce One. “We’re part of the XML specification efforts in both OASIS and CommerceNet so we can ensure interoperability among all commerce standards in our Marketsite(TM) products. We will contribute our expertise in the development of open XML electronic markets to XML.ORG in order to assist suppliers and buyers who want to use these specifications to “plug and play”.

“For the first time, the applications of a standard are being held centrally and made available to all interested parties, not simply the standard itself. This advance will surely further the acceptance of XML within the business community and accelerate the development of XML-based initiatives,” said Colin Mackenzie, Manager, Projects Business Unit, Database Publishing Systems Ltd.

“Historically, OASIS has been instrumental in ensuring interoperability in structured markup languages like XML,” said DataChannel CTO Norbert Mikula. “DataChannel is very excited to participate in this groundbreaking XML work under the OASIS umbrella. Our XML Framework(tm) will benefit tremendously from this effort, as will the industry as a whole. We are 100% committed to supporting this work and providing conforming software.”

“This OASIS-sponsored portal fills a void that no other site has been able to fill,” notes Mary McRae, Principal XML Technologist for Document Management Solutions, Inc. “DMSi is pleased to be a part of this effort and looks forward to being able to recommend and implement standards-based
solutions for their clients utilizing the XML.ORG portal.”

“We believe XML.ORG will become the most important clearinghouse for industry standards,” noted Amy Krane, Director of Global Alliances at Enigma. “We are excited to see OASIS take a leadership role to ensure the wide-spread adoption of XML.”

“XML.ORG promises to provide vital infrastructure for the development and exchange of common vocabularies. These vocabularies lie at the heart of powerful new digital relationships connecting businesses of all sizes”, said Lee Buck, CTO of Extensibility, a leading vendor of XML schema tools. “We look forward to contributing to the effort and providing integrated support for XML.ORG across our products.”

“For XML to truly fulfill its potential in business-to-business electronic commerce, there need to be conventions for its use among trading partners,” said F.R. Campagnoni, Chief Technology Officer of GE Information Services. “OASIS will serve a vital role in fueling trading communities’ adoption of XML through interoperability guidelines and a registry infrastructure. We see XML.ORG as a significant resource in our efforts to XML-enable the world’s largest electronic community of more than 100,000 trading partners and support sophisticated supply-chain interactions.”

“GCA is enthusiastic about working with OASIS on XML.ORG,” said Marion Elledge, Senior VP, GCA. “As the principal supporter of XML and other markup language standards, we are pleased to see this application effort take place. The XML.ORG registry is an appropriate place to distribute the results of our work with the ICE Authoring Group and the new metadata initiative for the publishing industry. XML.ORG is a giant step for the industry and GCA is proud to be a part of this initiative.”

“IBM believes that a diversity of XML schemas within any given industry segment is a reflection of the industry itself. We expect this diversity to lead to e-business solutions that take advantage of the universal data sharing capabilities of XML,” said Marie Wieck, director of XML technology, IBM Corporation. “An open and industry-supported process to capture the rich diversity of XML resources like XML.ORG is a step in the right direction. In recognition of that step, we’ve donated our XML-specific search engine xCentral to XML.ORG.”

“XML is rapidly becoming the language of web business, and web business needs a coordinated and open way to communicate. Novell is excited to participate in creation of XML.ORG as the industry portal for development and publishing of XML DTDs and schemas,” said Chris Stone, SVP Strategy, Novell, Inc.. “XML-based integration of business applications with directory and identity services provided by NDS will benefit directly from the efforts of OASIS and XML.ORG.”

“As strong believers in an open standards process, The Object Management Group (OMG) is delighted to work with XML.ORG,” said William Hoffman, President and COO, Object Management Group. “The interest and use of XML shows that is important to developers building enterprise applications, and we believe that the goals of XML.ORG are very complimentary to the work being done by the OMG.”

“The Open Applications Group is pleased that OASIS is making this move to a repository of XML work,” said David Connelly, President of the OAGI. “Our customers have indicated an interest in just such a resource and we are happy to contribute the XML definitions that the Open Applications Group has constructed.”

“XML support is a core technology in the Oracle e-business platform, and our customers are increasingly adopting XML for describing and storing structured data and integrating business applications,” said Jeremy Burton, Vice President of Internet Platform Marketing at Oracle. “At this point, there is a critical need for a vendor-neutral standards group to drive the definition and dissemination of DTD and schema standards for specific vertical industries. In establishing XML.ORG, Oasis is making a significant contribution to this area. We look forward to working with Oasis and other industry groups to establish a rich collection of open specifications for data interchange over
the Internet.”

“POET is pleased to see OASIS provide an open forum for XML information exchange” said Dirk Bartels, President and CEO of POET Software. “We believe in the value of XML as the foundation of the next internet and eCommerce revolution, and we believe that OASIS is providing an excellent environment to encourage, educate and promote XML adoption.”

“XML.ORG is a significant step forward for the industry and Si2 endorses the efforts of OASIS”, stated Don Cottrell, VP of Technology for the Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2). “The development of this information portal is a key step in building the momentum required to achieve wide-spread implementation of open XML-based component information standards such as the Electronic Component Information eXchange (ECIX) QuickData Specifications in the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) industry.” NOTE: The ECIX program was formed at Si2 in the second half of 1996. The goal of the ECIX project sponsors, which have included DARPA, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, IBM, Intel, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, National Semiconductor, Philips Semiconductors, and Texas Instruments, is to provide a seamless flow of component information in both computer and human sensible format from suppliers to end-use customers exploiting the latest media distribution technologies. Information on the ECIX project is available at www.si2.org/ecix.

“As a founding member and active participant of OASIS, and the creators of XMetaL the first native XML content authoring tool, SoftQuad wholeheartedly endorses the creation of XML.ORG,” says Roberto Drassinower, President and CEO, SoftQuad Software Inc. “This initiative eliminates many of the barriers that threaten the wide scale acceptance of XML as an industry and enterprise wide data sharing standard.”

“We at STEP have practiced the implementation of open standards – especially SGML, the “mother” of XML – since the 1980s in numerous consulting and software projects,” said Tibor Tscheke, Managing Director, STEP Electronic Publishing Solutions GmbH. “With the rise and striking success of XML, the need for industry standards has become an imperative in order to fulfill XML’s promise of being the exchange standard for data. We from STEP commit ourselves thoroughly to OASIS’ XML industry portal which we consider crucial for the success of XML – because structured data is what we believe in.”

“XML is at the core of our dot com architecture and product initiatives,” said Jonathan Schwartz, Vice President and General Manager, Internet Development Products, Sun Microsystems. “Sun has long supported the efforts of OASIS in promoting vendor-neutral standards for structured data exchange, and we applaud the establishment of XML.ORG as a natural and much-needed extension of the consortium’s mission.”

“Since its inception two years ago the XML/edi Group has vigorously promoted the broad adoption of interoperable XML Repositories with integral Glossaries. The OASIS XML.ORG initiative is the now set to deliver on that vision for the industry,” said David RR Webber of The XML/edi Group (www.XMLedi.org). “This is a crucial piece that will underpin business acceptance of XML, and provide cross-domain interoperability. The OASIS XML.ORG portal focus, including the outreach through training and certification, shows the depth of the work needed. We are looking forward to working closely with OASIS to make XML.ORG a success.”

Tim Bray, independent programmer and co-editor of XML 1.0, said “When we teach people about XML, one of the first questions they ask is always ‘where do I go to find DTDs?’ It’s a good question, and I’m delighted to see OASIS going to work on building a good answer.”

“At Xyvision Enterprise Solutions, we have long recognized the need for publicly available and agreed-upon DTDs, schemas, and vocabularies,” says Kevin Duffy, President and CEO of Xyvision Enterprise Solutions. “Not only will the XML.ORG effort by OASIS significantly enhance the value of the solutions we provide for our customers, it will also enhance the integration of XML and XML-related tools in numerous industries including telecommunications, aerospace, publishing, product documentation, and the Internet/Intranet arena. We applaud OASIS and XML.ORG for this initiative.”