Consortium Unveils Online XML Registry

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June 20, 2000 (12:00 AM EDT)

With help from Sun Microsystems, IBM, Oracle, and other key partners, an interoperability consortium launched the first phase of an XML registry and repository website Tuesday.

The site, www.xml.org, aims to be a warehouse for XML schemas to help solution providers mold the future of e-business, said Laura Walker, executive director of the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information (OASIS).

"Not today, not even two years from now, but eventually, the Internet is going to depend on [XML schemas] for data exchange," Walker said.

Although the site has no schemas now, Walker said "a fair amount" are expected by the end of the week.

XML is a standard programming language for data exchange in applications. Developers use XML schemas to translate the nature of that data in the integration of systems.

In e-business transactions -- particularly in vertical-market B-to-B exchanges -- it is essential that systems use the same schemas to translate XML tags for smooth data transfer. Developers and XML standards bodies are still defining which schemas to use for data transfers in various applications.

Sun (stock: SUNW), Palo Alto, Calif., and Documentum (stock: DCTM), a document content-management systems vendor in Pleasanton, Calif., designed the xml.org site.

IBM (stock: IBM), Armonk, N.Y., and DataChannel, a Bellevue, Wash., XML platform provider, contributed testing resources during the quality assurance phase of the site, while Oracle (stock: ORCL), Redwood Shores, Calif., donated a license for its Oracle8i database for the site's construction.