Who's Using XML and How?

• Most application vendors plan to add XML data interchange capability to their software. Several have already done so.

• Software development tools for XML integration exist now in Java, Perl, and other programming environments.

• W3C -- Does the technical work of creating standards for the components of XML (XML itself, DTDs, schemas, etc.)

• Organizations funded by groups of companies

• Usually to promote and standardize communication within an industry

• OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards)
  • Operates XML.org and oasis-open.org

  • Promotes XML in electronic commerce and other industrial applications

• Rosettanet
  • Develops and deploys "standard electronic business interfaces"

  • Objective: to streamline the IT supply chain (vertical market)

  • Sample application: XML data exchange among online catalogs

• Ontology.org
  • Defines methods for creating "standard taxonomies (ontologies) that support the creation of a wide range of digital content and services."

  • "The main barrier to electronic commerce lies in the need for applications to meaningfully share information, not in the reliability or security of the Internet."

  • Information sharing is termed content syndication and is often built on subscription as a business model.

  • W3C describes a protocol for syndicated content, Internet Commerce Exchange (ICE)

• HTML itself has been reinvented as an XML application and the resulting XHTML 1.0 and HTML 4.01 are now W3C Recommendations.

• Bluestone's xWingML generates Java Swing GUIs from XML documents. The user interface to its suite of tools is called Visual-XML. (Bluestone was recently acquired by HP.)

• WebMethods' B2B (business-to-business) server uses XML.

• Broadvision uses XML as the communication protocol among its e-commerce tools.

• Ariba's Commerce XML (cXML)

• CommerceOne's XML-enabled MarketSite

• The United Nations' Center for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business's ebXML

• The Apache group has added XML features to its webserver (the most popular)

• Tellme has developed VXML (Voice XML) an XML-based language for building "phone sites" into which users enter commands by voice and touchtone. For example, Schwab customers can get stock quotes by talking on the phone with one of these. Here is a sample VXML application. Here is the DTD -- View Source to get past the error message in IE. (Thanks to Tom Counts for this info.)

• Microsoft
  • Many tools and services related to XML, for example XML Web Services.

  • Microsoft has made a big commitment to XML-based standards and technologies. There are many links on the Microsoft website but they change frequently... beware.

• HP
  • ChaiFarer -- an XML-enabled browser for embedded applications. Part of Chai, HP's suite of software products, development tools and services for designing information appliances

  • E-Speak product suite for web-based distributed services, based on XML

• Oracle
  • XML Developer's Kit (XDK) includes a schema processor, parsers, class generators for Java and C++, an XSQL servlet, etc.

  • Oracle 8i and 9i databases have XML features (e.g. can read and write native XML)

• IBM
  • "XML Zone" strategy

  • Tools and services including XML parsers, viewers, Beans, SOAP, etc.

• Sun
  • Java Project X

  • FAQ

  • XML Data-Binding for Java

• Autodesk
  • LandXML, an extension for AutoCAD to support platform-independent communication among land development professionals

  • More XML applications are coming

• SAP
  • XML-enabled WebFlow technology

  • The SAP Business Connector uses the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) to exchange XML-based business documents over the Internet and across company firewalls

• O'Reilly
  • xml.com

• Medicine
  • Health Level Seven (HL7) is developing a DTD (and, eventually, schemas) called Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) for healthcare and information management of the medical record.

  • The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) is using XML to standardize the medical record.

• Architecture, Engineering, and Construction
  • aecxmlspec.doc from aecxml.org, a consortium setting standards for data exchange; see, in particular:
    • the list of types of information in the Scope (Section 1)
    • the list of use cases (Section 2)
    • the list of XML elements (Section 7)
    • Appendix B, an aecXML scenario

  • A parts supplier catalog entry and its DTD.

• Financial services
  • New applications under development at Schwab and other industry leaders use XML for communication among their components and with business partners.

  • The Open Financial Exchange (OFX) was created by CheckFree, Intuit and Microsoft in 1997. Its XML-based specification supports financial activities on the Internet including:
    • Consumer and small business banking
    • Consumer and small business bill payment
    • Bill presentment
    • Investments tracking, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and 401(k) account details
    As of September 2001, OFX is used by 1400 banks, brokerages, and payroll processing companies.

  • www.derivativesstrategy.com, a technology leader in investment services

  • An overview of evolution toward XML

  • Financial Products Markup Language (FpML)

  • FinXML, a standard for data interchange within capital markets

• Travel
  • A booking scenario

• Web portals
  • XMLtree indexes websites that use XML