InformationWeek

Increasing vendor activity adds momentum to XML, a set of rules for defining data structures. Microsoft this week will release its most advanced XML engine yet as part of its Internet Explorer 5.0 browser. Last week, Sun Microsystems said it will develop a standard XML extension to its Java programming language, while Netscape said it will add XML support to its E-commerce applications.

Is the emerging standard ready for widespread adoption? Some users think so. "XML is one of the fundamental building blocks of the future application development environment," says Dennis Walsh, chief information technology officer at General Motors. "There's no question that XML is a standard for common data exchange," says Ben Meiry, director of collaboration infrastructure at Merrill Lynch. "We view it as an important strategic direction."

XML emerged because developers wanted to extend the capabilities of HTML, the original language of the Web. XML makes it possible to create mark-up languages for specific purposes, such as formatting a purchase order for an auto-parts supplier.

GM is using XML to make legacy data available to Web browsers. The automaker uses an XML server application from DataChannel Corp. to pull data from many sources, such as Oracle and IBM databases on Unix servers. The product, called Rio, formats the data in XML, transforms the XML into Web pages, and serves the pages to browsers. Users get data from multiple sources in one interface, and developers needn't alter legacy applications or reformat data.

GM is using DataChannel's technology in its engineering and quality-assurance applications and will test it in other areas of the company later this year. Because Rio is written in Java, the automaker can use it on almost any operating system. Both Java and XML are platform-independent and use HTTP to move data across networks. The technologies are complementary in that XML formats data and Java processes it. "The combination of XML and Java is very powerful," Walsh says.

That power isn't lost on Sun, which plans to build an extension to Java that will let the language pass data back and forth with XML. Sun's XML extension will conform to XML document formatting standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium and the Simple API for XML (SAX), a popular Java-XML interface developed by members of an Internet E-mail list.

Sun hopes its Java extension will make more developers comfortable with using SAX. "With a standard extension, companies will have the security that the SAX interface will be part of the Java platform permanently, and it will give them security in using it," says J.P. Morgenthal, an analyst at N.C. Focus, a research firm. Sun expects a specification for the extension to be ready in three to six months. Once it's done, Sun will release it as an add-on to its Java virtual machine.

Users look to XML to solve a variety of problems. Merrill Lynch uses it as a packaging mechanism for distributing software to PCs. Later this year, it will begin using XML to distribute news and financial data to desktop systems. The brokerage is also experimenting with using XML to distribute data to handheld devices such as 3Com Palm Pilots.

As an all-purpose data-distribution mechanism, XML can have an impact on the bottom line. "XML can save from 30% to 60% of the cost of distributing data," says Meiry. "The cost savings, performance gains, and scope of feature enhancements that you can roll out [using XML] can be so dramatic as to really make senior people take notice."

However, Merrill Lynch is wary of XML's performance in one area: handling real-time information. "It's not optimal for large amounts of real-time data," says Meiry. For that reason, Merrill Lynch is holding back in using XML in applications that involve real-time stock quotes.

Meanwhile, some vendors are putting a lot of effort behind improving XML. Microsoft is working to enhance the functionality of XML applications with a new XML engine that ships this week with Internet Explorer 5.0. The engine will also be a standard feature of Windows 2000 server and desktop editions.

What's more, Microsoft's XML engine will play a key role in supporting BizTalk, a framework for XML apps Microsoft introduced this month. BizTalk is a set of XML document formats that industry groups can extend to meet their particular needs. Microsoft plans to work with standards bodies in manufacturing, health care, insurance, and other industries to define formats. The software maker will support the formats in its BizTalk Server, due for release two to three months after Windows 2000 ships later this year. The formats will be published, allowing other vendors to support them as well.

Vendors that specialize in enterprise application integration are recognizing XML's potential as a standard in their business. Tempest Software Inc. uses XML in its Tempest Messenger System to facilitate data exchange between applications in multiple companies. "XML is a hub language," says Francis Cianfrocca, the New York company's co-founder and chairman. "It gives you a unified way to express things."

That unified view is what Dun & Bradstreet Corp. needs. XML is at the core of the company's global-access system, which lets customers access many sources of data about the credit status of companies around the world. D&B built adapters that format data on its host systems in XML. B2B Integration Server from webMethods Inc. presents that data to customers via the Internet. About 25 companies currently access D&B's data this way, but that number is expected to increase by year's end as D&B starts using XML to send data to ERP systems. "The goal is to provide one-and only one-access system to represent Dun & Bradstreet data" on the Internet, says Tom Gwydir, the company's project director for Internet development. "The only way to do that is XML."

IBM is stepping up to its customers' interest in XML. The company last week released Xeena, a visual interface for creating XML documents and vocabularies. By the end of the month, it will release an XML Parser for C++, which helps developers parse, process, and create XML documents.

IBM also has plans for XML beyond development tools. This summer, the company will release a version of its DB2 database that stores, indexes, searches, and retrieves XML documents. In September, IBM will release a version of its MQSeries messaging-oriented middleware that connects XML and legacy messages. IBM also plans to add XML support to all its operating systems and processors and offer XML consulting through its services division. "We're very serious about XML," says Marie Wieck, director of technology in the network computing software division at IBM.

The increasing momentum behind XML means users can be serious about it now, too.

With additional reporting by Jeff Sweat