August 9, 1999

XML's Legacy

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The Extensible Markup Language is becoming the preferred way to make legacy data available to users via the Internet

By Charles Waltner

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nterest in the Extensible Markup Language as a way to make data from legacy applications available to large numbers of users over an intranet, extranet, or the Web is intensifying as more companies pursue business-to-business electronic commerce and supply-chain automation. But conflicting standards and the lack of development tools are making the development and deployment of XML applications a challenge.

XML was developed to extend the capabilities of HTML, which uses standardized tags to identify elements within a Web page. But XML allows tags to be defined by the page developer, so tags for virtually any piece of information-such as product, buyer, and amount due-can be used for specific applications, letting Web pages function like database records. Since these pages are accessible to anyone with a browser and Internet access, XML is fast becoming the preferred way to make data stored in legacy systems available throughout the company and to suppliers.

Gillian Webster, VP of marketing at Rogue Wave Software Inc., says requests from customers for development tools for XML have escalated during the last four months. "For a while, everyone seemed to be tentative about XML-and then over the last few months it has almost become a requirement to have XML support in your product," Webster says.

Early adopters of the technology are, on balance, very satisfied with it. Dun & Bradstreet Corp. in Murray Hill, N.J., one of the world's biggest business-to-business credit, marketing, and purchasing information providers, has been using XML to create a common interface to its mix of host computers at offices around the world. The goal, according to Tom Gwydir, director of Internet development at the company, is to simplify distribution of reports and information to institutional customers. He says the technology is living up to the hype.

Under the old approach, each of Dun & Bradstreet's host computers had its own proprietary protocols, making widespread access to data complicated. The company is using WebMethods Inc.'s B2B Developer and B2B Integration Server, which uses XML to automate the exchange of data between legacy data sources without costly application redevelopment. The system can access data from a company's databases, enterprise resource planning applications, and electronic data interchange systems.

Gwydir says XML makes queries to the company's database network much more accurate. "No matter which computer you query, you get the same answer to the same question every time," Gwydir says. The data reporting system is easier to maintain, he adds, because there's only one protocol for all the legacy interfaces.

W.W. Grainger Inc., a $4 billion supplier of maintenance, repair, and industrial operations materials and equipment in Lake Forest, Ill., has been developing XML to simplify the collection of product information from suppliers for its electronic catalog. The company uses OnDisplay Inc.'s CenterStage Server and suite of tools to automatically transfer product information from suppliers. This has cut the time it takes to post product information to its Web catalog in half, according to Ron Paulson, executive director of product information and sources at W.W. Grainger.

XML works particularly well for making data stored in legacy systems available internally. The problems with XML become apparent when companies try to share legacy data with business partners or customers. That's because XML's strength is also its weakness. The technology is so flexible that almost any organization or industry group can develop and declare its own "standard." If several versions of XML emerge within the same industry, it becomes difficult to share data. "That's the fly in the ointment," says Timm Vonu, president of Intelligent Environments Inc., a Burlington, Mass., vendor of E-commerce integration servers that in the fall will include XML functionality.

It's unlikely that a worldwide XML standard will ever emerge. But a universal standard may not be necessary for XML to fulfill its promise. XML can work if specific industries, such as finance and insurance, settle on a vocabulary and formatting approach for exchanging the most common types of information in that industry. "If an industry can agree to a standard for XML, that's a big leap forward," says Laurie Orlov, a senior analyst at Forrester Research.

Many industry groups are already developing XML standards. RosettaNet, a consortium for electronic business in the high-tech industry, is creating a set of XML standards for ex- changing data between IT vendors over the Internet. J.P. Morgan & Co. is spearheading an XML standard for the finance industry. Microsoft has unveiled plans to promote BizTalk as an XML standard, and other vendors, including procurement software provider Ariba Inc., are developing their own flavors of the technology.

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