DataChannel Participates with United Nations and OASIS to Support ebXML Global Business Initiative

Business Wire, Dec 1, 1999

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--December 1, 1999--

DataChannel Inc. the leading developer of XML-based Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) solutions Wednesday announced its support of the Electronic Business XML Initiative (ebXML), a joint effort of the United Nations CEFACT and OASIS.

ebXML is an open, vendor-neutral initiative to establish a global technical and semantic framework that will enable XML to be utilized in a consistent manner for the exchange of all electronic business data. DataChannel is one of more than 50 organizations participating in the ebXML initiative.

"We are very pleased that DataChannel has joined this effort," said Robert S. Sutor, chief strategy officer of OASIS and vice-chair of the ebXML Initiative. "DataChannel is an active sponsor of the OASIS XML.org industry portal. We look forward to their contributions to the development of these important open XML standards for global e-business."

The first ebXML meeting was held November 17 - 19 in San Jose, Calif., and was attended by over 120 participants representing more than 50 companies, consortiums, and international standards bodies.

"DataChannel is proud to be part of this exciting and revolutionary endeavor," said Norbert H. Mikula, chief technology officer of DataChannel and chief technical officer of OASIS. "The impressive list of participants gives this ambitious effort a very high level of credibility in industry and governments across the globe."

About ebXML

ebXML.org (www.ebXML.org) is an international initiative established by UN/CEFACT and OASIS with a mandate to undertake a 15-18 month program of work to research and identify the technical basis upon which the global implementation of XML (Extensible Markup Language) can be standardized.

The goal is to provide an open technical framework to enable XML to be utilized in a consistent and uniform manner for the exchange of electronic business data in application-to-application, application-to-person and person-to-application environments.

About UN/CEFACT

UN/CEFACT (www.unece.org/cefact) is the United Nations body whose mandate covers worldwide policy and technical development in the area of trade facilitation and electronic business. Headquartered in Geneva, it has developed and promoted many tools for the facilitation of global business processes including UN/EDIFACT, the international EDI standard.

Its current work programme includes such topics as Simpl-edi and Object Oriented EDI and it strongly supports the development and implementation of open, interoperable global standards and specifications for electronic business.

About OASIS

OASIS (www.oasis-open.org) is a non-profit, international consortium dedicated solely to product-independent data and content interchange. Focusing on product interoperability, OASIS embraces the complete spectrum of structured information standards including XML, SGML and CGM.

OASIS operates XML.org (www.xml.org), the first global XML industry portal featuring the XML.org Registry and Repository that offers automated public access to XML schemas for electronic commerce, business-to-business transactions, and tools and application interoperability.

OASIS sponsors include Adobe Systems, AND-USA, Arbortext, Bentley Systems, Boeing, Chrystal Software, Commerce One, Corel, DataChannel, DMSi, Documentum, Dun & Bradstreet, Enigma, Excelergy, Extricity Software, GCA, IBM, InformIT, Inso, InterCAP, Interleaf, Interwoven, ISOGEN, ITEDO, Keyfile, Larson Software, Microsoft, NextPage, NIST, Object Design, Oracle, POET Software, Reed Technology, Reuters, Sabre, Sequoia Software, SoftQuad, Software AG, STEP, Sun Microsystems, Synthbank, System Development, Wavo, Xerox, XMLSolutions, XyEnterprise and Zeh Graphics Systems.

About DataChannel

DataChannel advances the way the world does business by providing open-standards-based Internet solutions through its products, services and partners; ensuring that customers maximize the value of their information.

Privately held and founded in 1996, DataChannel Inc. is an XML-based Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) Solutions company that unleashes enterprise information over the Internet, making it easier for employees, customers and partners to participate in your business. DataChannel's EIP Solutions Framework(TM) provides the building blocks for a solid e-business strategy.

DataChannel Server(TM) 4.0, an XML-based portal server, provides a personalized and secure e-business interface, a core component of the Framework.

The foundation of the Framework is the XML backbone, which extends your existing infrastructure by using XML to expose all enterprise information so that it can be accessed in a uniform manner to build dynamic Web-based applications. To learn more about DataChannel, visit the company's Website at http://www.datachannel.com.

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