MISMO Joins the Web Services Interoperability Organization as 12th Associate Member

Business Wire, April 23, 2007

Demonstrates Growing Support Among Vertical Industry Standards Organizations

WAKEFIELD, Mass. -- The Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I; www.ws-i.org) today announced its 12th Associate Member: MISMO (www.mismo.org). WS-I is an open industry organization whose members promote Web services interoperability across platforms, operating systems and programming languages.

WS-I Associate Membership is offered solely to standards-development organizations (SDOs). MISMO was established in 1999 by the Mortgage Bankers Association to develop, promote and maintain voluntary electronic commerce standards for the mortgage industry.

Specifically, MISMO operates an open, transparent and vendor-neutral environment to build eXtensible Markup Language (XML) specifications for real estate finance transactions.

MISMO has published specifications that support flood and mortgage insurance applications, secondary loan delivery and pricing, real estate services, credit reporting, underwriting processes and eMortgages, with additional process areas under development. The specifications are freely available from the MISMO Web site.

"We are pleased to welcome our newest member, MISMO, and its expertise in electronic commerce standards for the mortgage industry," said Michael Bechauf, chairman of WS-I. "Engaging with standards development organizations is an important aspect of WS-I's mission, and we value the input of groups such as MISMO that are dedicated to bringing the benefits of Web services interoperability to the industries they serve. We look forward to an ongoing collaboration with MISMO, such as we have with all of our Associate Members, to broaden Web services interoperability."

MISMO joins other standards development organizations that hold WS-I Associate Membership, including:

AIAG (www.aiag.org)

CIDX (www.cidx.org)

Energistics (www.energistics.org); Energistics was previously known as POSC

HR-XML Consortium (www.hr-xml.org)

OASIS (www.oasis-open.org)

Object Management Group (www.omg.org)

OPC Foundation (www.opcfoundation.org)

Open Applications Group (www.openapplications.org)

Origo Services (www.origoservices.com)

RAPID, Inc. (www.rapidnet.org)

RosettaNet (www.rosettanet.org)

Unlike standards development organizations (such as the groups listed above) that create new Web services standards and maintain existing standards, WS-I works to assist developers in creating Web services that are both standards-compliant and that can be widely deployed on various Web Services platforms in the industry.

WS-I profiles, available at no charge from www.ws-i.org, guide developers in how to interpret Web services specifications to attain optimal interoperability. WS-I profiles are widely accepted across the industry, demonstrating that Web Services are stable and ready for use in broad communities such as those represented by WS-I Associate Members.

WS-I's members are drawn from 12 countries and all industry sectors. Membership is open to any company or organization interested in contributing to Web services interoperability. Current members include software and hardware vendors, companies that are building or deploying Web services, and standards development organizations. WS-I offers a range of membership choices; organizations may join as Contributing Members, as Associate Members, or as Advocates - a WS-I non-membership participation and support program. Effective immediately, dues for Contributing Membership in WS-I have been reduced from $3,000 to $2,000 per year. Associate Membership is by invitation only and is free.

About WS-I

WS-I is an open, industry organization chartered to promote Web services interoperability across platforms, operating systems, and programming languages. The organization unites a diverse community of Web services companies to provide guidance, recommended practices and supporting resources for developing interoperable Web services. For more information, visit www.ws-i.org or email info@ws-i.org.