XML document management tools debut

New Web format creates richer electronic documents from multiple data sources.

By Ellen Messmer
Network World, 4/6/98

The Extensible Markup Language standard was just finalized, but a new breed of document managment tools based on XML's neutral format for structured data is already set to debut.

Interleaf, Inc., in a co-development agreement with Microstar Software, Ltd., plans to release an NT server-based product called BladeRunner by year-end. BladeRunner is a desktop publishing tool that turns nearly any document into XML format. This provides a high degree of flexibility, proponents claimed. "Once you have it in XML, you can generate it as HTML or Word or anything else," said Jaime Ellerston, president and CEO of Interleaf.

The advantage of the World Wide Web Consortium's XML standard is its facility in assembling text and data from a variety of sources. That way, a user can create a complex electronic document that can still be easily searched or sent over the Internet, typically using HTTP.

BladeRunner will make use of Microstar's Near and Far XML authoring tool for creating user- or industry-defined Document Type Definitions (DTD). A specific XML DTD would let a user validate XML content to ensure it has been structured in the intended way.

DTDs are expected to be widely used in electronic commerce applications, such as purchase orders, shipping notices and Web forms.

Interleaf and Microstar aren't the only vendors taking steps to implement XML. Xerox Co. spinoff Chrystal Software already has started shipping an XML content management system called Astoria 3.0 that can be searched with the Verity search engine. Astoria 3.0 starts at $42,000, according to Sean Baird, Chrystal Software product manager.

WebMethods, Inc. last month announced the XML-based B2B Integration Server, which will automate the exchange of data between applications, Web sites and legacy data sources such as electronic data interchange. The B2B Integration Server, scheduled to ship in the second quarter for Unix and NT, costs $12,995.

Other companies lining up behind XML include Interwoven, Inc. with its TeamSite tool for Web site development; Inso Corp. with Version 4.0 of its Dynatext Professional Publishing System; and DataChannel, Inc., which just released the DataChannel XML Development Kit - Professional.

And, of course, vendors that already support the Standard Generalized Markup Language will be adding XML - which at heart is simply SGML's simpler, easier-to-use cousin - to their lines of document management products. These include Texcel International and Kinetic Technologies.