[announce] OASIS Launches XML.org Focus Areas

[Carol Geyer <carol.geyer@oasis-open.org>]

OASIS Launches XML.org Focus Areas for Insurance, Human Resources, and
Printing & Publishing

Online XML Clearinghouse Showcases Domain-Specific Content Provided by
ACORD, HR-XML, and IDEAlliance

Boston, MA, USA; 22 January 2003--The OASIS standards consortium today
launched the first in a series of XML.org Focus Areas to provide
domain-specific content on XML standards. XML.org Focus Areas for
Insurance (http://insurance.xml.org/), Human Resources
(http://hr.xml.org/), and Printing & Publishing
(http://publishing.xml.org/) are now publicly available, and new XML.org
Focus Areas for other vertical and horizontal industries will be
introduced periodically. Each XML.org Focus Area covers news, standards
and initiatives, vendors, consortia, trade associations, government
agencies and implementers, events, and resources germane to a specific
domain.

Through XML.org, OASIS partners with experts in each Focus Area to
provide content and editorial guidance. The XML.org Focus Area on
Insurance has been developed in conjunction with ACORD, a nonprofit
association that facilitates the development and use of standards for
the insurance, reinsurance and related financial services industries.
The XML.org Focus Area on Human Resources has been developed in
cooperation with the HR-XML Consortium, a non-profit organization that
develops and promotes XML specifications to enable e-business and the
automation of human resources-related data exchanges. The XML.org Focus
Area on Printing & Publishing has been developed in cooperation with
IDEAlliance (founded as Graphic Communications Association), a
membership organization that advances user-driven, cross-industry
solutions for all publishing and content-related processes.

"XML.org Focus Areas make it easy for people to track XML standards
efforts and XML-related news in their specific area of interest,"
explained Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS. "By partnering
with experts such as ACORD, HR-XML and IDEAlliance, OASIS is confident
that the XML.org Focus Area content will remain comprehensive and
relevant to the needs of companies adopting XML-related industry
standards."

"As an organization committed to collaboration, ACORD is very excited
about the opportunity to be the Insurance Content Provider for XML.org,"
said Gregory Maciag, president and CEO, ACORD. "Our relationships with
insurance trade associations, standards organizations and regulatory
bodies around the world will provide a robust view of XML developments
from the insurance and financial services industry perspective."

"Standards within any one industry or enterprise function create
opportunities and have ramifications beyond the domain in which they
were created," commented Chuck Allen, Director, HR-XML Consortium, Inc.
"This is why the HR-XML Consortium is pleased to support Focus Areas on
XML.org that put cross-industry standards news and resources in one
place," said Allen.

"XML evolved from the publishing world into a specification with much
broader application. IDEAlliance (formerly GCA) continues at the
forefront to foster standards and best practices based on XML for
publishers," stated Marion Elledge, Executive Vice President,
IDEAlliance. "As the Content Partner for the XML.org Printing &
Publishing Focus Area, IDEAlliance welcomes the opportunity to share our
expertise in the publishing arena in ways that impact cross-industry
initiatives."

XML.org Focus Areas will also serve as access-points to related
information on the OASIS-hosted Cover Pages, widely regarded as the most
comprehensive public resource for information on XML, SGML, and related
technical standards for the structured information community.

Future XML.org Focus Areas will include Financial Services, Defense
Logistics, Education, Tax/Accounting, E-Government, Security, Retail,
Localization & Globalization, E-Marketplaces, and others. XML.org is
sponsored by BEA Systems, Global Exchange Services, ISOGEN
International, and SAP.


About ACORD http://www.acord.org
ACORD (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development)
is a global, nonprofit insurance association whose mission is to
facilitate the development and use of standards for the insurance,
reinsurance and related financial services industries. ACORD
accomplishes its mission by remaining an objective, independent advocate
for sharing information among diverse platforms. ACORD Standards and
services improve efficiency and expand market reach. Affiliated with
ACORD are hundreds of insurance and reinsurance companies, and thousands
of agents and brokers, related financial services organizations,
software providers, and industry organizations worldwide.

About HR-XML http://www.hr-xml.org
The HR-XML Consortium is an independent, non-profit organization
dedicated to enabling e-commerce and human resources data interchange
universal. The mission of the HR-XML Consortium is to spare employers
and vendors the risk and expense of having to negotiate and agree upon
data interchange mechanisms on an ad-hoc basis. By developing and
publishing open data exchange standards based on Extensible Markup
Language ("XML"), the Consortium aims to provide the means for any
company to transact with other companies without having to establish,
engineer, and implement many separate interchange mechanisms. HR-XML’s
efforts are focused on standards for staffing and recruiting, benefits
enrollment, payroll, competencies, and workforce management.

About IDEAlliance www.idealliance.org
IDEAlliance (International Digital Enterprise Alliance) is a
not-for-profit membership organization. Its mission is to advance
user-driven, cross-industry solutions for all publishing and
content-related processes by developing standards, fostering business
alliances, and identifying best practices. IDEAlliance has been a leader
in information technology since 1966 (founded as Graphic Communications
Association) having fostered the development and adoption of standards
such as ADIS, GRACoL, ICE, JIFFI, Mail.dat, papiNet, PRISM, PROSE XML,
SPACE XML, SGML, and XML.

About OASIS http://www.oasis-open.org
OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information
Standards) is a not-for-profit, global consortium that drives the
development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards. Members
themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open
process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite
disparate efforts. OASIS produces worldwide standards for security, Web
services, XML conformance, business transactions, electronic publishing,
topic maps and interoperability within and between marketplaces. OASIS
has more than 600 corporate and individual members in 100 countries
around the world.


For more information:

Carol Geyer
Director of Communications
OASIS (www.oasis-open.org)
carol.geyer@oasis-open.org
+1.978.667.5115 x209