OASIS Forms CGM Open Member Section to Advance WebCGM Graphics Standard

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

OASIS Forms CGM Open Member Section to Advance WebCGM Graphics Standard

WebCGM Co-Creators Formalize Relationship Within International Standards
Body and Launch Work on WebCGM v2.0


BOSTON, MA, USA; 4 AUGUST 2004--After more than five years of successful
cooperation with OASIS as an affiliate, CGM Open has transitioned to become
a Member Section of the OASIS global standards consortium. With the
inaugural meeting of its OASIS CGM Open WebCGM Technical Committee, CGM Open
has taken the next step, launching an aggressive agenda built around
advanced development and interoperability of the well-established WebCGM
standard.

WebCGM version 1.0, a vector graphics standard used in online technical
documents such as parts catalogs and electronic manuals, was produced by a
collaborative effort of CGM Open and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in
1999.  Requirements from the user community,  especially for a Document
Object Model (DOM) and an XML companion file architecture, have elevated
production of a WebCGM version 2.0 as the first priority for the OASIS CGM
Open WebCGM Technical Committee.  A WebCGM DOM will allow dynamic access to
information stored in the graphics file.  An XML companion file architecture
will allow objects in the file to be associated with metadata – from simple
hotspot links to complex multi-language screentips or context-sensitive
data.  These enhancements will improve both the vendor neutrality of WebCGM,
and the application neutrality as well – industry consortia will be able to
easily derive their individual standards from the WebCGM base.

"WebCGM 2.0 will incorporate critical new features needed in the
marketplace," said Dave Cruikshank of the Boeing Company, chair of the OASIS
CGM Open WebCGM Technical Committee. "We expect WebCGM 2.0 to become the
core profile for all industry sectors, ensuring vendor-neutral
interoperability between CGM-enabled products."

"WebCGM is an exciting example of productive, cross-consortia cooperation at
work," noted Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS. "CGM was first
published by the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). CGM Open and W3C expanded
on that work by developing WebCGM. Now, the OASIS CGM Open Member Section
looks forward to continuing that productive collaboration with WebCGM
version 2.0."

"WebCGM 2.0 forms a significant portion of our vision of where CGM is
going," commented Dieter Weidenbrück of ITEDO Software, chair of the OASIS
CGM Open Member Section Steering Committee. "We see our main goal in
providing users with a reliable and powerful format that meets their
requirements."

Members of the OASIS CGM Open Member Section include representatives of
Airbus, Arbortext, Auto-trol Technology, The Boeing Company, US National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and others. WebCGM 2.0
technical definition, plus several parallel implementations, are expected to
be substantially finished in late 2004.  


About CGM Open:
CGM Open, an OASIS Member Section, works to accelerate the adoption,
application, and implementation of the Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM), the
ISO/IEC 8632:1999 standard for open interchange of structured graphical
objects and their associated attributes. In collaboration with the World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C), CGM Open developed WebCGM, a profile that
provides a reliable method of publishing two-dimensional technical graphics
on the Web. 

About OASIS:
OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards)
is a not-for-profit, international 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. The
consortium produces more Web services standards than any other organization
along with standards for security, e-business, and standardization efforts
in the public sector and for application-specific markets. Founded in 1993,
OASIS has more than 3,000 participants representing over 600 organizations
and individual members in 100 countries. Approved OASIS Standards include
AVDL, CAP, DocBook, DSML, ebXML, SAML, SPML, UDDI, WSRP, WSS, XACML, and
XCBF. 
http://www.oasis-open.org


Additional information:
OASIS CGM Open WebCGM Technical Committee
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/cgmo-webcgm


Press contact:
Carol Geyer
OASIS Director of Communications
carol.geyer@oasis-open.org
+1.978.667.5115 x290