It takes a certain amount of chutzpah - brash courage - to run a trade show the same week as Comdex. But true to the David & Goliath nature of e-business, this week's XML '98 Show at the Chicago Sheraton is where the real action is, at least regarding the use of document markup to convey data. In a pair of stunning announcements webMethods, Inc., a pioneer of inter-enterprise application integration, revealed partnerships with Microsoft and Object Design, Inc. (ODI) shortly after ODI announced the launch of a new XML data server called eXcelonTM.
The strategic partnerships underscore webMethods' centrality in shaping the next generation of web applications. With Microsoft, the company is developing XQL, a set of extensions to XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language) that provide XML developers a powerful way to query XML-encoded data. Using concise query expressions to express complex retrieval requirements, XQL enables applications to process queries against DOM (Document Object Model) nodes, to embed queries within URLs, and to use XSL as a query language.
The recently announced beta2 version of Internet Explorer 5.0 supports XQL, while webMethods will ship an implementation of the specification in a forthcoming upgrade of its B2B Integration Server. (Related Site: W3C Draft XQL Specification.)
Object persistence
Object Design's object-oriented database management system (OODBMS), ObjectStore®, will be integrated webMethods B2B products to enhance availability, webMethods said in a release. Additionally, the integration will provide a dynamic repository for the storage and maintenance of XML documents. webMethods describes its B2B Integration Server and B2B Developer products as an XML-based solution that facilitates integration between partners' ERP applications, Web sites and legacy data sources.
The partnership has reciprocal benefits for ODI, which will resell webMethods B2B as a connectivity solution for the new eXcelon data server. eXcelon can be used as an application cache for existing data sources, or as a complete data management system for new XML-based applications.
"eXcelon and webMethods B2B are an excellent marriage of technology for any company seeking to deploy new enterprise XML applications," said Larry Alston, vice president of marketing for Object Design. "Object Design's partnership with webMethods will help usher in a new generation of data-driven XML enterprise and inter-enterprise Web applications."
Las Vegas, eat your heart out.
About webMethods
Named one of Red Herring's 1998 Top 50 Privately Held Companies, webMethods, Inc. is the leading vendor of XML-based solutions for business-to-business integration. With webMethods, companies can connect applications to applications, Web sites to Web sites, or business or desktop applications to existing Web sites. The company is based in Fairfax, Virginia, with offices in San Francisco. For more information, contact webMethods at 703/352-8501; by fax at 703/352-0370 or by e-mail at info@webMethods.com.
About Object Design
Headquartered in Burlington, MA, Object Design, Inc. (http://www.objectdesign.com) is a leading provider of enterprise and embedded data management solutions, develops and markets the ObjectStore database management system and related tools, the ObjectStore PSE Pro line of small-footprint embedded databases, and the eXcelon XML data server.
Object Design, the Object Design logo, ObjectStore, Leadership by Design, and Object Exchange are registered trademarks of Object Design, Inc. eXcelon and Cache-Forward are trademarks of Object Design, Inc. webMethods and webMethods B2B are trademarks of webMethods, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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