XML: Not Just For Web Services

Whether it's in the area of content management, CRM or enterprise application integration (EAI), XML has certainly grown beyond Web services. In fact, VARBusiness shows 25 percent of solution providers surveyed deploy customer solutions using XML technology.

Many popular software products in the past year were built with XML in an attempt to better use the Internet. For example, PeopleSoft incorporated a Web-based software architecture based on XML for its latest software suite release, PeopleSoft 8. As a result, PeopleSoft's newest CRM and ERP software was warmly received by both analysts and customers.

Salesforce.com is also using XML, but not for traditional software. The San Francisco-based company, which delivers CRM applications as an online subscription service, recently launched its Enterprise Edition, which features XML-based integration with back-office systems and enterprise applications. Those include ERP and supply-chain management systems, as well as Web-services integration tools.

"We have a full XML wrapper in the new release, so we can connect the service to critical back-end systems, which is vital for enterprise customers," says Marc Benioff, president and CEO of Salesforce.com.

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Integration will be a key strength for XML technology, according to solution providers. Sanjay Joshi, CMO at Infosys in Bangalore, India, says XML is essential to a solution provider's integration and software architecture practice. "Connecting front-end and back-end systems at the enterprise level is crucial," Joshi says. "Enterprise-application integration is one of the biggest things going on right now in our market."

Software vendors in other markets are also pushing XML integration. VeriSign, a security software vendor that specializes in public-key infrastructure (PKI) technology, is positioning its XML-based products for Web service security. VeriSign's new Digital Trust Services framework will feature native integration with leading Web services platforms via interfaces based on standards including XML Key Management Standard and Security Assertions Markup Language. VeriSign plans to partner to provide embedded interfaces for its PKI services in its Web services toolkits.

Another popular software area involves XML documents. EXcelon's XIS, for example, is a native XML database that manages large collections of XML documents for enterprise customers using distributed computing architectures. Hewlett-Packard recently teamed with the XML software vendor to leverage its middleware technology. EXcelon's XIS and Javlin, an EJB data caching server, will complement the HP Netaction software suite to help provide high performance for critical Web-services applications on HP's Netaction Application Server 8.0.

Corel is also building a business around XML. The company agreed last summer to acquire SoftQuad, a software vendor that integrated its XMetal, an XML-aware content editor, with Corel's suite, enriching WordPerfect's XML capabilities.

Analyst firm Gartner believes the addition of XML technology will strengthen Corel's word-processing business.

"The acquisition will lead to significant growth for Corel," Gartner analyst Rita Knox said in a report. "Enterprises should explore the benefits of making documents XML-aware." n