ICE Authoring Group Releases Draft Requirements for Industry Comment

ICE2 Moves Content Syndication into Web Services Environment; Comments Due

March 8, 2002 ALEXANDRIA, VA (February 20, 2002) - IDEAlliance and the ICE (Information and Content Exchange) Authoring Group have announced that the Draft Requirements for ICE2 Specification will be released to the public on February 21, 2002. The release will take place during the XML and Publishing Hot Technology Day of the Seybold Conference and Exposition in New York City.

According to Dr. Richard Martin, Chairman of the ICE2 Specification Development Committee, "For the next version of the ICE protocol, it is critical to consider integration of Web Services' related standards for the ICE2 definition. Given that ICE content syndication and the Web Services standards are squarely focused on distributed computing space, the synergy between the two sets of standards should be exploited to make ICE2 more complete and easier to adopt."

The ICE Authoring Group has initially identified 15 draft requirements that identify the lessons learned during the past four years of ICE implementations, coupled with continued innovations in the XML community, to review and refine ICE to meet the growing demands of business. The goal is to express the ICE content syndication standard as a Web Service. This first major revision of the ICE Specification will focus on compatibility with the three major Web Services Standards æ WSDL, SOAP and UDDI.

In addition to the exciting new technical work being undertaken by the ICE Authoring Group, the shift toward opening the technical work to industry involvement is another major milestone for the ICE Authoring Group. According to David Steinhardt, President and CEO of IDEAlliance, "ICE1 was developed by the activity sponsors, who held a vested interest in solving the problem of automating and managing content exchange. Today, four years later, the environment has changed dramatically. We are opening the technical development and seek input from the entire industry to ensure that ICE2 meets the requirements of a broader community."

Development of the ICE2 specification is an open industry activity. Anyone interested in participation can begin by reviewing the Draft Requirements Document at www.icestandard.org. Comments relating to the ICE2 Specification Draft Requirements are due back to the ICE-AG by March 8, 2002.

To learn more about participation in the ICE development activity, e-mail Laird Popkin, Chairman of the ICE Authoring Group, at laird@3path.com or Dr. Richard Martin, Chairman of the ICE2 development effort, at rmartin@activedatax.com.

About ICE and the ICE Authoring Group

ICE (Information and Content Exchange) is a key industry initiative hosted by IDEAlliance and sponsored by a group of companies who have a common interest in solving the problem of automating and managing the exchange of every type of content. The group consists of software developers and companies who distribute or consume content, whether commercially or within intranet and extranet frameworks. The ICE Authoring Group and the ICE Network are open to all companies and include companies such as Adobe Systems, Vignette, Active Data Exchange, Oracle, Tribune Media Services, and 3Path, Inc. Learn more about ICE at www.icestandard.org.

About IDEAlliance

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 technologies 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. Learn more about IDEAlliance at www.idealliance.org.

Contact

Dianne Kennedy
630-941-8197
sgmldk@aol.com