Keywords: ASN.1, Content Repurposing, Conversion, Data interchange, Data representation, DOM, Encoding, Fragment, Handheld device, Integration, Interoperability, Mobile, RELAX NG, Schema, W3C XML Schema, XML
Biography
Rich Rollman is a founder and Vice President of Engineering and Product Development at AgileDelta, Inc., an independent software vendor that supplies XML and Web Services infrastructure software for use on mobile computing platforms.Prior to joining AgileDelta, Mr. Rollman was founder and CEO of DataConcert, a startup that built E-Business solutions using XML and Web Services to link enterprises with their small and mid-size trading partners. At DataConcert, he was responsible for the design, development, marketing, and sales of DataConcert's E-Business solutions.Mr. Rollman has been working on XML technologies since their inception. He was the Group Program Manager for Microsoft's core XML technologies (MS XML) and SQL Server's XML functionality (SQLXML). He later led product management at Crossgain Corporation where he built XML-centric programming models for web services.Mr. Rollman writes the monthly XML Explorer column for SQL Server Magazine. He has 20 years experience building Internet and client-server software on a variety of computing platforms. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering.
Biography
John Schneider is a founder and Chief Technology Officer at AgileDelta, Inc., an independent software vendor that supplies XML and Web Services infrastructure software for use on mobile computing platforms.Prior to founding AgileDelta, Mr. Schneider led Engineering and Program Management for Crossgain Corporation, a high profile Microsoft spin-off founded to radically simplify building and deploying web services and applications (sold to BEA). He was also Principal Systems Engineer at MITRE where he kick-started and led a variety of international XML initiatives for the United States and NATO. Mr. Schneider founded and is leading ECMA's ECMAScript for XML (E4X) group, which is developing the first mainstream XML programming language and has active participation from Microsoft, BEA, IBM, MacroMedia, RIM and others. He helped develop the XML Query Language and the XML Schema Language. He was a U.S. delegate to NATO on technology initiatives related to XML, messaging, data interoperability and integrated business processes. Mr. Schneider has twenty years experience developing technology with a focus on mobile technologies, data encoding, information management, data interoperability and messaging. He has a Masters degree and Bachelors degree in Computer Science.
Binary XML has been a controversial and hotly debated topic in the XML community for many years. The XML 1.x syntax is very flexible and provides a common information representation for a vast array of systems. The XML marketplace has generated a seemingly endless collection of low cost, high quality, rapidly evolving technologies that make creating, sharing, manipulating, securing and accessing information easier. Systems that have adopted XML are cashing in on the economic and interoperability benefits of the XML marketplace. Some believe the introduction of a second, more efficient encoding for XML information would drastically reduce or destroy the flexibility or interoperability benefits of XML.
On the other hand, the XML 1.x syntax was not designed with efficiency in mind. Consequently, it is often not practical or possible to use XML in systems where efficiency is critical or bandwidth is limited. This situation creates an interoperability rift between the systems that can process XML and those that cannot. In addition, it significantly limits the number of systems that can realize the benefits of XML. Consequently, there is a large and growing community that believe a second, more efficient encoding of XML information is critical for extending the benefits of XML to systems where efficiency is important, including mobile devices, set-top boxes, automobiles, gaming consoles, aircraft, etc.
Please join us for an open, lively discussion which will address the following questions:
What is an efficient XML encoding?
Why is an efficient XML encoding needed?
What systems and applications would benefit from an efficient XML encoding?
This really isn't XML, is it?
How will a second XML encoding impact interoperability?
Isn't gzip good enough for most applications?
What's being done in the W3C?: W3C Binary XML Characterization Working Group
Where do we go from here?
We expect representatives from the W3C, government, academia and a variety of commercial industries to participate in the discussion and represent points of view that support or oppose an efficient XML encoding.
Since this was a Town Hall meeting, it was not possible to prepare a paper for the proceedings.
XHTML rendition made possible by SchemaSoft's Document Interpreter™ technology.