It Companies Propose XML Standard

A group of leading high-tech companies have proposed a new standard that will allow disparate computing applications to communicate with one another. BEA Systems, BMC Software, Cisco Systems, Dell, EMC, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems announced the Service Modeling Language (SML) and said they would support the standard going forward. Based on an XML standard developed by Microsoft called Systems Definition Model, SML promises to lower the cost of maintaining data centers by offering a common language for servers, networking equipment, and other computing devices to share information. Kirill Tatarinov, vice president at Microsoft, said the SML effort is notable because of the broad participation and support it has. Ric Telford, vice president of autonomic computing at IBM, said that building SML on existing Microsoft technology is a more efficient approach to standards development than merely submitting a concept to a standards body.

CNET, 31 July 2006