Briefs

REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)
today announced the release of the beta specification for XML for
Analysis -- a new protocol that extends the Microsoft business
intelligence strategy to the Microsoft(R) .NET vision of Web services,
allowing application developers to provide analytic capabilities to
any client on any device or platform using any programming
language. Built on HTTP, XML and SOAP and with more than 50 industry
players having been instrumental in its development, XML for Analysis
is being hailed by developers of analytical tools as the first
cross-platform solution designed to address the unique challenges of
analytical data access and manipulation.

As an extension to OLE DB for OLAP and OLE DB for Data Mining, XML for
Analysis uses the Internet as the platform for building analytical
applications from diverse sources of data, thus enabling developers to
provide better Web services for analytic data. Corporations can now
allow trading partners, customers and suppliers to access data easily
and securely over the Web without worrying about client operating
system, application language or middleware compatibility issues.

Availability

The beta specification of XML for Analysis is now available for
download at http://www.microsoft.com/data . A beta software
development kit of XML for Analysis is planned to be available for
download in early 2001, and final specification and software for XML
for Analysis are scheduled to be available in the first half of 2001.

Source http://www.microsoft.com/data