2003 has been an exciting year so far for XML and Web services technologies and standardization. Most of the focus has been on stabilization of existing initiatives and making XML-based communications more robust, secure, and manageable. We have also seen key standards developments such as XQuery and XForms.

Of course, we're not finished with the year yet, and I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to celebrate the continued success and challenges in the world of XML and Web services at the Web Services Edge 2003 West Conference & Expo.

Building on the runaway success of the spring show in Boston, the fall show brings together the best of the best in XML. For the XML Track in particular, we have Jon Bosak, considered by many to be the "father of XML," giving a talk on the large-scale UBL initiative. Andy Astor, who has recently been nominated to the board of the WS-I organization, will focus on the standards-based integration mantra, discussing how the EAI space is now "officially" open standards-based rather than based on proprietary technologies. Phil Steitz from American Express gives a word of caution and suggestions on how to architect XML applications and services with security in mind. His session was an absolute delight at the spring show and I am looking forward to his session in Santa Clara.

An exciting addition to the XML Track is the "XML at Johnson & Johnson" session to be presented by Ajay Anand. Ajay will take us through the steps taken to transform XML from a cool technology to a corporate standard at J&J, highlighting the benefits that XML brought to this Fortune 500 company. David Connelly from the Open Applications Group will discuss canonical documents, a key to the success of hub and spoke-based integration strategy. Dr. T.V. Raman, who has been deeply involved with the development of XForms, is no stranger to XML-J readers. He'll provide a much-needed introduction to XForms, which is a huge step forward from the existing XHTML Web forms technology. By now you've probably noticed the increasing focus on XQuery, another developing standard, in the last few issues of XML-J. Paul Cotton, who has been instrumental in the development of the standard, will address XQuery as a fundamental technology for enterprise information integration. The increasing popularity of XML Schemas should be no surprise - Chris Peltz will present some tips on using XML Schemas for effective WSDL, and Ayesha Malik will guide us through a set of best practices for XML Schema development. And of course, I'm very excited about my own session.

Building on the various "Technology Trends" articles that I've presented over the course of this year, I will highlight the trends of XML in various arenas including enterprise applications, integration and application servers, development tools, enterprise portals, and content management. I'm also compelled to mention the exciting lineup of keynotes for the fall show. We have Allan Vermeulen (CTO and VP of Amazon.com), John Magee (VP of Oracle9i), David Litwack (VP, Novell), John Schmidt (chair of EAI Industry Consortium Committee and leader of system integrations at Best Buy), and Marc Fleury (president of the JBoss project).

As you can see, Web Services Edge 2003 West is packed with insight on technologies and their real-world business applications. A key ingredient in the success of the conference is the fact that it brings about the unique combination of standards (XML, Web services) and their implementation platforms (J2EE, Microsoft .NET, Mac OS X), and you can pick and choose from sessions on standards, real-world business applications, and how to get started implementing both. This combination is what I think makes this show stand out among the rest. So get packing and head out to sunny California, and I'll see you there!