XML-J: Tell us what IXIASOFT does, what you're all about.
Vauclair: We have an XML server that's a repository, an indexing engine, and a search engine all built into one item. It's specifically targeted toward developers, integrators, and people looking to integrate an XML database component to the applications they're building.

XML-J: How does that differ from some of the other XML servers on the market?
Vauclair: First of all, it's really geared to be embedded within applications, so for that purpose we have APIs that are documented. Also we have a price point that makes it affordable for people building applications for the new XML markets out there to actually have an XML component within their application. Our server retails for $3,500 per server license. If you compare that to other XML servers or databases on the market, they actually sell for upwards of several tens of thousands of dollars. Unless you're planning on turning around a product that's going to sell for $100K+, I think it's a good idea to look at our server.

XML-J: Can you tell us about some of the companies that are using your server today? How it fits into their overall platform?
Vauclair: Actually the companies using our products are probably not as well known because they're integrators, developers, and consultants building applications for their customers. But some of the end customers are actually well known. We were recently selected as the technology behind the Public Records Office. It's a UK government project office that archives all the documents from the former UK empire. They're gathering together all the documents from over 50 local repositories around the world. That's in excess of a half-million documents that they'll put into XML format, and these are documents from the 12th century to the present. They're going to make it available through their archive projects, and all the documentation and content will be within our server. There will be one access point to all this information.

XML-J: That's a lot of documents. Is there any ETA for when the product is going to be complete or is that still a ways off?
Vauclair: It's going to be a two-year project by the time they gather all of their information, but a portion of their project should be up and live and running shortly. You mentioned it was a lot of documents. For us it's actually very easy to handle. We have customers with content that's upwards of 8 million documents - newspaper archives dating back from '85 to the present.

XML-J: What sort of new things should we be looking for in future releases of the server platform? How is IXIASOFT going to evolve as XML itself evolves?
Vauclair: Good question. Actually we introduced the latest release of our server, which is Windows 2000 compatible. This was long awaited from the integration crowd. We actually received record levels of download activity from our Web site last week when we launched it. And in 2001, probably in June, we're going to fully integrate numerical indexing to the server. People will be able to get closer and closer to the dream, which is for XML to handle document- and data-oriented content from within one server.

XML-J: What sort of support options are there for people using this server?
Vauclair: Our company is basically 30 people and 22 of those are developers and programmers. Our support staff are developers; on a daily basis they help people implement the server's API, develop its features, and implement them to their application. On a typical day they'll be exchanging scripts, e-mails, and suggestions. We'll do Web meetings - live interactive meetings in which we share software. And we get a lot of positive feedback from our customers because they're developers talking to developers. We can help them build a prototype they can show their customers in less time. To offer to evaluate the software in this fashion is a blessing.

XML-J: I'm sure that definitely helps the standard support staff to have people that are actually creating it and using it on a daily basis. Is there a demo or a trial?
Vauclair: Sure, people can go to www.ixiasoft.com and download a free working version of the server. It's fully functional. It's not limited in time in any way, shape, or form. It has all the features of the full edition, the only thing is we lock the server capacity to 1,000 documents, but it's still good to do a proof of concept. It has all the documentation, the API, and the examples. It has an SDK, an ASP toolkit, and even a client application written in ASP with accompanying XML content with over 800 documents, so people can actually retrieve content and so on. Always with the idea to facilitate the evaluation process and see if this software is the right fit for their application.

XML-J: The term XML server is overused in the XML industry. How would you describe it from your perspective?
Vauclair: Indeed, in emerging markets the vocabulary and terms used by vendors seem to evolve as quickly as the technology and can take on different meanings. If we can make a distinction between two broad categories of XML applications, we find that both transactional and information retrieval applications are using XML.

XML content destined for information retrieval applications is often semistructured with repeated or missing fields and a variable document length. Therefore they generally don't map well to existing database models. IXIASOFT offers server-side software designed to draw the most benefits from XML content and deliver superior indexing and content retrieval performance.

In my opinion the term XML server designates a component specially outfitted to handle the new requirements of XML content, which in our case seems proper since every feature of the server was designed with XML in mind.

XML-J: Could you comment on XML and its impact on the industry today? Where do you think XML and related technologies are going in the future?
Vauclair: XML is the single most important factor driving the growth of the content management software market. There are still design issues in some of the related protocols, but from our perspective the critical mass for a viable XML market has been achieved.

XML-J: What are your plans for future expansion?
Vauclair: We just completed our second round of investment that will enable us to grow from our current 25 employees to approximately 50 over the next few months. This will allow us to meet the growing demand from OEMs, assist them in integrating our server into their products and applications, and generate more design wins.