Q:  Molly, could you please tell us about your role at XMLSolutions and now at Vitria? [Vitria acquired XMLSolutions in May.]
A: As training manager, I am responsible for allocating resources for XML training engagements that are conducted internally, externally, and for business partners.

I manage a group of people who are experts in the world of XML technologies. The majority of these folks sit on W3C XML Working Groups.

The only difference in the transition from XMLSolutions to Vitria is that the XMLSolutions' team is now combined with Vitria's seasoned instructors, subject matter experts, and consultants to provide clients with best-of-breed XML training on both a technical and strategic level. We meet regularly to review, revise, and create our training materials, resulting in material that is always current and flush with hard-won insights into the challenging but rewarding world of XML development.

Q:  The acquisition must be the biggest news of the year for your company. What value does XMLSolutions add to Vitria Technology's solutions?
A:  XMLSolutions first came to Vitria's attention because of our powerful integration technology that allows companies to expand their value chain through bidirectional EDI-to-XML translation, automated XML-to-XML transformation, nonproprietary metadata mapping, and GUI-based trade relationship management. The more Vitria worked with us, the more they realized how advanced our solutions really were and how much it could enhance their integration solutions.

The combination of XMLSolutions' technology and Vitria's EAI, B2Bi, and Business Process Management solutions has helped Vitria to define a platform upon which the next generation of e-business - value chain collaboration - will be conducted. The combined solution is helping companies solve major business integration challenges, such as extending existing B2B infrastructure to business partners, enabling e-marketplaces and private exchanges, and leveraging existing systems for new B2B solutions.

Q:  Can you give us a little background on how XMLSolutions started? I thought you had started as a training and consulting company.
A:  XMLSolutions was primarily a software company with consulting services. The training group fell under the consulting umbrella and provided training to clients for our Business Integration Platform (BIP) software product and XML technology.

The training and consulting group's skill sets were comprised of EDI, metadata, Java, and XML. Both XMLSolutions and Vitria are committed to cross-training consultants, trainers, and solutions folks so everyone is happily challenged and knowledgeable on our products and core technology.

Q:   What are your thoughts on XML training? Where do you think the XML community stands today in terms of XML expertise?
A:   I think XML expertise is pretty difficult to find at this point in time. The trend seems to be turning the corner just recently - people are realizing the power of marking up text for content and not display like HTML. People aren't going to get sucked into the hype of a technology as much as they were a year ago.

Q:  What types of courses do you offer?
A:  Organizations are using XML in both business and technical solutions. We have courses that fit both bills.

Management is typically interested in a high-level view of how XML, XML-related standards, architectures, and toolkits can integrate into their existing infrastructure. They want the business applications (XML and e-business would be a recommended course in this scenario).

Those same organizations are also looking for more technical courses for Web authors, developers, and engineers focusing on specific details of manipulating and transforming XML documents for display. Another type of developer may need to learn how to work with back-end functionality. Q: In this issue, we are doing a feature on the XML certification from IBM. I noticed that you have a certification training class in your catalog. Can you give our readers an overview of this program? Does anyone else offer this training?

We've designed a course that is specifically tailored to prepare students for the IBM XML Developer's Certification Test (IBM Test 140: XML and Related Technologies, V1). This course alone guides students toward mastering all six subject areas covered in the exam, and offers a series of practice exams.

Students learn that the techniques that are key to each area and then hone those skills through a series of related hands-on exercises. Our main objectives include:

Familiarity with the structure, style, and testable body of knowledge regarding the IBM XML certification exam.

We've listed on our Web site specific topics covered in the course. I'd encourage interested readers to check it out at http://education.vitria.com/main.htm.

As far as whether anyone else is offering this type of prep course, I don't believe anyone is.

Q:  How important do you think certification is for XML developers? Do you think there is actually a community of XML developers similar to Java, VB, or C++ developers?
A:  I don't think the XML developer community is at that point yet. But, it's definitely gaining momentum.

Published Aug. 17, 2001 — Reads 11,653
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About Ajit Sagar
Ajit Sagar is a principal architect with Infosys Technologies, Ltd., a global consulting and IT services company. Ajit has been working with Java since 1997, and has more than 15 years experience in the IT industry. During this tenure, he's been a programmer, lead architect, director of engineering, and product manager for companies from 15 to 25,000 people in size. Ajit has served as JDJ's J2EE editor, was the founding editor of XML Journal, and has been a frequent speaker at SYS-CON's Web Services Edge series of conferences, JavaOne, and international conference. He has published more than 125 articles.