Does XML need to be regarded as a good idea whose time has come and gone? There are plenty of capable replacements availabe when using AJAX and Flex. Some examples that come to mind are JSON and AMF. Both of these formats require smaller payloads and less processing on the receiving and sending endpoints. These data interchange formats are faster and less resource intensive than XML.

SYS-CON Events (www.sys-con.com) announced today that AJAXWorld Conference & Expo 2007 West (www.ajaxworld.com) willtake place on September 24-26, 2007, at the Santa Clara Convention Centerin Santa Clara, California. The event is expected to attract over 2,000 developers, architects, IT managers, and software professionals of everystripe who will be converging in Silicon Valley to attend the most comprehensive meeting on the West Coast, covering the most significant technology subjects of recent times: AJAX, Rich Internet Apps & Web 2.0.

Visiphor Corporation ('Visiphor') (OTCBB: VISRF) (TSX-V: VIS) (XETRA: IGYA) announces today that one of its majorbusiness partners, Tiburon Inc., has contracted Visiphor to supply its coredata integration and software products in two major law enforcement andjustice integration projects in the United States. The combined contractvalue to Visiphor is in excess of $555,000 (US).

Sugar's fully AJAX-enabled user interface has revolutionized the way users interact with their CRM system. SugarCRM Inc., the world's leading provider of commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) software, has been recognized by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) as a finalist for the 2007 CODiE Awards. Acknowledged as the leading honor for the software and information industry's finest products, the CODiE Awards have identified outstanding achievement in software and digital content development for 22 years. Sugar 4.5 is a finalist for 'Best Customer Relationship Management Solution' and 'Best Open Source Solution.'

Raining Data Corporation , a long-time provider of scalable, flexible and reliable data management software, today announced the version 1.6 of its innovative TigerLogic(TM) XML Workflow Management Server (XWMS) software. TigerLogic XWMS includes a visual designer tool that enables drag & drop creation and re-use of workflows that can be deployed to the XWMS runtime workflow engine. TigerLogic XWMS is bundled with Raining Data's TigerLogic XML Data Management Server (XDMS) to provide a platform to support XML-centric applications.

V1A is written in AJAX and Web 2 technology. Our software is incorporating more cross platform and internet technologies and at the same time provides a tight integrated solution, to desktop software leaders, Microsoft and Adobe.

Lockheed Martin announced today that Air Force commanders at different locations now have immediate access to each other's intelligence imagery and services, attributable to the early fielding of the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) Integration Backbone (DIB). Lockheed Martin integrated the DIB into three previously 'stove-piped' autonomous intelligence databases at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, Beale Air Force Base in California, and a forward location in Europe, allowing qualified users to access data in real-time.

Quasar Technologies, leading provider of web-based, ECM publishing solutions, advances into the future of collaborative content management by presenting NUQLEO, the world's only AJAX-based enterprise content collaboration solution, incorporating highly advanced real-time publishing tools that enable organizations to seamlessly create, manage and control all processes from creation to end production. Quasar's unique AJAX-based solution, NUQLEO, is built on a foundation of new, systemic concepts of enterprise content management. Its advanced functionalities combined with next-generation automated workflow decision-making leverage the inherent value of collaborative content creation, management, and assembly required within demanding global environments, providing companies with a clear competitive edge and a significant ROI.

SYS-CON Events (www.sys-c on.com)announced today that AJAXWorld Conference & Expo 2007 East(www.ajaxworld.com), which will take place on March 19-21, 2007, will attract over 1,000 developers, architects, IT managers, and software professionals of every stripe who will be converging in New York City toattend the most comprehensive meeting on the most significant technology subjects of recent times: AJAX, Rich Internet Apps & Web 2.0.

B2B marketplaces facilitate efficient search and transactions by offering services such as buyer/supplier and product/services searches and transactions such as procurement and asset disposal.

Cape Clear(R) Software, the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Platform leader delivering on the promise of SOA, announces that its ESB Platform has been selected as a finalist in the Enterprise Tools category of the 17th Annual Jolt Product Excellence Awards. The Jolt Awards hold a prestigious place among other technology industry honors, based on the competition's intense product investigation process.

To maximize the intended benefits of service-oriented architecture (SOA) implementations, organizations need to develop a well-articulated SOA Quality strategy to promote trust and reuse, according to new research from leading analyst firm Hurwitz & Associates.

By working closely with Microsoft to ensure constant compatibility in anticipation of the official release of ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX RTM, Infragistics successfully positioned itself to be able to announce today the immediate availability of its ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX RTM compatible tools.

Mobius Management Systems, Inc. , a leading provider of integrated solutions for enterprise archiving and records management, today announced new versions of its DocumentDirect(R) family of products that facilitate access to electronically stored information throughout heterogeneous computing environments. Leveraging service-oriented architecture (SOA) to enhance interoperability, DocumentDirect for the Internet version 4.2 eliminates the need to deploy and maintain multiple viewing clients on the desktop by empowering users to search for and retrieve documents stored in multiple, disparate repositories.

Today at Oracle's global 'Applications Unlimited' launch event held on 6 continents over 24 hours, Oracle announced the general availability of Oracle's PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Capital Management 9.0. The introduction of PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Capital Management 9.0 completes the delivery of the PeopleSoft Enterprise 9 Suite, and reinforces Oracle's continued commitment to the 'Applications Unlimited' program.

After eight years of development, the World Wide Web Consortium announced this week that the XML query language, XQuery 1.0 has reached official Recommendation status.

Click Commerce, Inc., a leading provider of on-demand supply chain management solutions, is using Oracle(R) BPEL Process Manager, a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware, to integrate its existing product portfolio and to deliver new offerings. As part of its strategic, long-term vision, Click Commerce is using Oracle BPEL Process Manager to power the company's Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) that enables organizations to build composite applications, comprised of Click Commerce and third-party applications.

Microsoft today announced the official release to Web of ASP.NET AJAX 1.0. This tool provides Web developers with the essential tools to simplify building next-generation, AJAX-style Web applications through what it calls 'seamless integration with the .NET Framework and Microsoft platform.'

Altova (www.altova.com), creator of XMLSpy and other XML, data management, UML, and Web services tools, announced the availability of Version 2007 of its award-winning line of XML development tools. Version 2007 delivers an array of new features and enhancements, including a new WSDL editor in XMLSpy; the ability to use Web services as sources, targets, or functions in MapForce data integration projects; output sorting in StyleVision; and a speed increase in the AltovaXML processor built into the products.

Altova, creator of XMLSpy and other leading XML, data management, UML, and Web services tools, announced a strategic partnership with IBM. Under the terms of this agreement IBM will actively promote Altova's line of application development and data management software products as the tools of choice for working with DB2 9, and Altova will build deeper integration with DB2 9 into its products, including groundbreaking document search, query, and exchange capabilities.

The term 'architecture group' is a heavily loaded one. I've run into different scenarios at the various clients that have engaged us for consulting on their architecture strategy. In some cases, we have been asked to help seed and grow such a group. In other cases, we've been asked to put together plans to define the organization of an architecture group. And sometimes, we just supplement the existing architecture group.

Retail systems software and services provider, Alpha Bay Corporation, announced today that David Bradford has joined the Alpha Bay board of directors.

Continuing to deliver on its commitment to enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA), SAP AG today announced the availability of the first SAP enhancement package for mySAP(TM) ERP and disclosed further details of innovations being delivered under its evolved road map for mySAP ERP. The first enhancement package is now available to customers running mySAP ERP 2005 as part of their license and maintenance agreement. This first enhancement package makes SAP one of the first vendors to fully leverage enterprise SOA for both software design and delivery. Customers can now consume new functionality and enterprise services in a continuous fashion, allowing them to drive business process innovation while maintaining the stability of their core enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The announcement was made at SAP's fourth annual Analyst Summit, being held in Las Vegas, December 4-5.

Global 360, a leading provider of business process management (BPM), intelligence and optimization solutions, today announced the general availability of G360 Case Manager 10.0. G360 Case Manager combines the capabilities of BPM and optimization tools, collaborative content and records management applications into a single solution that helps organizations meet business goals for core business processes.

TIBCO Software Inc. and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading global IT services and consulting firm, today announced an expansion to its strategic partnership that addresses the heightened demand for service-oriented architecture (SOA) software across all vertical industries (see related TIBCO announcements).

Delivering the value of enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA) 'by evolution' to midsize companies, SAP AG today introduced the next version of its SAP(R) All-in-One solutions, with significant enhancements to provide midsize companies with greater agility in managing their businesses. Leveraging the power of mySAP(TM) ERP 2005 as a foundation of SAP's road map for enterprise SOA and customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities optimized for the midsize market, the solutions enable faster return on investment with a dramatically enhanced and more intuitive user experience, streamlined business scenarios, enhanced analytical reporting and integrated management of customer relationships. With the announcement, SAP also introduced programs and tools to make it easier for its worldwide network of channel partners to immediately evolve existing SAP All-in-One solutions and build new solutions to address additional industry segments.

How can financial data from the Internet and from legacy enterprise systems be easily manipulated to bring that information into one browser where it will be viewed and reviewed under multiple lenses, bringing new information to light as different factors are added to the mix? This is one of the questions that will be answered by Hideki Hiura, chief scientist and CTO of JustSystems, Inc., when he gives a session at SOA Web Services Edge 2007 in June in New York City.

Mastech, a leading North American information technology consulting firm, today announced it has joined the Business Objects Solutions Provider Partner Program for software and service providers. As a new channel partner, Mastech will further enhance its value proposition to customers by offering Business Intelligence (BI) software solutions from Business Objects.

XAware, a provider of next-generation software products that enable business enterprises to integrate business data in dynamic, fast-changing environments, announced the release of XA-Suite 4.3. The latest version of XAware?s flagship Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) solution features enhanced graphical views and drag-and-drop capabilities, allowing users to quickly and easily configure and reuse business components, and decreasing time spent on development and maintenance of business services.

While scripting frameworks such as script.aculo.us dominate the current AJAX landscape, there are signs that the next phase of development will be in the creation of XML binding models that will associate JavaScript functionality with XML structure.

Nexaweb's Enterprise Web 2.0 solutions enable businesses to deploy Richer, Thinner, Faster applications over the Web. Specifically, applications built with Nexaweb deliver the high performance and robust functionality of client/server software with the universal reach, no-install deployment and centralized management of browser-based applications. With Nexaweb, developers can build enterprise-strength RIA solutions using Ajax and Java that access legacy, Web services, and SOA technologies in a unified declarative XML development environment. And only Nexaweb?s comprehensive Enterprise Web 2.0 solutions are backed by an established methodology and reference architecture proven by more than 5,000 successful global deployments. To learn more about Nexaweb?s Enterprise Web 2.0 solutions visit: http://www.nexaweb.com.

The efforts going on on the Web right now are not a radical revision of the past, but rather a refinement and 'refactoring' that is at the heart of nearly every software endeavor, and it is this refactoring, far from obvious for those in the thick of it but profound nonetheless, that is insuring the integrity of the Web

David Linthicum, an internationally known application integration and service oriented architecture (SOA) expert, announced the availability of 'SOA Practitioner's Crash Course' - a three-day, custom-designed fast-paced seminar/workshop geared toward getting a corporate or government SOA team up-and-running in just three days.

Even though I write for SYS-CON, I've never publicly complimented them. But this time they really deserve a credit. SYS-CON will present the AJAXWorld 2007 Conference & Expo 2007 East in March. Usually, attendees have very limited access to speakers during conferences, and SYS-CON Events came out with a simple but smart idea - yesterday they have created an Ask The Faculty Forum, where anyone can post questions to the conference speakers and faculty. And you do not even have to attend the conference to participate in this forum. It's a very nice idea, or rather 'Idea 2.0' Speakers should visit the forum and answer the questions to promote their sessions, and software developers will have a chance to correspond with well known people in the industry. Yours truly will run Adobe Flex Hands-on Workshop during this event, so feel free to post relevant questions - it does not matter if you are planning to be there or not. I'm sure, other event organizers will start copycatting SYS-CON, which is a win-win situation for everyone.

Nexaweb Technologies, Inc., provider of theleading standards-based platform for building and deploying Enterprise Web2.0 (EW2.0) applications, today announced availability of the latestversion of Nexaweb Studio. Nexaweb Studio 3.0 is an Eclipse-basedIntegrated Development Environment (IDE) that offers enterprise Webdevelopers, AJAX, J2EE(TM)/Java(TM) developers and software engineers astandards-based, visual design environment for creating EW2.0 applications.

Laszlo Systems is the original developer of the open source platform OpenLaszlo, and provider of Rich Internet Applications and services that advance the Web experience. OpenLaszlo is an XML-native foundation for building next generation Web applications that increase customer retention, conversion and brand loyalty. Laszlo provides comprehensive support services, education, and commercial application modules so that any company can easily make the move to Rich Internet Applications.

Understanding the complexity of AJAX at the browser level is critical to refining and debugging rich AJAX applications that leverage Web technologies such as JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and XMLHttpRequests. Adding a third-party AJAX runtime heightens the complexity and sufficient browser tooling becomes critical when attempting to build a rich Internet application around existing libraries. The Eclipse AJAX Toolkit Framework (ATF) provides both a multi-faceted set of browser tooling features as well as support for integrating and building on existing AJAX runtimes.

At the end of each year, when SYS-CON informally polls its globe-girdling network of software developers, industry executives, commentators, investors, writers, and editors, our question is always the same: where's the industry going next year?

HP is going to have to sit by and suffer more boardroom revelations - or at least rehashings - in silence. Tom Perkins, the ex-board member who ratted out HP to the feds and exposed its spying escapades to very public scrutiny, is going to write a memoir called 'Valley Boy: The Education of Tom Perkins' that opens with his slamming out of the boardroom in protest over the company's leak chase in May. The fifth husband of Danielle Steele, the VC great's last literary outing was 'Sex and the Single Zillionaire.' Seems we can expect the new book, which will cover his trial for manslaughter in some French 'backwater,' to appear next September under the Gotham label, a Penguin division.

Nexaweb Technologies, Inc., provider of theleading standards-based platform for building and deploying Enterprise Web2.0 (EW2.0) applications, today announced the availability of NexawebPlatform 4.5. Version 4.5 builds on the success of earlier editions bydelivering the industry's first EW2.0 solution in compliance with Section508 Accessibility, the only universal client framework supporting both Ajaxand Java, and enhanced integration support with data services andrelational databases.