W3C Extends Reach of XML to New Devices, Applications

W3C Extends Reach of XML to New Devices, Applications

Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) Standard Has Dramatic Impact on Speed,  
Performance, Power Consumption

    http://www.w3.org/ — 10 March 2011 — Today the W3C announces  
advances that will enable people to use widely deployed open Web  
standards in brand new ways. The Efficient XML Interchange (EXI)  
standard dramatically improves the performance, network efficiency,  
and power consumption of applications that use XML. EXI is a very  
compact representation of XML information, making it ideal for use in  
smart phones, devices with memory or bandwidth constraints, in  
performance sensitive applications such as sensor networks, in  
consumer electronics such as cameras, in automobiles, in real-time  
trading systems, and in many other scenarios.

  “We’ve been providing EXI products for seven years and are amazed  
with what our customers have accomplished,” said John Schneider, CTO  
of AgileDelta and editor of the EXI specification, “They’ve achieved  
over 100-fold performance improvements and expanded their data  
networks to high speed aircraft, automobiles, mobile devices and  
sensor networks. At the same time, they’ve achieved dramatic cost  
savings by using open Web standards and off-the-shelf products in  
place of the custom protocols, gateways and applications previously  
required by these applications.”

W3C Community Resolves Fragmentation; Creates Single Interoperable  
Standard

  XML standards are omnipresent in enterprise computing, and are part  
of the foundation of the Web. Because the standards are highly  
interoperable and affordable, people have wanted to use them in a wide  
variety of applications. However, in some settings — on devices with  
low memory or low bandwidth, or where performance is critical —  
experience has shown that a more efficient form of XML is required.  
Market demand led to the proliferation of application-specific  
approaches, but most were neither efficient nor general enough, and  
they sacrificed the interoperability that makes XML so valuable.

  To address this fragmentation, W3C brought together diverse  
stakeholders and reviewed a broad set of use cases. The result is the  
EXI standard, a single, interoperable XML format that performs well  
consistently, across the full range of use cases. Extensive testing  
shows that EXI performs consistently better than previous XML formats,  
data compression, and even packed binary data formats. As such, it  
brings the full range of XML benefits to even the most demanding  
applications.

EXI is Exciting

  EXI is already being adopted in Smart Energy Standards to support  
rapid communication between networks of smart meters, smart appliances  
and electric vehicles. EXI accelerates financial trading systems that  
depend on transaction speed. EXI speeds up defense applications, where  
rapid information flow can help save lives. EXI can make XML a more  
valuable data format for Web applications on mobile devices, where  
reduced utilization of the network and processor improves performance  
and extends battery life. And EXI can be used from JavaScript in  
desktop Web browsers for a faster user experience.

  The EXI standard is the culmination of years of research, analysis  
and benchmarking by the W3C EXI Working Group and its predecessor, the  
W3C XML Binary Characterization (XBC) Working Group. The following  
organizations provided leadership, guidance, expertise and support for  
these efforts: Adobe, AgileDelta, BEA, Boeing, Canon, Chevron,  
DataPower, Expway, France Telecom, Fujitsu, High Performance  
Technologies, IBM, Intel, KDDI, MITRE, Objective Systems, Oracle, OSS  
Nokalva, Nokia, Siemens, Stanford University, Tarari, University of  
Helsinki and the Web3D Consortium. Read more in W3C Member Testimonials.

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RESOURCES
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Web Resources

This press release:
    - in English: http://www.w3.org/2011/03/exi-pr.html.en
    - in French: http://www.w3.org/2011/03/exi-pr.html.fr
    - in other languages: http://www.w3.org/Press/Releases-2011#x2011- 
exi

Member Testimonials:
    http://www.w3.org/2011/03/exi-testimonials

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Media Contacts

Contact Americas, Australia —
      Ian Jacobs, <ij@w3.org>, +1.718.260.9447
Contact Europe, Africa and the Middle East —
      Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33 6 76 86 33 41

--
Ian Jacobs (ij@w3.org)    http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs/
Tel:                                      +1 718 260 9447

Received on Thursday, 10 March 2011 18:54:03 UTC