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.

About the World Wide Web Consortium

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 325 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org/

About AgileDelta, Inc.
AgileDelta is the leading provider of XML acceleration software that enables lightning-fast delivery of information to more locations and more devices. Our products dramatically reduce the size of XML data and accelerate XML processing, bridging the gap between high-speed business networks and mobile networks. AgileDelta is a privately held company with headquarters in Bellevue, Washington.

Additional information about AgileDelta's Efficient XML products are available at the link provided or visit our home page.

AgileDelta and Efficient XML are trademarks of AgileDelta, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holder.