AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management International), the Silver Spring, Md., document and content management industry association, announced an XML initiative on Friday that could standardize the exchange of image documents.

The new project will focus on the ways in which image documents (and the underlying metadata associated with them) are shared, stored, retrieved, and distributed. Specifically, AIIM hopes to obviate the need to convert image formats from other nonstandard formats. Currently, XML does not support binary data formats, such as image files.

William E. Neale, one of the project's co-chairs, explained in a statement that "this standard will provide the link between the many different XML schemes by providing a common interchange format, a crucial element for managing enterprise content."

The project will target enterprise content-management needs, which require "much-needed direction," said John Mancini, AIIM's president, in the statement.

The AIIM has already formed a task force of industry experts and software vendors, and the group plans to work closely with the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) -- the organization primarily charged with developing XML standards.

» posted by ITworld staff

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