Kimbro Staken and Lars Martin announced the creation of XML:DB, an initiative for the "development of standardized technologies for managing the data in XML Databases".

The initiative appears to have been kicked off by the announcement on the xml-server list of Lexus, a project by the Infozone Group to define an XML update language immediately followed by an answer from dbXML.

The founders of the XML:DB initiative, Jonathan Borden (The Openhealth Care Group), Lars Martin (SMB GmbH) and Kimbro Staken (The dbXML Group, L.L.C.), list reasons for founding their group that are similar to those found in the Lexus announcement:

Currently all XML database vendors are forced to develop their own proprietary mechanism for managing the data stored by their product. We are concerned that, without some initiative to bring these efforts together, this will lead to considerable confusion and duplication among users and, that as a result, the opportunities that XML databases offer to the market will not be maximized.

Since these first steps, the goals have been extended to include the development of open source implementation and the evangelism of XML database technologies:

1. Development of standardized technologies for managing data in XML Databases.

2.Contribution of reference implementations of those technologies under an Open Source License.

3.Evangelism of XML database products and technologies to raise visibility in the marketplace.

Interested parties are invited to join the effort:

Membership in XML:DB is free and all interested parties are invited and encouraged to participate.

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