Nous le considérons comme la clé du succès dans le développement des transactions sur le web, par l'interopérabilité qu'il confère, et comme un facteur critique de recherche sur le net.Plusieurs formats sont associés au XML,  le Dublin Core semblant être le plus abouti et fédérateur.

Les ralliements et nouvelles offres XML abondent; citons l'annonce du 2/2/2000 d'IBM sur "tpaML", un nouvel XML destiné à automatiser les ordres de vente et d'achats inter-entreprises. L'éditeur souhaite rendre ce langage universel en le faisant adopter par OASIS, une association XML qui regroupe cinquante éditeurs informatique.

La "webification" des process, accomplie sous des conditions de sécurité maximales, va utiliser les riches potentiels du XML, en introduisant le temps réel dans les communications, comme le souligne Kevin Schipani, "group manager " de la Recherche-développement à ACORD (the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development) :

La migration EDI-XML a commencé dès l'été 1999, elle est maintenant achevée et l'on dispose des deux normes pour traiter les processus tels que demandes de tarification, demandes de police et dossiers de sinistre. Ecoutons le rapport d'étape suivant:

"In January, there will be phenomenal demos, and by the end of the first quarter, you'll see a surge of implementations." Schipani estimates that the AL3 standard--which is specific to  the property and casualty sector, including medical, auto, homeowner and commercial policies but not life--is used by more than 100 insurance companies and 15,000 agent sites.

 But about 25,000 agencies still haven't adopted AL3, relying on paper to exchange information.

 It's too early to project cost savings using AL3 in conjunction with XML and the Internet, but experts say the development time alone could be shaved as much as 75 percent. Also, tools and development expertise are easier to find for XML  than EDI, and there's also a significant savings on network costs.

 "Expensive EDI networks and EDI software and development are huge issues," said Forrester Research analyst John Walker. Outside the insurance industry, for instance, Hilton Hotels had been spending $500,000 to develop each partner interface using EDI. With XML, it's down to $50,000 per interface, Walker said.

 Some existing AL3 users have already begun to use the Internet for EDI transport, eliminating costly value-added networks. But those exchanges are still performed in batches, or scheduled bursts. XML conversion means AL3 can take advantage of the HTTP protocol for real-time exchanges.

 As beneficial as XML may be in cutting costs and moving the insurance industry closer to real-time processing, "the real long-term efficiencies involve sharing across industries, between insurance, banking and health care," according to Gartner Group analyst Rita Knox.

 For instance, portions of a medical patient's XML record could be shared across all three of these domains, Knox said. XML has garnered so much attention because, unlike EDI, it obviates the need for special networks and special application software. "You can use Microsoft Word to open an XML-defined transaction and read it," she said.

 However, some experts say the insurance industry's IT problems are far deeper than the issues ACORD is addressing with XML. The core systems at most carriers have been only modestly updated since the 1960s and rely on hard-coded COBOL programming, limiting portability of code.

 These shops would need to upgrade to software that takes advantage of reusable objects in order to fully take advantage of distributed technology, experts say.

 Diana Beecher, CIO at Travelers Property Casualty, is testing XML for data exchange, but noted that ACORD's record has been spotty when it comes to galvanizing the industry.

"ACORD tried for many years to get insurance companies, large customers and agents to coordinate," Beecher said."It was minimally successful."

Others are more optimistic. They note that the coupling of AL3 and XML is particularly useful as more insurance quotes are handled over the Web.

"We see ourselves using AL3 as well as new XML standards," said Mele Fuller, a technical adviser with Safeco Insurance Co., a $6.6 billion insurance carrier.

Safeco has resorted to distributing proprietary software to agents that gives them access to the carrier's mainframe for rate quotes and other transactions. The company intends to phase in software based on the new XML spec instead. Some 95 percent of partner agents are already connected to the company electronically.

Even before the ACORD XML spec is published, vendors and Internet businesses alike are pushing XML adoption in the industry.

ChannelPoint Inc. will introduce an XML server designed to work with its own Internet portal, a business-to-business hub that lets insurance brokers search for policies and quotes from numerous carriers.

Called CommerceLink, the server attaches back-end systems to ChannelPoint's LinkExchange hub, which is provided free to brokers and carriers. ChannelPoint makes its money by taking a percentage, between 1 percent and 6 percent, of the policy's annual premium.