ATIS' STANDARDS COMMITTEE T1 ANNOUNCES FIRST APPLICATION FOR TML.

Standards Committee T1 Technical Subcommittee T1M1 -- sponsored by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) -- completed the initial stages of standards formulation for tML (telecommunications Markup Language).

The initial tML standard application provides support for DSL Service Provisioning OSS Interconnection. The tML is the telecom-specific derivative of XML (eXtensible Markup Language), which is expected to become the standard for OSS transactions.

Just as other industries, such as the automobile industry, have their own XML derivatives for communications among trading partners for e-commerce, so too will the telecommunications industry via tML.

The general aspects of T1M1's work efforts on tML are in the process of being submitted to the International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) as a contribution toward an international recommendation.

"The progress in the tML project has been astounding - T1M1 is truly leading and aligning the industry with tML - this is to the credit of the devoted members of T1M1. The rapid progress will bring the business benefits to fruition in a more timely manner," said Mike Fargano, T1M1 Chairman.

T1M1's DSL specific work is based on DSL Forum's DSL Service Flow Through Provisioning requirements. The expected benefits of using tML include lower OSS development costs, lower operating costs, more flexible systems integration, and improved time to market.

In an effort to ensure broad acceptance of the tML standard, Committee T1 collaborated with many industry organizations, including the ATIS-sponsored Telecommunications Industry Forum (TCIF) and its Electronic Communications Implementation Committee (ECIC) and DSL Forum.

ECIC completed the Telecommunication Interchange Markup Guide - an industry guideline that was developed to allow carriers and vendors to exchange technical documentation using XML tags.

T1M1's DSL-specific tML work is based on a soon to be released Technical Reference document by DSL Forum that defines the management interface for DSL service flow-through fulfillment. This DSL Forum Technical Reference will serve as the basis of industry and service provider requirements for DSL service fulfillment.