DISA Announces First-Ever Earl J. Bass EDI Achievement Award.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- The Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA), a not-for-profit organization that supports the development of cross-industry electronic business interchange standards, is pleased to announce the creation of the Earl J. Bass EDI Achievement Award to recognize outstanding accomplishments and leadership in support of the development and use of electronic data interchange (EDI) standards and eXtensible Markup Language (XML) messages over the past year.

Earl J. Bass, known as "Buddy," was the principal author of the first set of EDI standards manuals based on input from transportation industry work groups. As a technologist, perhaps Buddy's most significant contribution to EDI is the simple, elegant, coded syntax notes used to unambiguously describe the conditional requirements of data elements within a segment.

Buddy was a member of the U.S. Joint EDI committee that aligned the segment and data element directories of several standard-setting organizations, and the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12, charged with developing EDI standards in an open cross-industry environment. As former chair of ASC X12, Buddy was instrumental in securing the U.S. role in the international EDI community.

"I am very proud of my father's contribution to the development and implementation of EDI standards. He always emphasized the cross-industry nature of the standards, like a tide that floats all boats. DISA's creation of this award is an honorable recognition of his work," said Steve Bass, CEO, Washington Publishing Company.

Additional information on the The Earl J. Bass EDI Achievement Award can be found at http://www.disa.org/bass_award.cfm or by e-mailing Guy Mayer at [e-mail]. Nominations are due January 20, 2006, and the winner will be announced in Spring 2006.

About DISA

Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA) is home for the development of cross-industry electronic business interchange standards that help individuals and organizations improve business processes, reduce costs, increase productivity and take advantage of new opportunities. Driving an array of e-business initiatives, DISA provides administrative and technical support to the ANSI Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12, Interactive Financial eXchange (IFX) Forum and Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association (HEDNA).