The OSCAR special interest group (Open Standards for Container/Content Allowing Re-use), founded in June 1997 by the Localisation Industry Standards Association (LISA), has published the TBX standard. The Version 1.0 draft definition of the container – the high-level format designating how terminological data is stored – has now been released.

This maturity is also reflected in OSCAR's concern to build on existing and emerging standards such as Unicode and XML in order to shorten development time and avoid reinventing the wheel.

Companies today will continue to grow in a fashion that will constantly encounter new cultures and technologies. The applications that will erupt from open standards such as TBX will enable these companies to maintain their unique core values by realizing their organizational knowledge, achieving understanding in context and communicating their innovations universally.

"IBM has been following the development of standards relating to terminology for several years. TBX is an industry-driven XML format for terminology that is inspired by ISO standards and customized for corporate and localization environments. Having had input from key industry players, TBX has the best potential to be a successful exchange format. We expect TBX to play a key role in terminology exchange which will become increasingly important to facilitate business processes", said Kara Warburton, IBM Terminologist and chair of LISA Terminology SIG.

"As a strong proponent of open standards and industry interoperability, GlobalSight is very excited to embrace the emerging TBX standard for terminology storage, transport and reuse, says GlobalSight CTO and Co-founder, Jorden Woods. "GlobalSight has seen significant benefit from incorporating the TMX standard into its data architecture for translation memory and anticipates similar benefits from TBX. TBX proves once again LISA's commitment to helping the industry drive down costs, improve quality, and speed time to market."

"TBX is one more milestone that will help everyone in the industry to attain a better quality service. Considering today's interdependent business processes, interchangeability is key to successful cooperation between a multitude of players. You don't have to be much of a prophet to predict that failing to enact and enhance standards like TBX, TMX, and others, may jeopardize the development of a healthy global business climate. LISA and OSCAR are performing invaluable work in this arena," said Thilo Schüller, President, Welocalize Europe.

In addition, Prof. Alan K. Melby of Brigham Young University, OSCAR's Chair, called for feedback in order to improve results and increase industry commitment still further. "We welcome comments on the released draft which we can incorporate into the next Version", he said. All feedback will be considered at the next official meeting.

The OSCAR group combines key technology vendors, corporate users and service providers worldwide, including such names as IBM, J.D. Edwards, SAP, SUN Microsystems, Microsoft, GlobalSight, Welocalize, RWS, SDL International, Star and the Trados Corporation.