Keynote: XML: The SAP Vision

The first keynote speaker, Chris Wolff (Thomson Corp.) called XML a "major breakthrough that information providers needed". He said that one of the major challenges is the creation of tools that shift from product-centric to content-centric.

Foad Vafaei (SAP) spoke about mySAP.com which he called a state of the art business hub. XML is one of the fastest adopted technologies for years, he said, resulting in a large number of standards groups with overlapping efforts, resulting in a "chaos of creation". XML is powering the eBusiness revolution, completely transforming the IT industry. It is therefore a big advantage to integrate B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) services. ERP (enterprise resource planning), a business management system that integrates all facets of the business, including planning, manufacturing, sales, and marketing, will also benefit from XML.

According to mySAP.com's About page,

The mySAP.com Marketplace is an open electronic hub that creates seamless inter-company relationships for buying, selling and collaborating within and across industries. It provides the infrastructure, security and applications to transform previously disconnected business transactions into a single collaborative process.

Keynote: IDEAlliance
What Happened at XML'99
XML - The Movie