Four IRML Founding Firms Disband Group, May Join RIXML.org

NEW YORK--Four founding firms behind Investment Research Markup Language (IRML) have decided to disband the organization, say sources close to the issue. These firms may join RIXML.org (Research Information Exchange Markup Language) as steering committee members, the sources add.

This contradicts some industry reports that the RIXML and IRML organizations will merge into a single association for developing XML-based language for investment research.

The sources say the four buy-side and sell-side firms contacted RIXML.org in June to explore ways in which the work done to date under the IRML banner could be folded into RIXML.org. The RIXML.org Steering Committee then drafted a proposal to invite the four firms to join as full steering committee members, sources say. "The way that we describe this combination," one source says, "is that the current IRML organization would be disbanded in its entirety, along with all future reference to the IRML language."

This source says the four firms are currently reviewing the invitation but declines to identify them. Participants in the IRML organization include ABN Amro, ING Barings, Charles Schwab & Co., Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Fortis Bank, Greenwich Associates, HSBC, Lehman Brothers, Robertson Stephens, SG Cowen and US Bancorp Piper Jaffray.

In a June interview, Multex chief technology officer John Mahoney noted that there was an "interest in the industry to rationalize the two efforts" because of the "the complementary nature of the efforts." Multex was an early supporter of IRML and is also an associate member of RIXML.org. Officials at Multex would not comment on this current development at press time.

Despite the commonalities, there is a major difference in the way the two organizations have approached development. The IRML group focuses on the components that make up the document and addresses navigation through those document components to get to specific information within the document.

The RIXML initiative focuses on the document, not the content. It applies structural tagging to content as it is exchanged between the content producer and the consumer. It also addresses seamless navigation between multiple documents. As Mahoney explained in June, "RIXML does not focus on the actual content itself--the content is regarded as a payload that is wrapped in a RIXML structure that allows it to be categorized and interpreted on the consumer end of the content."

If the IRMLfirms do join the RIXMLsteering committee it is unclear whether they will lobby to incorporate aspects of IRML’s focus on content or if they will simply abandon the IRMLmandate.

According to industry sources, any proposal to include IRML firms will not change the mandate of the RIXML steering committee. "The RIXML organization has been successful by keeping a narrow focus," one source says. "That focus started with a full schema definition for content of equity research documents, and we will maintain that focus." The RIXML organization is "buy side-driven as far as priorities and mandates are concerned and does not expect to deviate from that at all with the addition of new members," the source adds.

IRML was created in the spring of 2000 to provide an open forum for buy-side and sell-side firms as well as vendors for the development an XML specification for financial investment research (IMD, Dec. 4). Multex.com was instrumental in moving the IRML initiative forward, and after getting the organization up and running, the vendor shifted the leadership of the effort to representatives from the buy-side and sell-side member firms.

In contrast, RIXML.org has more restrictive membership requirements. Originally, participation was open only to six asset managers and ten broker/dealers (IMD, Oct. 23), and the organization ultimately formed a limited liability corporation around these firms (IMD, Dec. 11). Only recently, after the release of version 1.0, was an associate membership category established to allow additional buy-side and sell-side firms, as well as vendors, to participate (IMD, March 26).