Alexandria, Va., & Washington, D.C. – Delivery Technology Advocacy Council (DTAC) and Idealliance announce that they have entered into a Purchase and Transfer Agreement for Mail.dat® and Mail.XML™. The specifications along with related User License Code program and all intellectual property, effectively immediately, will be owned and operated by DTAC.

Mail.dat and Mail.XML have become the mailing industry standard—developed in cooperation with the mail industry supply chain partners and the U.S. Postal Service—for effective communication for efficient processing and entry of mail across list processing, production, mailing services, and the U.S. Postal Service.

The development of Mail.dat was in close collaboration with the US Postal Service and began in 1995. Today the industry is operating on Version 19-1. Mail.dat is a relational database of “connected” files describing each characteristic that can exist within a mailing. By sharing comprehensive data readily, recipients and/or end-users can accept data, interpret the data for their own purposes and benefit from the resulting information.

Mail.XML™ can be viewed as an extension of Mail.dat in an XML, Web Services format. Mail.XML was developed in close collaboration with the US Postal Service and was first published in 2005. Today the industry is operating on Version 23.

“Idealliance is pleased to partner with DTAC for the sale and transfer of Mail.dat and Mail.XML to DTAC,” said Dick Ryan, Idealliance Acting CEO. “Over the past few months Idealliance has streamlined its broad portfolio to focus its work on standards and training for the graphic communications supply chain and production workflow. Idealliance will continue to work in the mailing industry arena through its mail preparation and entry training program, MailPro® with an updated and expanded version to be released in the fall.”

Under the July 8, 2020 sales agreement, DTAC purchased all versions of the Mail.dat and Mail.XML specification standards and related communication codes and the Mail.dat User License Code program, Domain Names, and the Mumma Award (an annual award conferred on industry professionals who exemplify excellence in supply chain communications and collaboration and create a more competitive and efficient total mail supply chain). Bob Schimek, Mail.dat/XML Specifications Working Group Chair and Postal Affairs Director for Quad said, “The twenty-five-year history of Mail.dat from Graphic Communications to Idealliance to DTAC continues the development of an open standard created by and for the mailing industry. Look to the newest version of Mail.dat and Mail.XML to be published in September.”

"Our agreement with Idealliance will ensure that the mailing industry will be able to rely on the open availability of the Mail.dat and Mail.XML specifications as delivery technology continually evolves," said DTAC spokesperson Michael Plunkett.

For additional information, contact Michael Plunkett of DTAC (703-268-3837 or [email protected]) or David Steinhardt of Idealliance at (703.887.7680 or [email protected]).