ALEXANDRIA, VA (November 1, 2001) -- IDEAlliance, a leader in information technology standards and initiatives, has announced the release of PROSE XML 1.0, its first XML version of PROSE -- the Production Order Specification/EDI. The release of PROSE XML --which was officially announced at IDEAlliance's annual SPECTRUM conference on Oct. 27 -- is the latest revision to this important specification. PROSE XML 1.0 allows complete standardization of all production and distribution orders for printers and print buyers, ensuring unprecedented reliability and accuracy of printing instructions. Implementation of PROSE XML 1.0 is designed to increase productivity and performance levels and significantly reduce support cost. Initially released in 1992, the first PROSE was developed by the IDEAlliance EMBARC-EDI Committee out of a need to keep pace with the growing complexity of printed products. PROSE provides print buyers with a format for electronic transmission of instructions for printing and binding services to their printers. The original committee that developed PROSE was comprised of RR Donnelly, Quad/Graphics, Quebecor World, and Banta. Developed in response to a growing demand for cross-platform standardization, PROSE XML will move the original goals established by the PROSE committee into the new century. "Every major company is looking at XML as the 'language de jour,'" says Jeff Parnau, President, Impoze Systems, and member of the IDEAlliance EDI Committee. "We need to be current with whatever language is being used in today's industries. XML offers the key elements that were missing in previous versions and ensures that all orders meet the following three criteria - that they are self-verifying, structured and generic." PROSE XML 1.0 also provides legacy support for the original PROSE, meaning that any orders previously created in PROSE can be updated into the XML format. PROSE XML orders can be easily transformed into the original PROSE EDI specification, allowing for compatibility with legacy PROSE-based systems. "PROSE XML is broadening the utilization of print production standards," says David Steinhardt, President and CEO of IDEAlliance. "PROSE has gained acceptance from a wide array of printers and publishers, including some of the most prominent companies in the publishing and printing arena." "The IDEAlliance EDI Committee originally designed PROSE to allow the print buyer to define and build a structure or hierarchy for a publication, catalog, or marketing piece," says Bill Orndorff, Vice President of Materials Management, Perry Judd's, Inc. and chair of the IDEAlliance B2B Paper Committee. "By evolving into XML, this process is now much more standardized and interchangeable, and lets the print buyer specify the amount of control over the production process. The customer can define the precise content or order of specific forms, pages, and signatures, or leave those details up to the printer." The initial release of PROSE XML 1.0 is available for download on the IDEAlliance website home page: www.idealliance.org or directly from the development site: www.xmlpub.org. There is a planned revision to the initiative at the end of 2002.