WINDSOR, UK (16 June 2005) -- Automobile racing statistics
have been added to the growing roster of sports that
are supported by XML standards of the International Press
Telecommunications Council.
More than 40 IPTC delegates representing member news
agencies and news system vendors voted unanimously to
add auto racing support to SportsML (www.sportsml.org),
the standard language for sharing sports data among news
agencies, sports data providers and other sports data
users. Race entries, lap data, results and drivers winnings
are among the rich array of statistics supported by the
new automobile racing module.
The vote was taken at the annual general meeting of
the IPTC, held here over four days. SportsML 1.6 is fully
compatible with previous versions, and users can choose
to omit the automobile racing module of they wish. The
IPTC is researching other sports, including the Olympics
events, for future SportsML modules.
Members also approved a maintenance release of the popular
News Industry Text Format (www.nitf.org). Like all of
the council's XML-based standards, NITF is regularly
reviewed and updated to ensure compliance with the latest
XML developments. The new version, NITF 3.3, is compatible
with previous versions.
In other business, members elected Stephane Guerillot
of France as its chairman of the Board of Directors for
2005-2008.
As director for Technical International Affairs within
Agence France-Presse, Mr Guerillot is responsible for
the technical supervision of AFP subsidiaries worldwide
and of the Sale of Technology and Associated Services
Department. He has been chairman the IPTC Standards Committee
for the past 3 years.
He joined AFP in 1982 as a development engineer, then
managed the Research and Development Department with
advanced work in the field of digital photos and networks.
In 1990, he became the head of AFP's Networks and Telecommunications
department.
Since early 2003 he has been CEO and chairman of Fileas,
a joint venture of Agence France-Presse, France Cables
and Radio (a France Telecom subsidiary) and Atos Euronext.
Fileas specialises in satellite data transmission for
the media and financial industries.
Mr Guerillot succeeds Dr. John Iobst of the United States,
who remains on the Board.
The next IPTC meeting is scheduled for Milan, Italy,
in October 2005.
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