Drummond Group to Lead XML Infrastructure Pilot for Open Applications Group And Automobile Industry

    AUSTIN, Texas, July 12 Drummond Group, Inc., a leading
supply chain strategy firm, will facilitate definition of a set of XML based
Infrastructure specifications and protocols for the Open Applications Group
Inc. (OAGI) and the Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail (STAR)
consortium.  OAGI and STAR have partnered to lead a series of specification
building projects focused on automotive distribution business processes and
the messaging infrastructure supporting them.  Drummond Group will lead the
messaging infrastructure development effort for this group.
    "Drummond Group brings tremendous experience to the project and we are
very excited about collaborating with them on this important initiative," says
David Connelly, President and CEO of Open Applications Group Inc.
    "The challenge lies in connecting diverse business process and cultures
with a common technology infrastructure," says Rik Drummond, Project Leader
and Chief Scientist of Drummond Group Inc.  "In our experience, we find that
the readiness of sharing the information to find a common ground is as
important as finding the technology piece.  And, we applaud the automobile
industry for their openness and willingness to work together on these issues.
We look forward to working with the automobile manufacturers and distributors
in building a common messaging platform to reduce costs, streamline
communication and build a solid return on investment for their efforts."
    Drummond Group, Inc. (http://www.drummondgroup.com) is a senior-level strategy
practice whose discovery and analysis processes have successfully assisted a
multitude of diverse companies from Fortune 100 to start-ups.  Started in 1990
by Rik Drummond, a recognized industry expert in eBusiness, the vendor neutral
group works on linking horizontal infrastructure technologies, standards and
interoperability issues with the needs of vertical industry such as retail,
grocery, healthcare and transportation.
    Open Applications Group Inc. (http://www.openapplications.org) -- The Open
Applications Group (OAGI) is a non-for-profit consortium building and
delivering XML schemas and business process collaboration definitions for
e-Business and Application Integration.
    The OAGI is the largest publisher of horizontal, framework independent,
XML-based messages and business collaboration definitions for business
software interoperability in the world.  The work supports ebXML, BizTalk
Framework, and the RosettaNet Implementation Framework.  The Open Applications
Group has hundreds of live sites worldwide and nearly 80 software and services
vendors supporting the work.
    The Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail (STAR) organization
(http://www.starstandard.org) is the Information Technology (IT) standards body for
the retail automotive industry.  The goal of STAR is to use voluntary IT
standards as a catalyst to fulfill the business information needs of dealers
and manufacturers, thus reducing the time and effort previously required
supporting this activity.
    CONTACT:  Beth Morrow of Drummond Group, Inc., 512-335-5606.