New STAR Standards Promote Global Growth

MCLEAN, Va., July 5 -- Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail (STAR), a global Information Technology (IT) standards body for the retail automotive industry, has released its first draft XML schema repository to be based on the Open Application Group's OAGIS 9.0 naming and design rules.

STAR has worked closely with the Open Applications Group since 2001 and continues to support the OAGIS methodology and adoption of their most recent release, OAGIS 9.0. This is a tremendous benefit to the STAR constituency because OAGIS(R) Release 9 supports the UN/CEFACT core components work, a global effort to design a common set of rules for building data exchange vocabularies and a key enabler to broader cross industry interoperability globally. STAR is now positioned to work better not just within their constituency because of the new technology, but also across industries around the world.

"We are pleased that STAR has voted to move forward with OAGIS(R) 9," said David Connelly, CEO of the Open Applications Group. "This is a step forward not just for the STAR constituency, but also for the goal of broader cross industry interoperability around the world."

According to Eric Purdum, STAR Chair, "Since inception, STAR has seen continued growth and support of its nearly 90 XML message standards. Based on a recent 2006 survey, there are over 27,000 dealer franchises in the United States alone where STAR XML message standards have been implemented and this number continues to grow. In addition, STAR anticipates the application of these standards will advance to a global level as members begin to implement world-wide. With implementations expected at a global level, convergence with global standards organizations such as OAGIS and UNCEFACT are paramount to STAR achieving effective interoperability and significant business value for STAR's members and their business partners."

  About STAR (http://www.starstandard.org/)
  Source: STAR

The Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail (STAR) organization is the Information Technology (IT) standards organization for the retail automotive industry. STAR is leading the effort to implement voluntary IT standards throughout the automotive industry. These standards are designed to support business information needs and provide secure and reliable means for dealers, manufacturers, and retail system providers to communicate.

Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, STAR is a not-for-profit volunteer organization and its members include Dealers, Manufacturers and Retail System Providers (RSPs). As members, they are interested in developing, promoting, and administering voluntary IT standards in the retail automotive industry and improving the effectiveness, timeliness and competitiveness of the IT solutions needed within the retail automotive industry.

  STAR membership roster:

  Dealer Groups: CCAQ, NADA

Retail System Providers: ADP, Advent Resources, Inc., AIAG, AFSA, Arkona, Autodata Solutions, AutoDESA, Auto/Mate Inc., Chrome Systems, CIECA, Cyclone Commerce, DealerTrack, gedas, GEFEG, National Marine Manufacturers Association, Motorcycle Industry Council, NeoSynergy, LLC, OAGI, Oxlo Systems Inc., PBS Financial Systems Inc., Procede Software, Quorum Information Systems, Reynolds & Reynolds, RouteOne, Sprint, Sun, Tibco, Unipart Automotive Logistics, UCS, Wipro Technologies, and 5Square Systems Corporation.

Manufacturers: American Honda Motor Co., Inc., American Suzuki Motor Corp., BMW of North America, Inc., DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corp., Hyundai Motor America, Jaguar Cars, Mazda North American Operations, Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America, Inc., Porsche Cars North America, Inc., Renault, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, and Volkswagen North America.

About OAGi (http://www.openapplications.org/)

The Open Applications Group Inc. is a not-for-profit consortium organized to build open standards for business software interoperability. The goals of the group include improving interoperability between business processes from enterprises to their business partners, and also for improving interoperability inside the enterprise, which is a unique approach to end-to-end interoperability. The OAGi members have nearly 12 years of success building industry consensus interoperability specifications for business software applications and have developed a repeatable process for quickly developing high quality business content and XML representations of that content.