Ken Levy joins DataChannel, Inc.

FoxPro developers who know me are aware that I've been working with and giving demos of XML for over a year and a half now and it is generally my main topic(s) at conferences and user groups that I speak at. I've recently decided to work full-time with XML and related technologies.

On, May 26th, 1999, I accepted a full time position at DataChannel, Inc. in Bellevue, WA. DataChannel is the leader in Enterprise XML Information Solutions. I will be starting work at DataChannel full-time starting June 1st, 1999. Of course I will still plan to be at DevCon in Palm Springs from June 5th-10th for the full event as I am speaking in sessions and various other events.

While my presence in the FoxPro community will decrease, I'm sure you'll still see me around various forums and user groups on occasion. I know the demand and usage of XML technologies will greatly increase for VFP developers in the near future, and I plan to stay informed on how VFP developers are using XML for application development and solutions.

My longstanding relationship with Microsoft and the Fox team in particular has been mutually beneficial. I am extremely excited about the next version of Visual FoxPro and Visual Studio, as well as other technologies in the works at Microsoft within the developer tools division. But at this point in my career, my passion and enthusiasm for working with XML and related technologies prevailed over my already existing great job consulting for Microsoft.

DataChannel Inc., founded in 1996, is a privately held company. DataChannel is an Enterprise Solutions company offering XML-based, Information Management solutions and services. If you would like to know more about DataChannel, Inc., I suggest you check out their web site at: http://datachannel.com. To see how DataChannel is helping in groundbreaking work under OASIS for the recently announced http://xml.org which is the first global XML portal dedicated to open information exchange, go to: http://www.datachannel.com/news/pr_xmlorg.shtml

DataChannel was founded in 1996 by Dave Pool. Ten years ago, he started a company called Spry. Spry developed a software product Internet In A Box that made it easy for people to go online. In 1995 he sold the company for $102 million. To see some background information on DataChannel's founder Dave Pool along with a four minute video clip of how he runs the company, go to: http://www.msnbc.com/local/KING/254456.asp

My title at DataChannel will be Senior Architect. As for my role at DataChannel without the details, I will be part of DataChannel's architecture department working directly for DataChannel CTO (Chief Technology Officer) Norbert Mikula. Norbert developed one of the first XML parsers (NXP) and has been actively involved in XML- related efforts since the early days of this standard. He has been in actively involved with industry initiatives and working groups such as XML-EDI, the W3C XML working group and the W3C Extensible Style Sheet Language working group. Norbert also serves as CTO on the board of directors of OASIS (http://www.oasis-open.org), the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, which is an international consortium dedicated to accelerating the adoption of product-independent formats based on public standards. He is also the author of numerous articles, whitepapers and books including XML for Dummies. For more information about Norbert, go to: http://www.datachannel.com/news/pr_norbert.shtml

Hopefully this detailed message helps clarify my current activities and will minimize questions about my new position. And just in case you don't already know, VFP 6.0 SP3 was just released and it's a really great update. Information on SP3 and many other VFP resources can be found at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro/

Ken Levy
http://classx.com