The Interactive Financial eXchange (IFX) Forum yesterday launched the second generation of its time-tested IFX Business Message Specification, Version 2.0, before a roomful of members and supporters in a public day of presentations at the Doubletree Castle Hotel in Orlando, Florida, USA.
Today, the public comment period for the new version begins, and all interested parties are invited to review the specification from the link at http: ifxforum.org and provide their feedback to the IFX Forum.
The IFX Forum is an international not-for-profit industry association whose mission is to develop IFX and promote its adoption as an open, interoperable standard for financial data exchange.
Program highlights of the special public event included:
- Keynote presentation from Bart Narter, Senior VP at Celent and head of the firm's banking practice, on "Service-Oriented Architecture in Banking"
- A panel discussion among representatives of standards organizations BIAN, FTSC, ISO, NACHA, X9 and X12, on "The Role of Standards in the Consolidating Financial Services Industry"
- Overview of the architecturally improved 2.0 version of IFX, including detailed discussions of its adaptation to SOA, its consistently applied object model and important new content
- Brief Working Group overviews, including the Forum's leadership role in the International Standards Team Harmonisation (ISTH) effort
Capping the day was a reception to celebrate the IFX Forum's 10th anniversary, where the decade's milestones were briefly noted and toasts raised.
"This is certainly a significant milestone in our 10-year history so far," said IFX Forum President Richard P. Urban. "Our thanks to all the IFX Forum members who worked tirelessly to make IFX 2.0 the high-quality set of deliverables we have now released Though our work is not over, this release truly ushers in a new day for IFX. We hope that all who are interested in the progress of standards for financial data exchange will review IFX 2.0 and send in your comments."
"I am also grateful to the industry leaders who participated in the panel discussion and fielded thought-provoking questions from the audience. Their participation added a significant dant dimension to our anniversary event" Urban said.
IFX Version 2 continues the organization's commitment to a business-first, service oriented approach to standards development. It deals with shortcomings in Version 1 that can only be effectively addressed by breaking backward compatibility.
Urban also stressed that the IFX Forum recognizes that stability in a standard is imperative and that support for IFX Version 1 will continue for the foreseeable future, including enhancements and additional content driven by the working groups.
During the day's sessions, Urban and others presented a wealth of detail about the new version. These presentations will be available on the organization's Web site.