IFX FORUM PASSES MILESTONE OF 500 REGISTRANTS TO ITS BUSINESS MESSAGE SPECIFICATION
WAKEFIELD, Mass. – Sept. 14, 2009 – The Interactive Financial eXchange (IFX; http://www.ifxforum.org) Forum announced today that it has surpassed the 500 mark in "guest" registrations to use its IFX Business Message Specification (BMS) application, which is hosted at http://bms.ifxforum.org/. The site was launched in November 2008.
The IFX Forum is an international non-profit industry association whose mission is to develop and promote the adoption of its open, interoperable standard for financial data exchange. A guest registrant to the IFX BMS application is an individual who is not a representative of an IFX Forum member company. There is no fee to register and access the IFX BMS. Both IFX 1.8 and the pre-release version of IFX 2.0 are available on the site.
The 500+ individuals who have registered as guests to use the IFX BMS (in addition to the large number of people who have downloaded IFX since its first release 10 years ago) represent more than 300 companies: a cross-section of the financial services industry. Some are employees of large multinational corporations, others work for small focused companies, and some are self-employed consultants. They come from all regions of the globe, they speak many different languages, and they represent all sectors of the industry, from banks to vendors to service providers.
"We are very pleased to note this milestone in users of IFX, more quickly than we had anticipated," said IFX Forum President Richard P. Urban. "The global geographic reach and variety of organizations represented underscore the value of the Forum's international and inclusive approach to standards development. These registrants share the demographic characteristics of our members, who work very hard to create and enhance the standard. This milestone demonstrates the success of their efforts."
Members of the IFX Forum will come together in person to work on the specification at their next quarterly face-to-face meeting, which will be held in Scottsdale, Arizona, October 19-22, hosted by Wells Fargo. The event will feature intense hands-on collaborative sessions for the Forum's active Working Groups. Additional time will be devoted to architectural considerations for IFX 2.0, and the Forum's Steering Committee will meet to discuss and advance the group's business plans. The event will also include an "Introduction to IFX" session, which is geared toward representatives of new and prospective Forum members. Details and registration will be available from a link at www.ifxforum.org.
Prospective members are invited to attend the Annual Meeting for a fee of $695 per person (which will be credited toward membership dues, if application is made within 60 days after the meeting), to become familiar with the group's activities before formally joining. Advance meeting registration is required.
About the IFX Forum
Founded in 1997, the Interactive Financial eXchange (IFX) Forum is an international not-for-profit industry association whose mission is to develop and promote the adoption of its open, interoperable standard for financial data exchange, suitable for use by all sectors of the financial services industry. Forum membership is open to organizations interested in contributing to the development of open financial standards. Forum members include financial institutions, hardware, software and service firms, and related non-profit groups.
The IFX Forum is currently organized into the following Working Groups: ATM/POS; Branch Banking Services; Business Banking; and Card Management & Servicing. IFX Forum Working Groups, in concert with an Architecture Committee to coordinate their efforts, develop open Internet-compatible messages for all sectors of the financial services industry.
The IFX Forum also promotes interoperability of industry standards by working cooperatively with other standards organizations and consortia. To learn more about the IFX standard or the benefits of IFX Forum membership, please visit www.IFXForum.org.
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