Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of the beta specification for XML for Analysis -- a new protocol that extends the Microsoft business intelligence strategy to the Microsoft® .NET vision of Web services, allowing application developers to provide analytic capabilities to any client on any device or platform using any programming language. Built on HTTP, XML and SOAP and with more than 50 industry players having been instrumental in its development, XML for Analysis is being hailed by developers of analytical tools as the first cross-platform solution designed to address the unique challenges of analytical data access and manipulation.

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