XML is the fastest evolving technology for Web Applications. To address the requirements of commercial Web publishing and enable the further expansion of Web technology into new domains of distributed document processing, the World Wide Web Consortium has developed an Extensible Markup Language (XML) for applications that require functionality beyond the current Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

XML is a universal language for data on the Web that lets developers deliver content from a wide variety of applications to the desktop. XML promises to standardize the way information is searched for, exchanged, adaptively presented, and personalized.

Data such as customer information, credit card transactions, purchase orders, and fulfillment requests can be converted to XML and shared across applications without changing legacy systems. XML can be used to exchange data between Web server and browser or between trading partners without the existing systems needing any prior description of the data's structure