The OASIS international standards consortium has launched the XML.org Focus Area on Localisation (http://localisation.xml.org) to provide domain-specific content on XML standards. The site has been developed in cooperation with the Localisation Research Centre, Europe's information, research and educational institute for the linguistic and cultural adaptation of software.

Localisation becomes the latest addition to a growing series of XML.org Focus Areas. Each XML.org Focus Area covers news, standards and initiatives, vendors, consortia, trade associations, government agencies and implementers, events and resources germane to each specific industry sector.

The XML.org Focus Area on Localisation will also serve as an access point to related information on the OASIS-hosted Cover Pages (http://xml.coverpages.org), a comprehensive public resource for information on XML and related technical standards for the structured information community.

The Symbio Group Inc., a provider of internationalisation and localisation service solutions, and Alchemy Software Development Limited, a provider of visual translation and engineering solutions, have entered a strategic partnership for the Chinese market. The Symbio Group will offer technical support, consultancy services and product licenses of Alchemy CATALYST to the Chinese localisation industry backed up by the world-class engineering and software development skills of Alchemy Software Development.

"Guide to Localization Management, Version 2.0" is now available on the Rubric Web site to help localisation managers tackle the organisational, budgetary and logistical challenges associated with delivering localised products. The 72-page publication was co-authored by industry veterans at Rubric, a localisation, translation and testing services company, and Global 360, a provider of internationalisation- and localisation-related consulting. 

The guide provides a roadmap containing guidelines and checklists that outline proven solutions to major localisation challenges. "Guide to Localization Management" delivers insights from both the client- and vendor-side of localisation and incorporates input from localisation managers at more than 25 companies.

PASS Engineering has announced a new service release of PASSOLO 4.0 that includes enhanced Delphi/C++ Builder support. PASSOLO's Delphi/C++ Builder solution integrates seamlessly with any edition of PASSOLO 4.0 - Standard, Professional, Team and Translator. It offers comprehensive support of PASSOLO's visual localisation environment and extensive options for configuration and customisation. The latest PASSOLO service release is available free of charge to all PASSOLO 4.0 customers.

Mold-Masters Limited, a plastic products manufacturer, has implemented Web content management solutions from iUpload to internationalise its Web site. Using iUpload's cloning feature, Mold-Masters was able to present Web sites in seven other languages (French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Chinese) besides English to support customers in over 40 countries.

At the beginning of the project, iUpload worked with Mold-Masters to define and design the templates and navigation to streamline the process of building and managing sites in eight languages. The iUpload cloning feature allows replication of the Mold-Masters English language Web site. In Mold-Masters case, the cloning feature allowed deployment of sites for each language by simply inserting the defined clone. All that remained was to translate the cloned site.

Telelogic, a global provider of solutions for advanced systems and software development, has released Telelogic SYNERGY/Change 4.3a with Unicode support to meet the growing demand for its change management solution in the East Asian market. By providing multilingual support within a single database, SYNERGY/Change makes it easier for distributed international teams, as well as outsourced teams, to collaborate on complex development projects.