Curious new language translates
into ABN Amro deal
By Christine Tatum
Tribune staff reporter
May 7, 2001
New code developed by Chicago-based Curious Networks will support a
series of online tools to be launched this summer by ABN Amro, one of the
world's largest banks.
The deal, to be announced this week, will let customers of ABN Amro's
3,500 branches, including the LaSalle banks in Chicago, use their cell phones
or palm computers to review mortgages rates or closing costs.
The bank also plans to roll out two business-to-business applications.
A cash manager will allow authorized employees to review business accounts
and conduct wire transfers or other transactions through wireless devices.
A mortgage tool will let brokers lock in rates while on the road.
"We're giving people the power to do more than simply look up information,"
said Michael DelCiello, vice president of corporate development for Curious Networks.
The new code is a document-type definition in Extensible Markup Language,
the emerging series of data transmission standards based on Web protocols.
Called Multi-Channel Access XML, or MAXML, it allows developers to craft
applications for an array of devices -- text pagers, wireless phones or personal
digital assistants -- without having to write code in the multiple formats now
used in handheld devices, such as Wireless Markup Language and Voice Extensible
Markup Language.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but DelCiello said Curious Networks'
software is typically priced at $75,000 per server and that each application
sold to ABN Amro could require as many as 10 servers. The bank and company are
negotiating six other applications likely to be rolled out before next spring,
DelCiello said.
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