Extensible Markup Language (XML) is the universal language designed for use with data on the Web.

XML gives developers the power to deliver structured data from a wide variety of applications to the desktop for local processing and presentation. XML allows creation of unique data formats for specific applications; it is also an ideal format for server-to-server transfer of structured data. XML is an integral part of the Microsoft Windows Distributed interNet Applications (DNA) architecture for data delivery and exchange between multiple tiers. There are many benefits of using XML both on the Web and in the middle tier:

Easy processing
XML data are easily accessible from any programming language.

Customizable presentation
XML data can be displayed in a wide variety of forms.

Integration with the existing software
Most existing software packages support XML.

Flexible data representation
XML allows presentation of virtually any data structure.

High performance
XML allows granular updates thus increasing the network performance.

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