ICE was created “to significantly reduce the cost of online business by providing the standard to build Internet value or trading networks, such as syndicated-publishing networks, Web superstores and online-reseller channels,” according to ICE’s announcement (available at www.vignette.com). And news organizations, including Tribune Co. and Hollinger International, are playing a key role in the protocol’s development.

The Extensible Markup Language-based standard is being put together by the ICE Authoring Group, which includes Adobe Systems Inc., Channelware, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, National Semiconductor, Vignette, CNET, Hollinger, News Internet Services, Preview Travel, Tribune Media Services and ZDNet, according to Vignette. More than 80 companies make up the authoring group and advisory council, including the Chicago Tribune, CNN, PA News, PointCast Inc., Random House Inc., Reuters NewMedia and Seybold Publications.

Thomson's Homestretch   If a picture is worth a thousand words, a moving one must be worth millions. That’s the thinking behind Thomson Interactive Media’s HomeStretch, a new online real-estate product featuring streaming video and 360-degree immersive digital photography. Building on TIM’s Classified IQ product, HomeStretch’s video capabilities come courtesy of a marketing partnership with Advantage Video Productions, a longtime producer of more traditional real-estate video products such as televised home shows. Powered by CycloVision technology, AVP’s video services will range in price from $50 to $85 per listing. “Classified advertising and real estate are both multi-billion dollar industries, and both stand to profit from our ability to breathe life into online content,” says Tony Witek, TIM’s managing director.

Consisting of an XML-based common language and an architecture for automatically exchanging, updating, supplying and controlling content, ICE is designed for the construction of data-interchange networks between affiliated companies, according to Vignette. Each company can set its own exchange rules, including what information to share, who can or can’t access it, when information expires, and how often it should be updated. Once these rules are established, ICE-compliant networks can exchange data without human intervention.

News-content syndication was one scenario immediately envisioned by the ICE Authoring Group. Participating newspapers could use ICE to create “packages of headlines, in-depth stories and categories for syndication,” according to Vignette. The protocol would also allow papers to specify terms and conditions of use, editorial rights, attribution and update frequency.

Classifieds could also benefit from ICE, which could pass ads along to aggregators, or split them up for delivery to niche sites specializing in individual categories such as autos or real estate. The ad packages would contain structured data and photos in XML format, and would automatically update every three hours. Ad transactions could be tracked by subscribing sites and reported back to the originating newspaper, enabling revenue-sharing. Banner-ad revenue could also be shared between subscribers and syndicators in such a scenario.