In developing this XML-based application, the First Union and IBM team created a service that converts the CIM into an XML document. Another part of the application converts the XML request into the appropriate format for the back-end processing systems. Finally, a third service converts COBOL copy books into DTDs. Once the copy book has been converted into a DTD, First Union can use the DTD and the XML4J parser to validate the XML document automatically; the bank can then be sure that the XML document matches the COBOL data structure that OS/390 expects.

Using Java technology and XML has been very successful for First Union. According to Bill Barnett, Manager of the Distributed Object Integration Team at First Union, "The combination of Java and XML really delivered for us. Without a platform-independent environment like Java and the message protocol independence we received from the use of XML, we would not have the confidence that our distributed infrastructure could evolve to meet the demand from our ever-growing customer base."