MLSNI is pleased to announce the release of its RETS server. RETS (Real Estate Transaction Standard) is the open standard for exchanging real estate transaction information. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) implemented this standard in March of 1999. Consisting of a transaction specification and a standard eXtensible Markup Language (XML) Document Type Definition (DTD), RETS is being implemented by many real estate industry leaders in their next generation of real estate information systems. Vendors in the real estate industry currently deal with multiple software standards. RETS incorporates XML technology, that is more flexible than today's current standard, HTML. RETS will allow different software programs to more easily interact with one another. MLSNI is using the Variman RETS server, developed by the NAR Center for REALTOR(R) Technology group. Variman is a RETS 1.0 and 1.5 compliant server. Variman is developed under a BSD-style license at the Center for REALTOR(R) Technology. Free RETS clients are available through CRT. The RETS server is used by MLSNI Subscribers using software or services provided by vendors. Such as: Data access to web site operators (Birdview, Wolfnet, etc.) Data access to service providers that sell services to Realtors. (Showingtime, etc.) Data access for Brokerages for back office and other applications We urge you to go the to following sites to learn more about RETS. http://www.rets.org http://www.realtor.org/crtweb.nsf/pages/crthomepage?OpenDocument MLSNI requires a license (see links on the left) to access the RETS server, and charges will be incurred for access. Please contact us for information on RETS server access. Please contact:   Richard Torp 630-955-2750   Richard.torp@mlsni.com   Gayle Ludemann 630-955-2768   Gayle.ludemann@mlsni.com