VISTAinfo took the next "giant leap" in empowering real estate professionals through superior technology by announcing the creation of an online, National Multiple Listing Service Infrastructure (NMI). NMI will be the industry's first national MLS infrastructure built on the next generation of real estate technology -- the open data exchange platform sanctioned by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) and developed with the participation of VISTAinfo and other Industry leaders. NMI will be available to all MLSs nationwide and is intended to enhance and add value to their services while not removing local MLS control.

NMI incorporates the XML and RETS open standards -- technologies that enable real estate professionals and organizations to share and manipulate data faster than ever before. It can also serve as the open platform for transaction engines currently under development by HomeStore.com(TM) and HomeAdvisor(TM) allowing seamless secure connections to the MLS listing database and office management software to avoid duplicate or triplicate listing and prospect entry, thus ensuring current information.

"The VISTAinfo-supported NMI is the gateway to the future of the real estate industry," said Tom Gay, president and CEO of VISTAinfo. "With home buyers and sellers having more choices than ever before, we foresee an increased reliance on professional real estate agents, who are trained to provide value and expertise in such high-risk, high-value transactions as buying or selling a home. Through the NMI we're empowering every participating agent to bring ever greater customer service by providing agents with the technology to do their job better, smarter and faster. Adoption of this standardized infrastructure will also provide local MLSs with new sources of non-dues revenues through services that are offered through NMI."

Through NMI, VISTAinfo is enabling open and secure communications among all real estate professionals -- agent, franchise or broker systems -- that also utilize NAR standards-based tools. In addition, VISTAinfo will provide a seamless, cost-free transition to updated versions for current RE/Xplorer customers -- VISTAinfo's online platform for NMI. MLSs who are not currently RE/Xplorer customers will have a variety of options to participate in NMI.

By delivering NMI to customers through the RE/Xplorer platform, VISTAinfo is able to complement the increased functionality of the database with recent technological innovations and business tools introduced by the company. Along with providing users with an Internet-based contact manager through the OnLine Agent(TM) software and enabling agents to customize their interface through VISTAinfo's Channel Product Delivery Control (CPDC) technology, VISTAinfo also will add a variety of essential business and productivity tools.

Among the tools will be VISTAinfo's E-Risk, the first web-based service to provide full disclosure, property-specific hazard and informational reports, and SchoolMatch® On Demand, a co-branded service that delivers quality and performance reports on U.S. private and public schools. VISTAinfo also will incorporate its Central Hosting service, which enables MLSs of all sizes to access the NMI by sharing a server.

Currently, there are few MLSs that can keep pace with every facet of the home buying/selling transaction because of the rapid rate of technological change in the real estate industry. NMI will leverage the collective strengths of individual MLSs while mitigating weaknesses to provide a superior service to every REALTOR®. This, in turn, will contribute to an enhanced agent/customer relationship through expanded customer service.

Added Howard Latham, VISTAinfo's vice president of the RE/Professional Group, "Regardless of where they conduct business, brokers want lower costs without sacrificing state-of-the-art tools. NMI automatically will eliminate duplicate entries and duplicate systems, saving brokers hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. This is just one benefit that we believe will contribute to NMI's rapid adoption."

Published: May 18, 2000

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