DDI: does it have a life beyond IASSIST?

The Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) has been welcomed and even embraced by the IASSIST community. For those who sought a way of producing machine processable codebooks, it is a dream come true. For those who were searching for a data/survey preservation format, it seems to be an answer. But like all standards, it must have tools that support it and expanding user acceptance in order to survive and thrive. Some tools (such as NESSTAR) have been built to embrace DDI and others have been adapted to read DDI files. But is this enough for the DDI to survive, or better yet, thrive? Is there scope for applying these tools and standards beyond the data library/archives community? And what will be the impact of other (competing?) standards such as ISO 11179 and SDMX (Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange). This paper will explore these issues, attempt to clarify relations and speculate on possible future directions.