Materials Science is a very data intensive activity, yet M&P groups have no equivalent to the CAD and FE systems used by design and analysis departments. By its nature, new materials require a significant quantity of data to be accepted. This information is usually expensive and, therefore, the business case obliges engineers to realize the maximum possible value from it. This paper introduces some concepts and goals of materials data management and focuses in on two collaborative enterprises that have been established to address the recognized challenges of this area. The unique set of requirements in the progression of materials from test lab to the designer’s desktop is explored. The MatML and the Materials Data Management Consortium (MDMC), though with different characteristics, both aim to enhance the flow of high quality materials information. MatML (www.matml.org) is an extensible markup language (XML) developed especially for the interchange of materials information. The work towards this goal, originally coordinated by NIST, includes many materials intensive organizations and software companies with an interest in easing the handling problems of data moving between software environments. The current schema is moving towards an Oasis Standard and focuses on interpretation and interoperability. The other collaboration is the Materials Data Management Consortium (www.mdmc.net). Dr. Steven Arnold of NASA Glenn Research Center and ASM International instigated the MDMC in 2002. This is a group of influential US aerospace and defense organizations sharing funding and knowledge, to progress towards an integrated software system to manage their materials information. The software system generated within the MDMC has a significant number of unique capabilities. This paper picks up a few of these (e.g. data import/export/compatibility and access control) and discusses them in greater detail with particular reference to MatML.