Groups representing a number of domains in the life sciences have been developing specifications and resources for the description and transmission of data, including those produced by (high-throughput) omics technologies. Although these developments are individually valuable, there is now a need for coordination to avoid the problem of a multiplicity of competing candidate standards. Three ongoing collaborative projects (FuGE, OBI and MIBBI) offer the promise of support for truly integrated, cross-domain informatics solutions. This article briefly summarizes the status quo with respect to biological and biomedical data standards, and offers an assessment of coming developments.