A lot of academic tools in verification and one in covert channel analysis are specific to SML. Such things might make me use this instead of Ocaml if SML's libraries improved to a similar level. For right now, I'd stick with Ocaml.
Between INRIA and Jane St, it probably won't. There's just so much work going on in Ocaml community. The thing I like most about INRIA and Ocaml academics is they often build things that are useful. Much SML projects are toys.
Add OCaml Labs (at Cambridge) to that list; their work is helping to remove some of the big gripes with OCaml whilst Mirage is genuinely interesting new (I think) work.
Oh yeah: they rock! Especially Mirage. That project combines a number of lessons learned from robust systems in the past while adding Ocaml to the mix. Add a robust middleware, a separation kernel, and certifying compiler with the right security checks/defaults to make MirageOS a bad-to-the-bone hosting solution.
