ebXML is an international initiative established by UN/CEFACT and OASIS. "The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) have joined forces to initiate a worldwide project to standardize XML business specifications. UN/CEFACT and OASIS have established the Electronic Business XML Working Group to develop a technical framework that will enable XML to be utilized in a consistent manner for the exchange of all electronic business data. Industry groups currently working on XML specifications have been invited to participate in the 18-month project."

Rationale for the initiative was provided in: "XML and Global Business Exchanges - an invitation." It says, in part: There often competing, efforts underway worldwide to develop XML specifications for global business exchanges. We are concerned that, without some urgent initiative to bring these efforts together, this will lead to considerable confusion and duplication among users and, that as a result, the opportunities that XML offers to the market will not be maximized. Therefore, in a joint venture with OASIS - the Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards - we are launching a global initiative to develop an open technical framework to enable XML to be utilized in a consistent and uniform manner for the exchange of all electronic business data. To facilitate global business exchanges and to make them a reality for all users, we strongly support the development and implementation of open, interoperable, international standards and specifications. More information on UN/CEFACT can be found on our Web site www.unece.org/cefact...The Initiative will be project based, last for about 15 to 18 months and the results will be in the public domain. To ensure fast progress, UN/CEFACT and OASIS are establishing, under this Initiative, an Electronic Business XML Working Group (ebXML/WG) that will be led by Klaus-Dieter Naujok representing UN/CEFACT (Chair) and Dr. Robert Sutor representing OASIS (Vice Chair). The press release to this effect is attached which is being circulated to the media."

The ebXML Working Groups (alias "Project Teams") include (1) Business Processes, (2) Core Components, (3) Technical Architecture Requirements, (4) Transport/Routing and Packaging, (5) Registry and Repository, (6) Technical Coordination and Support, (7) Technical Architecture, (8) Marketing, Awareness, and Education. [2000-07]

From the 'Terms of Reference': "The ebXML initiative shall define its detailed deliverables during its first meeting. This will be achieved by reviewing those contributions which address the technical issues identified under section 1 above and identifying the resulting work items. These deliverables shall be submitted to UN/CEFACT and OASIS for review. A mid-term and final report for submission to UN/CEFACT and OASIS Criteria for Membership: The ebXML initiative shall comprise of a group of experts with broad-based knowledge of existing techniques and technological developments within EDI/EC/EB, XML, and their related standards. Membership in the ebXML initiative is open to any group or organization that is engaged in developing solutions for the utilization of XML in EDI, EC and EB. Each group or organization may designate one or more experts to the ebXMl initiative. Experts are expected to contribute to the work based solely on their expertise. The ebXML initiative is not a commercial undertaking."

From a September 1999 announcement: "The United Nations body for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) have joined forces to initiate a worldwide project to standardize XML business specifications. UN/CEFACT and OASIS have established the Electronic Business XML Initiative to develop a technical framework that will enable XML to be utilized in a consistent manner for the exchange of all electronic business data. Industry groups currently working on XML specifications have been invited to participate in the 18-month project. The results of the Electronic Business XML Initiative will be placed in the public domain on XML.org. The Electronic Business XML Initiative will be led by Klaus-Dieter Naujok of the Harbinger Corporation, a senior member of the UN/CEFACT Steering Committee, and Dr. Robert S. Sutor of IBM, the Chief Strategy Officer of OASIS."

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Principal References

• ebXML Web Site
• ebXML Products and Implementations
• ebXML FAQ document
• ebXML specifications
• ebXML News
• ebXML Marketing
• ebXML JMT Committee Activties
• ebXML Participants
• ebXML Deliverables: Technical Specifications, Technical Reports, Reference Materials, White Papers.
• ebXML specifications for review

Articles, Papers, News, History

• [August 28, 2006] "Registering UMM Business Collaboration Models in an ebXML Registry." By Birgit Hofreiter and Christian Huemer (Faculty of Computer Science, University of Vienna); and Marco Zapletal (Faculty of Informatics, Vienna University of Technology). Paper presented at CEC/EEE 2006. Also published in the Proccedings of the Eighth IEEE International Conference on E-Commerce Technology and The 3rd IEEE International Conference on Enterprise Computing, E-Commerce, and E-Services (CEC/EEE 2006). Sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Electronic Commerce. Held June 26-29, 2006, San Francisco, California, USA. "UN/CEFACT's modeling methodology (UMM) is used to develop global choreographies of inter-organizational business processes. UMM models should be publically available in order to foster re-use and to reference them in trading partner agreements. In this paper we present an approach to register UMM business collaboration models or parts thereof in an ebXML registry. Registration requires a machine-readable format. Since UMM is based on UML, we have to map the UML graphical notation into a commonly accepted machine-readable format. Consequently, we define an XMI representation for UMM models. We demonstrate the XMI approach for both the meta-model (M2) and the model (M1) layer of MOF: The meta-model layer defines all stereotypes and associated tagged values of UMM's UML profile. The business collaboration models on the M1 layer reference the corresponding stereotypes. In a further step we demonstrate the registration of the business collaboration models. These models are managed as extrinsic objects in the ebXML registry. We explaine how to classify a model according to its business context. Since a model may be valid in multiple business environments, we develop an approach using the registry metadata for assigning multiple business environments to the same model. Since the ebXML registry does not natively include any classification groups we present an approach that is compliant to ebXML RIM..." [cache 2006-08]

• [March 08, 2006] "Collaborative Business Process Support in IHE XDS through ebXML Business Processes." By Asuman Dogac [WWW], Veli Bicer, and Alper Okcan (Software Research and Development Center, Middle East Technical University - METU, Ankara Turkiye). To be published in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Data Engineering - ICDE2006 (Atlanta, USA, April 3-7, 2006). "Currently, clinical information is stored in all kinds of proprietary formats through a multitude of medical information systems available on the market. This results in a severe interoperability problem in sharing electronic healthcare records. To address this problem, an industry initiative, called 'Integrating Healthcare Enterprise (IHE)' has specified the 'Cross Enterprise Document Sharing (XDS)' Profile to store healthcare documents in an ebXML registry/repository to facilitate their sharing. Through a separate effort, IHE has also defined interdepartmental Workflow Profiles to identify the transactions required to integrate information flow among several information systems. Although the clinical documents stored in XDS registries are obtained as a result of executing these workflows, IHE has not yet specified collaborative healthcare processes for the XDS. Hence, there is no way to track the workflows in XDS and the clinical documents produced through the workflows are manually inserted into the registry/repository. Given that IHE XDS is using the ebXML architecture, the most natural way to integrate IHE Workflow Profiles to IHE XDS is using ebXML Business Processes (ebBP). In this paper, we describe the implementation of an enhanced IHE architecture demonstrating how ebXML Business Processes, IHE Workflow Profiles and the IHE XDS architecture can all be integrated to provide collaborative business process support in the healthcare domain... We show that by using the ebBP Binary and Multiparty collaborations, it is possible to completely specify the IHE workflow profiles. These collaborations include all the required information such as exchange of documents (interactions), actors, and other constraints or conditions in order to perform an enterprise-wide workflow management. The ebBP specification document is then used by each actor involved to have an agreement (CPA) and to create its own logic and rules to specify intra-departmental workflows in BPEL by composing Web services." See also the Ontolog invited presentation.

• [June 15, 2005]   Sun Service Registry for SOA Supports UDDI 3.0 and ebXML Registry 3.0 Standards.    Sun Microsystems has announced the development of Web Services Registry and Repository for building Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA). The Sun Service Registry "enables service oriented architectures by providing centralized access to discovery, use, and reuse of web services as well as secure, federated information management. By offering a unique single-registry solution that supports both UDDI v3 and ebXML Registry 3.0 standards, Sun's Service Registry enables customers to publish, manage, govern, discover and reuse services within a broad range of applications." Sun's Service Registry is based upon the open source 'freebXML' registry (ebXML Registry Reference Implementation Project), developed at SourceForge.net. The Service Registry supports secure, federated information management for any type of electronic artifacts, and information artifact discovery using domain-specific queries (SQL, XML filter query syntax). It provides for validation of information artifacts using domain-specific business rules, with version control, life cycle management, and governance of information artifacts. Both standard and user-defined taxonomies may be used to classify information artifacts, and the Sun Service Registry offers the ability to define associations between those information artifacts based on custom, fine-grained role based access control. Notification of changes to information artifacts may be sent to subscribers, recorded in a complete audit trail and event log of changes." Common use cases for Sun's Service Registry include: (1) "Publication, management, governance, discovery and reuse of Web Services and related SOA Artifacts; (2) Taxonomy management; (3) XML Schema management; (4) Vocabulary Management; (5) Business Process registry; (6) Medical content repository. It features a single registry solution supports wide customer adoption across diverse domains." Development of the Sun Service Registry was guided by a realization that the "ability to register, discover, and govern Web services is an essential requirement for any Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) implementation. This need may not be fully appreciated in the early stages of an SOA roll-out when dealing with a small number of services. However, large organizations will typically need to support a large number of Web services, and as the number of services deployed grows to dozens or hundreds, centralized facilities for access and control of service metadata and artifacts becomes critical. A service registry provides these capabilities and is a key infrastructural component and cornerstone for SOA deployments."

• [February 14, 2005]   OASIS Approves ebXML Registry Version 3.0 Committee Draft for Public Review.    The OASIS ebXML Registry Technical Committee has voted to approve its ebXML Registry Version 3.0 specification as a Committee Draft and to advance the draft for public review in preparation for ballot as an OASIS Standard. [The ballot was successful, approving ebXML Registry Version 3.0 as an OASIS Standard.] The ebXML Registry Version 3.0 release is a package of some forty-four files, including the two prose documents ebXML Registry Information Model (RIM) and ebXML Registry Services and Protocols (RS). XML schemas and WSDL files complete the distribution. The specification uses schema documents conforming to W3C XML Schema, and normative text to describe the syntax and semantics of XML-encoded objects and protocol messages. An ebXML Registry is "an information system that securely manages any content type and the standardized metadata that describes it. It provides a set of services that enable sharing of content and metadata between organizational entities in a federated environment. An ebXML Registry may be deployed within an application server, a web server or some other service container. The registry may be available to clients as a public, semi-public or private web site. The ebXML Registry thus provides a stable store where submitted information is made persistent. Such information is used to facilitate business to business relationships and transactions." In this context, submitted content for an ebXML Registry includes, but is not limited to: XML schema and documents, process descriptions, ebXML Core Components, context descriptions, UML models, information about organizations, and software components. The ebXML Registry Information Model (RIM) specification defines the types of metadata and content that can be stored in an ebXML Registry. The companion document ebXML Registry Services and Protocols (RS) defines the services provided by an ebXML Registry and the protocols used by clients of the registry to interact with these services. According to the RIM specification, an ebXML Registry is capable of storing any type of electronic content such as XML documents, text documents, images, sound and video. Instances of such content are referred to as a RepositorytItems. RepositorytItems are stored in a content repository provided by the ebXML Registry. In addition to the RepositoryItems, an ebXML Registry is also capable of storing standardized metadata that may be used to further describe RepositoryItems. Instances of such metadata are referred to as a RegistryObjects, or one of its sub-types. RegistryObjects are stored in the registry provided by the ebXML Registry."

• [December 20, 2004] "The Benefits of ebXML for e-Business." By David Webber, with Mark Yader, John Hardin, and Patrick Hogan. Presented at the IDEAlliance XML 2004 Conference and Exposition (December 15-19, 2004, Washington, DC, USA). ['The ebXML specifications have matured rapidly over the past year. New components and capabilities have extended the architecture for service oriented architectures (SOA). This paper discussed a new comprehensive release of ebXML that is available from OASIS.'] "With thousands of users globally the ebXML infrastructure is beginning to enter the mainstream of business consciousness today. Born from a process began by two organizations (UN/CEFACT and OASIS) who each brought unique backgrounds and solution envisioning together, ebXML has created a new and compelling metaphor for conducting e-Business via the Internet. The vision and model for better e-Business using open standards was created by combining the business knowledge gained from twenty years of EDI-based interactions from CEFACT with the OASIS web commerce and marketplace expertise of internet-based companies using XML. That model seeks to move from processes that are highly labour intensive to configure and deploy manually in a paper based culture to a world where trading partners can discover each other and then begin to do business electronically by linking their systems together using ebXML and the Internet. Each step of this process is supported and enabled by ebXML through the use of discreet components that are engineered to deliver specific functionality. Each component can be used individually or combined as needed. Just as LINUX is widely used by businesses today to run their web sites and services, the ebXML infrastructure provides the means for open and low-cost global commerce... The rapid acceptance of LINUX worldwide and especially in high growth countries such as China, India and Japan, should fuel dramatic growth in the ebXML infrastructure as these enhanced LINUX versions become available. LINUX is in many ways the perfect vehicle for ebXML and the availability of ebXML enhanced LINUX versions will ensure that ebXML becomes a critical component in global electronic commerce. [The ebXML] components available today are being used to deploy a variety of business solutions. Examples include supply of spare parts and maintenance support for the Metro Rail in Hong Kong; Banking and Insurance services in Korea; in Australia the Electricity and Gas supply in Sydney and small farmers selling wheat to cooperatives; raw steel distribution in Europe's 24x7 steel marketplace; the US DOD EMALL for logistics parts purchase; State of Texas electricity distribution marketplace; and Volkswagen is working on using ebXML to cut costs to its dealerships and suppliers worldwide. These examples illustrate the range from small to large configurations..." [alt URL for HTML, PDF, cache]

• [December 06, 2004] "Case Study: UK National Health Service NPfIT Uses ebXML Messaging." Authored by OASIS and BT, approved for publication by UK NHS NPfIT. December 06, 2004. 9 pages. Abstract from Pim van der Eijk: "The UK's National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT) is the world's largest civil IT project. A central component of the NHS Care Records Service is the Transactional Messaging Service (TMS) Spine using the ebXML Messaging Service OASIS Standard. The Transaction and Messaging Service provides the communications infrastructure for the National Programme. It serves to interconnect regional network clusters managed by Local Service Providers (LSPs) and national services such as systems for electronic booking and transmission of prescriptions. The technology framework used for TMS is based on a large number of advanced technical specifications and standards. This includes the ebXML Messaging Service OASIS Standard. Within the TMS Spine, ebXML is used to provide reliable messaging functionality. National services such as the Electronic Booking Service (Choose and Book) and Electronic Transmission of Prescriptions are accessed using pairs of XML request and response documents. These documents are transported within the NHS network as ebXML messages. With an anticipated yearly volume of over 5.000.000.000 message by 2010, TMS is likely to be among the largest messaging systems in production in the world. For this very reason, TMS is also likely to be among the larger systems worldwide that will use the ebXML Messaging OASIS Standard..." See "XML in Clinical Research and Healthcare Industries." [cache]

• [November 08, 2004] "U.S. Department of Defense Launches Secure, Reliable Messaging for DOD EMALL Using BEA WebLogic Integration 8.1. ICF Consulting Incorporates ebXML to Strengthen Trading Partner Collaboration with Defense Department's Worldwide Procurement Application." - "BEA Systems, Inc., a world leader in enterprise infrastructure software, and ICF Consulting today announced that development has been completed on the newest version of DOD EMALL, one of the U.S. Department of Defense's (DoD) most successful online applications. DOD EMALL, which is built on BEA WebLogic Integration 8.1 is the Defense Department's worldwide commerce portal, processing more than $188 million in transactions annually. Among the key enhancements in the new DOD EMALL is the use of the Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language (ebXML) standard for secure, reliable messaging between trading partners. DOD EMALL is one of the largest online operations ever to adopt ebXML, which is designed to allow the Web site to retry actions that are aborted or fail and confirm message receipt to ensure non-repudiation while helping to complete transactions faster. ebXML also helps facilitate the use of digital signatures to verify message authenticity and help to ensure message integrity. In addition, ebXML is protocol independent so that it can be used regardless of the means by which an interaction is taking place (e.g., email, FTP, http, Web services). 'It is imperative that DOD EMALL users are able to send and receive mission-critical order information among heterogeneous systems securely and reliably,' said Gabrielle Zimmerman, systems integration manager for DOD EMALL. Reliability of messaging became a significant concern as DOD EMALL's transaction volume grew from $13.7 million in 2002 to $188 million in 2003. Orders are expected to approach $300 million in 2005. DOD EMALL has evolved into much more than the standard 'shopping cart' idiom for electronic commerce. ICF Consulting and BEA Systems worked with the DOD to build a customized, service-oriented architecture (SOA). The SOA is designed to brings a high degree of adaptability to DOD EMALL, helping to enable the DOD to implement change rapidly as the department's needs evolve, and it presents a highly personalized screen to users based on their specific job responsibilities, security clearances, and other variables..." See also: (1) DoD EMALL; (2) "Electronic Business XML Initiative (ebXML)."

• [October 29, 2004]   Digital Artefacts Europe Contributes Open Source Implementation for ebXML Core Components.    An announcement from Diego Ballve of Digital Artefacts Europe describes the donation of an ebXML Core Components vocabulary management implementation to the open-source community through the freebXML initiative. The freebXML CC project on SourceForge includes a set of tools developed to facilitate the work of domain experts managing data dictionaries. The the project is now available under LGPL terms for use by the open-source community, and will be further developed under the freebXML umbrella. Core Components are defined in the UN/CEFACT Core Components Technical Specification as Part 8 of the ebXML Framework. The UN/CEFACT Plenary voted in May 2004 to submit the ebXML Core Components Technical Specification to ISO TC154 as Part 5 of ISO 15000. The specification is now in process for ISO fast track approval, and will join other parts of ISO/TS 15000 Electronic business eXtensible Markup Language (ebXML), including Collaboration-protocol profile and agreement specification (ebCPP), Message service specification (ebMS), Registry information model specification (ebRIM), and Registry services specification (ebRS). The ebXML Core Components technical specification (CCTS) "presents a methodology for developing a common set of semantic building blocks that represent the general types of business data in use today and provides for the creation of new business vocabularies and restructuring of existing business vocabularies. It provides a way to identify, capture and maximize the re-use of business information to support and enhance information interoperability across multiple business situations." Several organizations and standards bodies now base their data structures and information exchanges on the syntax-neutral Core Components model. The The freebXML CC implementation "is based on the ebXML Core Components specification and comprises a developer API as well as an end user GUI. Where the freebXML CC API gives the developer a chance to use Core Components without concern for the implementation itself, the freebXML CC GUI will allow domain experts with reasonable awareness of the Core Components specification to model their vocabularies and manage their data dictionaries using this methodology with minimum effort." freebXML CC "uses the ebXML Registry to store vocabulary data. More specifically, it uses the freebXML Registry through the Java API for XML Registries (JAXR). Currently the freebXML CC API is in production use state, while the GUI is still a prototype. The API maps Core Component concepts to ebXML Registry Information Model concepts through JAXR API, abstracting details about the Registry itself and providing simplified query and life cycle management features focused on Core Components and Vocabularies."

• [April 07, 2004] "OASIS: ISO Approval May Spark ebXML Critical Mass." [Question & Answer.] By Michael S. Mimoso. From SearchWebServices.com (April 06, 2004). ['If there was ever an Underwriter's Laboratory seal of approval for technology, ISO is it. The International Organization for Standardization last week approved a suite of four ebXML specifications, approval that the specs' authors at OASIS hope will soothe enterprise concerns about using the standard to do transactions over the Internet. OASIS vice president Karl Best and James Bryce Clark pointed to the automotive industry as early ebXML enthusiasts, as well as pockets of electronic commerce in Europe and Asia. With ISO aboard, Best and Clark are confident adoption will grow in some other frontiers, like North America. In this interview, Best and Clark provide insight on the importance of ISO certification and how ebXML stacks up against EDI.'] On the relative importance of earning ISO approval for ebXML, (1) Karl Best: "We submitted those four OASIS standards to ISO for their approval so that we could get this sanction from the international organization in order to promote the adoption of ebXML. International approval of the specification allows various organizations within countries to adopt the specification where they would otherwise not be allowed to. For example, in some countries a government agency can only adopt a specification that has international sanction or approval. By having the ISO stamp on the specification, that means we can allow a broader range of possible implementers to look at this specification and do something with it where they previously could not with only the OASIS stamp on it." (2) James Bryce Clark: "Companies that are in the field that work in this business regularly and know their way around and participate, they've heard of us and some of the people involved and that would be enough for them. But the end users would prefer to have worry about standards only occasionally. They just make a decision to commit and use them and move on with their lives. It's very much like knowing that Underwriters Laboratory has a seal and that means you probably won't get shocked by handling an electrical cord on a home appliance. Outside of our area, which is e-business, there are a lot of people who don't know what e-business is, but do know who ISO is..."

• [March 29, 2004] "ISO Approves ebXML OASIS Standards. ebXML Suite of Technical Specifications Promises to Cut Costs and Simplify Processes for e-Business." - "The International Standards Organization (IS0) has approved a suite of four ebXML OASIS Standards that enable enterprises in any industry, of any size, anywhere in the world to conduct business over the Internet. The submissions from OASIS will be published as ISO technical specifications, ISO/TS 15000. The new ISO 15000 designation, under the general title, Electronic business eXtensible mark-up language, includes four parts, each corresponding to one of ebXML's modular suite of standards: [1] ISO 15000-1: ebXML Collaborative Partner Profile Agreement; [2] ISO 15000-2: ebXML Messaging Service Specification; [3] ISO 15000-3: ebXML Registry Information Model; [4] ISO 15000-4: ebXML Registry Services Specification. Until now, the technology available for most businesses to exchange data was electronic data interchange (EDI), which made significant contributions to productivity and inventory control. Many companies, however, find EDI expensive and difficult to implement. The ebXML initiative, using the economies of scale presented by the Internet, breaks through these obstacles. ebXML provides companies with a standard method to exchange business messages, conduct trading relationships, communicate data in common terms and define and register business processes. It aims to make it easier for organizations to interface with others within and outside their industry, open up new markets with less effort than before and, at the same time, cut costs and simplify process associated with traditional document exchange. 'ISO/TS 15000 underscores the importance of partnership between ISO and standards-developing organizations as OASIS to craft a common set of standards and reflects the international community's recognition of the importance of ebXML in enabling electronic business,' said Alan Bryden, ISO Secretary-General. 'We applaud the developers of ebXML within OASIS and the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) for their contributions to open trade data interchange and harmonization.' 'ISO approval is a gratifying endorsement of both ebXML and the OASIS open standards process,' noted Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS. 'ISO designation makes the already widely adopted ebXML standards even more accessible to adopters —particularly those implementing business solutions for governments — who look to ISO for assurance of long term viability.' John Borras, Director Technology Policy, U.K. Office of the e-Envoy, characterized the ISO approval as 'a milestone for domestic and international electronic trade. Government agencies, users, and trade organizations can specify ebXML compliance with even greater confidence.' ISO/TS 15000 was approved by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 154, Processes, data elements and documents in commerce, industry and administration..."

• [March 01, 2004] "Driving Standards." By Laurie Sullivan and Charles Babcock. In InformationWeek (March 01, 2004). "The auto industry is moving to a new standard for dataexchange in an effort to cut costs and simplify processes. Wayne Williams, who sells $60 million worth of Audis, BMWs, and other imported cars a year, believes there's a better and far cheaper way to conduct electronic business with automakers. The owner of Williams AutoWorld in Lansing, Mich., plans to implement collaborative-business systems based on the emerging Electronic Business XML standard that, in addition to simplifying electronic forms processing, promises to cut the dealership's data-communications costs in half. As a first step, Williams AutoWorld this year will work with German automaker Volkswagen AG, which is forging ahead with plans to adopt ebXML, a standard developed by the United Nations for Internet-based business collaboration. General Motors Corp. isn't far behind. The two manufacturers see ebXML as the best choice to replace a costly process of document exchange that relies on conventional EDI, often in conjunction with satellite services. Executives from VW and GM are convinced the rest of the industry will join them soon. 'As ebXML becomes standardized, it will become the de facto way everyone does business,' says Tony Scott, chief technology officer at GM... The ebXML standard, established in 2001, provides a comprehensive set of specifications for conducting secure, reliable data exchange over the Internet. 'The biggest motivation for going to a Web-based process is to contain costs,' says Williams, one of 1,000 dealers in the United States and Canada that VW hopes to pull into its ebXML network. Porsche, BMW, and DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes have said they'll be ready to go live with ebXML by this summer, according to Williams. When that happens, he estimates his $12,000 data-communications bill — spent each month on point-to-point EDI and satellite services — could drop by as much as $6,000. VW is looking for savings, too. The automaker can cut $1 million in annual EDI fees and software using Cyclone Commerce Inc.'s ebXML-compliant collaborative-commerce software to transmit documents, VW estimates. The company also plans to extend its ebXML network to repair shops and parts suppliers, and it expects the system to be better than EDI at supporting large, graphics-intensive files such as engineering specs. 'We wanted to implement more-complex and larger systems that can handle data-intensive pictures, drawings, and transactions on a more-secure network,' says Uwe Matulovic, VW's CIO of North America. Support for ebXML is growing throughout the automobile industry. The Covisint online exchange and parts supplier Delphi Corp. are among those backing ebXML, and Ford Motor Co. has said it wants the industry to ensure compatibility between ebXML and other Web-services technologies..."

• [February 23, 2004] "Microsoft Creates a Stir in Its Work With the U.N." By John Markoff and Jennifer L. Schenker. In New York Times (February 23, 2004). [With caption: 'Klaus-Dieter Naujok, who works with the United Nations, says it is difficult to avoid Microsoft's influence.'] "The chairman of the Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates, won widespread applause in January when he trumpeted an agreement to give $1 billion in software and cash to the United Nations as part of a job-training program for the developing world. But Microsoft did not seek any attention for a much smaller amount that it contributed earlier to pay some travel expenses for a United Nations business standards group. That payment, critics say, had a much more opportunistic motive than the big donation. Several software industry executives and technologists contend that Microsoft has been moving behind the scenes to undercut support for a set of business-to-business electronic transaction standards jointly developed by the United Nations and an industry-sponsored international standards group. Microsoft and senior United Nations officials said that the accusation was false and that the company's contributions were relatively modest, complied with United Nations guidelines, and did not unduly influence decision making. Microsoft and I.B.M. have been trying to gain backing for a competing approach to writing Internet software, which the two companies argue would be a better, more general solution for business-to-business computer communications than the original United Nations-developed standard, known as 'electronic business using extensible markup language,' or ebXML in the trade. The previously hidden dispute may seem arcane, but it revolves around computing standards that are likely to help determine control over an emerging generation of Web services software that is designed to automate buying and selling through networks of computer connections. Many industry executives predict that the new software will ultimately supplant computer operating systems as the linchpin of the industry. This new fight is occurring as Microsoft, the world's largest software company, moves to the final stages of its legal dispute with antitrust regulators in Europe over its right to integrate features of its competitors' products into its Windows operating system. On another front, Microsoft is being challenged by an array of open-source programs -- starting with Linux but expanding to other arenas -- that are being developed by a loosely organized group of software programmers and distributed at little or no cost..."

• [February 20, 2004]   OASIS Members Form Electronic Business Service Oriented Architecture TC.    A new ebSOA (Electronic Business Service Oriented Architecture) technical committee has been created by OASIS members to continue work on the ebXML Technical Architecture. The goal is to advance the version 1.04 model to "a more current architecture that takes into account both subsequent releases of the ebXML specifications and other Web Services and service-oriented architecture works, including the work of the W3C Web Services Architecture WG. The TC will assess the implementability and interoperability of the multiple ebXML and Web Services specifications, providing relevant comments and suggestions to OASIS TCs and other panels managing the individual specifications. The proposed schedule calls for release of an eBusiness Service Oriented Architecture Technical Specification within eighteen months, preceded by incremental working drafts. A Service Oriented Architecture Best Practices Document covering both ebXML and Web Services will also be published. Duane Nickull (Adobe) is the Proposed TC Chair. The first meeting of the OASIS ebSOA TC will be held April 29, 2004 in New Orleans, LA, USA.

• [January 23, 2004] "ebXML Adoption Update." By Monica Martin (Sun Microsystems) and others, ebXML MARKETING. December 22, 2003. 44 pages. "The OASIS ebXML Awareness Team has prepared this document in collaboration with OASIS member organizations and partners to give a global picture of the current status of ebXML adoption. Our aim is to increase awareness of the substantial amount of ebXML-related activity occurring throughout the world today. This repor -- which represents our best initial and ongoing research at this time and may not be exhaustive -- summarizes the status of close to 100 completed, ongoing or progressive ebXML-related projects. ebXML is unique in the breadth of its standards vision and arguably represents the culmination of all previous standards efforts toward a shared global Internet-based B2B framework. ebXML is complementary to many existing standards, such as legacy EDI, XML-based business document standards, and Web Services. Decision makers, involved in global B2B commerce and responsible for making B2B infrastructure investments must evaluate their business strategies and consider the likely need to support trading partners who will want to engage electronically using ebXML protocols. No truly successful technology or standard is an island. It is therefore exciting to witness ebXML adapting, evolving and growing through research and deployment around the world. Over 2,000 people contributed to the original ebXML development efforts, made public in May 2001. Since then, continuing standards development, pursued jointly by OASIS and UN/CEFEACT, has being augmented by creative real world projects applying ebXML with other technologies such as Web Services, XML as a whole, as well as legacy EDI. Major vendors have developed ebXML support into their flagship products and new ebXML vendors are emerging. Key industry sectors and government entities are deploying new eBusiness applications that are serving as benchmarks in the adoption of ebXML globally. Industry groups and standards bodies are working to bring their vocabularies into alignment around ebXML, promising a new level of interoperability that industry has been seeking for more than a decade..."

• [January 12, 2004] "Shopping Without Dropping. DOD EMall Embraces New XML Extension to Handle Transactions of $1 Million Weekly." By Joab Jackson (GCN Staff). In Government Computer News Volume 23, Number 1 (January 12, 2004). "To keep pace with spiraling traffic, the Defense Department's EMall portal is shifting to an emerging transactions standard based on th Extensible Markup Language (XML). The portal is one of the largest online operations -- inside government or out -- to adopt the standard, called Electronic Business Using XML, or ebXML. By spring, the DOD EMall team expects the purchasing portal will be completely powered by ebXML. The mall's business has been growing while the systems supporting it have gotten more complex, said Debra Roobol, the DOD EMall program manager and chief of the Defense Logistics Agency's E-Commerce and Standards Branch. Those systems -- managed by a trio of prime contractors -- processed about 360,000 transactions in fiscal 2003, or about $1 million per week. This year, the number of transactions will grow to 475,000, Roobol estimated. EbXML has advanced features useful to DOD EMall, ICF's Byrd said. It can eliminate duplicate orders and allow automatic retries if first attempts fail. It also supports asynchronous processing -- if one part of the system is slow to respond, the order will be routed without requiring the user to wait for confirmation. Another advantage is that ebXML is interoperable with Web services environments that do not use BEA products or J2EE components..."

• [December 01, 2003] "OASIS ebXML Messaging Services 3.x Feature Preview. Edited by Matthew MacKenzie (Adobe Systems Incorporated) and Ian Jones (BT Group plc). 12/1/2003. 15 pages. Contributors: Doug Bunting (Sun Microsystems), Mike Dillon (Drummond Group), Dale Moberg (Cyclone Commerce), Pete Wenzel (SeeBeyond Technology Corporation), Jacques Durand (Fujitsu Software). This document discusses proposals that the OASIS ebXML Messaging Services Technical committee are considering for inclusion in the next major release of the ebXML Message Service Specification... A large topic of discussion amongst the members of the ebXML Messaging Services TC for over a year has been version 3.x of the specification. The decision to extend the discussion for such a long period of time was made so that we could allow other complimentary specifications such as SOAP 1.2, WSRM and WSS to mature to the point where we could consider integrating these technologies into the specification. It was also useful to allow a number of version 2.0 implementations to be developed and thoroughly tested to identify any issues or changes that may be required, especially in the area of interoperability. In this paper, we've separated proposed features for version 3.x into distinct categories: complimentary technology integration, changes to existing functionality and new features. The purpose of this paper is to promote discussion and stimulate interest in the 3.x specification development process. Comments, contributions and feature prioritization suggestions are invited from any and all interested parties, whether or not they have formal representation as part of the OASIS development process, although participation in the TC is encouraged. Any contributions should in the first instance be submitted to the discussion lists detailed earlier or via one of the contributors or officers of the TC as described on the TC's web site..." Note: Matthew MacKenzie 2005-02-03: "This document is formatted as though it is a combined work of the members listed in it, which it is not..." [source PDF]

• [November 10, 2003] "Adobe Extends Commitment to XML Standards with Acquisition of Yellow Dragon Software. Acquired Technology Assets Enable Native ebXML Support in Adobe's Intelligent Document Platform and Streamline Collaboration Across the Extended Enterprise. - "Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced that it has acquired the technology assets of privately held Yellow Dragon Software, a developer of XML messaging and metadata management software. The acquisition will deliver technology that further strengthens Adobe's XML architecture, which enables businesses and governments to combine the powerful data and business logic capabilities of XML with the rich presentation and enhanced security capabilities of Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Yellow Dragon provides a commercial, off-the-shelf ebXML (Electronic Business eXtensible Markup Language) solution using an XML registry, as well as a messaging product, for reliably delivering XML messages between servers. The ebXML specification is a technical framework for using XML in a consistent manner in the exchange of electronic business data. By enabling native support for ebXML transactions within the Adobe Intelligent Document Platform and PDF, Adobe is making it faster and easier for organizations to automate their external business processes and protect their investments using open standards. Adobe plans to integrate this technology into its server products next year. 'The addition of Yellow Dragon is a powerful extension to the Adobe Intelligent Document Platform,' said Ivan Koon, senior vice president at Adobe. 'We believe Yellow Dragon's technology will enable us to offer XML functionality which will be mandated by governments and businesses over the next few years. We also gain experienced engineers who are active in the XML standards arena, and who helped define the ebXML standard.' 'The core team at Yellow Dragon has been involved in the XML standards effort since the beginning,' said Duane Nickull, executive vice president and co-founder of Yellow Dragon. 'Joining the Adobe team will help ensure that our XML technologies enjoy broad adoption as the need for document services grows in the market. We look forward to continuing to deliver new XML technologies that will solve customers' document problems.' Sponsored by the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), ebXML is a globally developed open XML specification that provides a standard method to exchange business messages, conduct trading relationships, communicate data in common terms, and define and register business processes. The ebXML standard is being widely adopted by governments and manufacturers worldwide..."

• [October 20, 2003] "ebXML Business Process Specification Advances Within OASIS. Fujitsu, Sterling Commerce, Cyclone Commerce, Sun Microsystems and Others Support Expanded ebXML Work at OASIS." - "Developers of the ebXML Business Process Specification Schema (BPSS) have decided to advance their work under the technical process of the OASIS international standards consortium. The newly formed OASIS ebXML Business Process (BP) Technical Committee will further define the royalty-free ebXML BPSS model for binary and multiparty business collaborations both within and between enterprises. ebXML BP will support the exchange of standards-based business process definitions, such as those developed by industry-specific organizations, enabling standard, interoperable process configurations that effectively meet business collaboration requirements for analysis, design, and production use. ebXML BP is part of the modular suite of specifications that enable enterprises of any size, in any global region to conduct business using the Internet. ebXML comprises open, royalty-free standards for business process collaboration, core data components, collaboration protocol agreements, messaging, and registries and repositories. ebXML implementers span the globe and include General Motors, the US Center for Disease Control, the Pan Asia e-Trade Alliance, and TransCanada Pipelines. RosettaNet has formally adopted ebXML BPSS as a mechanism for expressing business collaborations involving RosettaNet PIPs, and government agencies around the world recommend the use of ebXML. 'ebXML is the only framework that is at the same time generic and flexible and can be used for inter-administrations relations,' concluded the European Commission's Interchange of Data between Administrations (IDA) in its study, 'Business to Business Frameworks for IDA Networks.' 'Moreover, ebXML is clearly the only trend for organised business communities. The general recommendation is to follow ebXML standards as much as possible.' 'ebXML BP will enable legally enforceable, easily manageable, and fully traceable collaborations,' said Dale Moberg of Cyclone Commerce, convenor and proposed co-chair of the OASIS ebXML BP Technical Committee. 'Industry standards organizations will be able to use ebXML BP schemas and formats to specify business process definitions for their own collaboration communities.' The OASIS ebXML BP TC will base its work on ebXML BPSS version 1.01, jointly developed by OASIS and the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (CEFACT) and on derivative work expected to be donated by a range of participants. 'We're excited to continue this work within the OASIS technical process,' noted Monica J. Martin of Sun Microsystems, proposed co-chair of the OASIS ebXML BP Technical Committee. 'OASIS provides an environment for us to adhere to the ebXML principles of a loosely coupled, highly aligned specification set, while enabling support for other emerging Web service technologies, OASIS specifications, and products from industry standards organizations'..."

• [October 20, 2003]   UN/CEFACT Announces V1.1 Release of ebXML Business Process Specification Schema.    A posting from Klaus-Dieter Naujok (UN/CEFACT/TMG Chair) announces the final release publication of UN/CEFACT ebXML Business Process Specification Schema Version 1.1. This ebXML BPSS specification was "developed in accordance with the UN/CEFACT/TRADE/22 Open Development Process (ODP) for Technical Specifications and has been approved by the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) Techniques and Methodologies Group (TMG). It defines a standard language by which business systems may be configured to support execution of business collaborations consisting of business transactions. The document is based upon prior UN/CEFACT work, specifically the metamodel behind the UN/CEFACT Modeling Methodology (UMM) defined in UN/CEFACT Modeling Methodology -- Meta Model -- Revision 12. Over the last two years, interested parties from around the world have collaborated in the development of the Specification addressing a number of deficiencies implementers of Version 1.01 identified." As to the TMG's BPSS road map, "as agreed to by the TMG in March 2003, work on Version 2.0 and alignment with the UMM Meta-Model's Business Transaction View (BTV) will commence starting with the upcoming TMG meeting in December. Interested parties are invited to attend the meeting in Waidhofen/Ybbs (Austria), 8-12 December 2003." The UN/CEFACT TMG has also announced commencement of technical work on a Business Collaboration Framework (BCF) based upon the UMM Meta-Model; it is focused on the creation of a new e-business standard using a "technological and implementation neutral approach to the exchange of global information requirements."

• [October 18, 2003] "UN/CEFACT Announces Release of Its ebXML Business Process Specification Schema Version 1.1." - "The Technologies and Methodologies Group (TMG) of the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business announce the final release of its ebXML Business Process Specification Schema (BPSS) Version 1.1 prepared under the UN/CEFACT Open Development Process. Over the last 2 years interested parties from around the world have collaborated in the development of the Specification addressing a number of deficiencies implementers of Version 1.01 identified. Regarding the BPSS road map, as agreed to by the TMG in March 2003, work on Version 2.0, alignment with the UMM Meta-Model's Business Transaction View (BTV), will commence starting with the upcoming TMG meeting in December. Interested parties are invited to attend the meeting in Waidhofen/Ybbs (Austria), 8-12 December 2003. Parties interested in the BPSS V1.1 can download it from the TMG's Web Site under 'Approved Documents'. UN/CEFACT, which is based in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, and has a global remit, has led the development of international standards for electronic transactions for government, commerce and industry. Its experience and ability to bring together world class experts and match trends in information technology with business requirements, in an open and transparent way, gives UN/CEFACT a unique viewpoint..."

• [October 11, 2003] "ebXML Registry Overview. What Is An ebXML Registry, and What Can It Do?" From the OASIS ebXML Registry Technical Committee. October 2003. 2 pages. "An XML registry is an information system that securely stores XML artifacts (e.g., XML schemas, data elements, etc.) and non-XML artifacts (e.g., other e-business objects), as well as details (metadata) about the artifacts. The storage facility (e.g., a file system or database) that holds registered objects is known as a repository, while the part of the information system that maintains the metadata for the registered objects is known as a registry. ebXML Registry Benefits: (1) Promotes service discovery and maintenance of registered content (2) Enables secure and efficient version control for registered content (3) Promotes unified understanding of registered content in federated registries (4) Ensures availability and reuse of authoritative artifacts. A controlled registration and validation of XML / non-XML artifacts from authoritative sources promotes interoperability between trading partners, and facilitates greater reuse (5) Enables collaborative development. Users can create XML / non-XML artifacts and submit them to an XML registry for use and potential enhancement by authorized parties. The enhanced versions can then be made available for access by other authorized parties. ebXML Registry allows a federation of cooperating registries to act as a single e-Business Registry. This ability enables the tying together of internal applications and the systems of critical trading partners via Seamless Query [search registered content in any registry in a federation, regardless of registry type], Seamless Synchronization [synchronization of registered content between all registries in a federation, regardless of registry type], and Seamless Relocation [relocation of registered content from one registry to another in a federation, regardless of registry type]... ebXML Registry enables a secure deployment with reduced implementation / maintenance costs for semantically correct and meaningful information exchange packages. To control how its content is accessed it leverages the XML Signature and XACML standards. Additionally, the ability to employ Policy Decision Points (PDPs) allows it to act as a 'Policy Store' for resources that reside outside its own registry... The ebXML Registry supports e-Business operations in different geographic locations, providing an effective discovery and collaboration tool. For example, (i) locating partners, capabilities, services, documents and business processes; (ii) interacting with partners subsidiaries, customers about multiple product lines. More than just a classification tool for electronic yellow pages it enables the distributed marketing and promotion products and services, viewing of inventory levels, ordering of goods and return tracking, and accessing account information via the Web..." See also: "New Production-Ready Release of Open Source ebXML Registry." [source .DOC and PDF]

• [October 10, 2003] "ebXML Case Study: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Information Network Messaging System (PHINMS)." OASIS ebXML Member Section. Contributor: Alan Kotok (ebXML Forum). October 04, 2003. 8 pages. "The Public Health Information Network Messaging System (PHINMS) provides a secure and reliable messaging system for the Public Health Information Network. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that there are currently multiple systems in place that support communications for public health labs, the clinical community, and state and local health departments. However, many of these systems operate in isolation, not capitalizing on the potential for a cross-fertilization of data exchange. A crosscutting and unifying framework is needed to better monitor these data streams for early detection of public health issues and emergencies. To meet these requirements, the Public Health Information Network will enable a consistent exchange of response, health, and disease tracking data between public health partners. Ensuring the security of this information is also critical as is the ability of the network to work reliably in times of national crisis... Developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, PHINMS uses the ebXML, infrastructure to securely transmit public health information over the Internet. PHINMS is a generic, standards-based, interoperable and extensible message transport system. It is platform-independent and loosely coupled with systems that produce outgoing messages or consume incoming messages... PHINMS has three major components: the Message Sender, Message Receiver, and Message Handler. The Message Sender functions as the client. It is a Java application that runs on a workstation or server. The Message Sender polls the Transport Queue for outgoing data. The Transport Queue can be a database table or a file system directory. When outgoing data is found, the Message Sender packages the data as an ebXML message and sends it to the Message Receiver. The Message Receiver functions as a server. It is a servlet that runs on a J2EE compliant application server. When the Message Receiver receives a message, it processes the message envelope, decrypts the message, verifies the signature and then forwards the message payload to the Message Handler or writes the message directly into a worker queue. The Message Handler can process synchronous messages posted by the message receiver or poll the worker queue. It is a servlet that runs on a J2EE compliant application server. The Message Handler and the Message Receiver can reside on the same system. When the Message Handler receives the message payload from the Message Receiver in synchronous scenarios, it processes the message payload and then sends a response, which contains the Message Handler's status, back to the Message Receiver. In asynchronous scenarios, the message handler polls its worker queue to receive the incoming message..." [source PDF]

• [September 22, 2003]   OASIS Members Form ebXML Business Process Technical Committee.    A new OASIS ebXML Business Process Technical Committee (ebXML BP TC) has been proposed to "continue work on a royalty-free technology representation and model compatible with an underlying generic metamodel for business processes, activities, and collaboration. This business collaboration could occur within or between enterprises. The collaboration may be enforceable, easily manageable, and/or traceable. This representation and model will provide a set of guidelines to define the business process-rules, semantics and syntax for both binary and multi-party collaborations. The representation and model will work within the ebXML architecture (for metamodel and model exchange) and will also support standards-based development and exchange of business process definitions. The OASIS ebXML Business Process TC's effort will address and align with vertical industry needs for business process collaboration and focus on ease of use. The specification can be integrated into and bind with existing or emerging technologies. The TC's work should build upon similar, existing standards wherever possible and align with other relevant standards for feature reuse, bindings, guidelines on how to jointly use the specification with other related standards, and addressing requirements from other related standards. The TC will base its work upon the ebXML Business Process Specification Schema Version 1.01 jointly developed by OASIS and UN/CEFACT, and upon derivative work expected to be donated by co-sponsors and participants." The proposed TC Co-Chairs are Dale Moberg (Cyclone Commerce) and Monica J. Martin (Sun Microsystems). The first meeting of the OASIS ebXML Business Process TC will be held on October 20, 2003 as a teleconference. [Full context]

• [September 17, 2003]   New Production-Ready Release of Open Source ebXML Registry.    A communiqué from Farrukh Najmi (Sun Microsystems) describes a new production-ready release of ebXML Registry software from the OASIS ebXML Registry Reference Implementation Project (ebxmlrr). As part of the freebXML Initiative, the ebxmlrr project is chartered to deliver a "royalty free, open source, functionally complete reference implementation for the OASIS ebXML Registry specifications as defined by the OASIS ebXML Registry Technical Committee." The 'ebxmlrr 2.1-final1' release also implements most optional features of the version 2.1 ebXML Registry specifications as well as several new features of the latest interim specifications for ebXML Registry version 3. This ebXML Registry implementation provides several new features, including: "(1) Web Content Management capability; (2) Role base access control using XACML access control policies; (3) Locale sensitive Registry Browser; (4) XML based fully configurable Registry Browser; (5) Usability improvements in the Registry Browser; (6) Support for read-only mode when the user is unauthenticated; (7) Web browser integration. The client package of the ebxmlrr project includes a JAXR provider, enabling standard Java API access to the ebXML registry services." The freebXML initiative "aims to foster the development and adoption of ebXML and related technology through software and experience sharing. It has created a centralized web site for the sharing of 'free' ebXML code and applications as well as development and deployment experience, and promotes ebXML as an e-commerce enabling technology. The initiative is sponsored by the Center for E-Commerce Infrastructure Development and the Department of Computer Science & Information Systems at the University of Hong Kong."

• [September 02, 2003] "Webswell Connect 1.1 Beta Provides Open Source ebXML Integration Framework." - "The Webswell company has launched a new release of its open source ebXML integration framework Webswell Connect, version 1.1 Beta. The 1.1. Beta version contains: (1) E-business registry server and client. The server stores and allows to find and process information about partners participating (or willing to participate) in e-business integration. The information includes partner profiles, technical descriptions of services, business processes and technical agreements. This component is based on ebxmlrr registry and repository implementation. (2) Messaging system, a component responsible for secure and reliable messaging between communicating parties. It is used for transmitting business documents during business transactions (which can be conducted by special agreements between business partners). (3) Simple user interface for sending/handling messages. It allows end users to participate in e-business transactions without having full framework with business processes implementations installed. Additional software necessary for installation, configuration and running of the framework (database server, Tomcat, etc.) All components are preconfigured and ready to use. Webswell Connect allows easy, interactive and user-friendly installation. It is entirely open source, free and available for download..."

• [August 21, 2003] "ebXML Asia Committee Starts New ebXML Interoperability Certification Program. Twelve Organizations Receive Certifications on ebXML Message Service specification 2.0." - On August 8, 2003 the ebXML Asia Committee "announced the start of a new ebXML interoperability certification program and issued ebXML interoperability certification on ebXML Message Service specification 2.0, including basic functions and reliable messaging, for 12 companies and organizations passed the interoperability test. Interoperability is one of key issues to realize Internet based B2B eBusiness using multi-vendor implementations,even across countries. ebXML Message Service is designed for B2B communication and its reliable messaging function is to guarantee message delivery such as arrival of a business message sent from one company to another,preservation of message order and elimination of duplicated arrival of business messages. The goal of the ebXML ASIA Committee interoperability certification is to promote ebXML through the certification of interoperability among ebXML Asia Committee members' products. The certificate includes such information as 'Class' which specifies the ebXML specification to be covered and 'Level' which specifies the test categories. ebXML Asia Committee interoperability test is performed by the Interoperability Task Group (ITG) and the interoperability certification is issued by ebXML ASIA committee... ITG will soon initiate the third round of ebXML Interoperability test, which will cover security related test items of ebXML Message Service Specification... ebXML Asia Committee is a regional committee jointly initiated by the Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan (ECOM) of Japan, the Korea Institute for Electronic Commerce (KIEC) of Korea and the Taipei Computer Association of Chinese Taipei. The Committee was established in December 2000 to promote ebXML in Asia, to jointly deal with ebXML work through the cooperation among Asian countries and to facilitate electronic commerce in the Asian region. With the gradual increase of membership, there are currently more than 24 organizational members from 11 regions of Asia Pacific (Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, and Thailand)..."

• [August 2003] "OASIS ebXML Update: Completion of ebXML Second Phase." [Memo of August 27, 2003 from Patrick Gannon, President & CEO, OASIS.] "OASIS and UN/CEFACT have completed the second phase of ebXML (Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language), our joint initiative that began in 1999. In the first 18-month phase, joint teams completed a set of substantive technical specifications which provided an interoperable, vendor-neutral, openly available stack of XML standards for B2B e-commerce. In a second transitional phase, OASIS and UN/CEFACT split the substantive work, each housing several of the ongoing project teams while maintaining linkage through a Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC). After two years, the ebXML JCC has completed its mission. The two organizations will continue to support and promote the ebXML standards under respective separate procedures. The transitional second phase saw many successes for ebXML, including: (1) the issuance of updated versions 2.0 of the ebXML Message Service (MSG), Registry Information Model (RIM), Registry Services (RS) and Collaboration Protocol Profile & Agreement (CPPA) specifications as OASIS Standards (2) approval by the UN/CEFACT plenary of all the ebXML OASIS Standards (3) widespread implementations and tools based on ebXML, particularly by government agencies and vertical industry supply-chain consortia In its third phase, OASIS will continue to support the OASIS ebXML specifications and serve as a focal point for users and vendors interested in the maintenance, implementation and advancement of our ebXML Standards. This ongoing work includes the following: [a] OASIS Technical Committees for ebXML Messaging, CPPA, Registry/Repository, and Implementation, Interoperability and Conformance (IIC) each will continue to actively develop and refine ebXML specifications in use today... [b] Additional efforts, including the OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL) TC, the OASIS Web Services Reliable Messaging TC, and the OASIS Web Services for Business Process Execution Language (WSBPEL) TC, also will have the opportunity to liaise and define interoperability with the ebXML stack. [c] OASIS will continue to maintain the www.ebxml.org informational web site that we have hosted since the project's launch... OASIS expresses its thanks to the representatives from Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Sterling Commerce, Global Exchange Services, and other organizations who served as our representatives to the ebXML Joint Coordinating Committee and the Joint Marketing Committee during the project's transitional phase. We expect to continue to promote and support various ebXML activities, directed by our four existing OASIS ebXML TCs, the OASIS ebXML Joint Committee, and such other projects as may be initiated under OASIS rules. Indeed, there are many reasons to celebrate our ebXML accomplishments, many exciting opportunities ahead, and many ways for members to drive our continued success..."

• [August 21, 2003] "UN/CEFACT Announces Successful Completion of ebXML Technical Standards Work Programme with OASIS. UN/CEFACT Continues Development of Technology- and Implementation-Neutral E-Business Standards." - "The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) announces the successful completion of the ebXML technical standards work with the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS). UN/CEFACT continues to capitalize on the gains made from ebXML in the further development of technology-neutral and implementation-neutral global e-Business standards for government, industry and commerce. UN/CEFACT and OASIS have since 1999 been working on a joint initiative to expand the use and growth of the Internet by developing the next generation of electronic business standards based on XML (Extensible Markup Language). The ebXML (electronic Business with XML) initiative called for an 18-month worldwide open development project to create a technical framework enabling the use of XML as a consistent means for the exchange of electronic business data. The original ebXML initiative concluded in May 2001 with full community approval of a framework of technical specifications. For the past two years, UN/CEFACT and OASIS have enjoyed a close working relationship to finalize the set of ebXML specifications, and in May 2003 the UN/CEFACT Plenary adopted these as UN/CEFACT Technical Specifications. 'Working closely with our colleagues at OASIS has been a unique opportunity for UN/CEFACT to lead the development of global technology standards and help drive awareness of how XML and Internet technology support government, industry and commerce' says Ray Walker, Chair of the UN/CEFACT Steering Group. 'We are extremely proud of our OASIS working relationship and we remain open to working with OASIS in the future.' UN/CEFACT, which is based at UNECE in Geneva and has a global remit, has led the development of international standards for electronic transactions. Its experience and its ability to bring together world-class experts and match trends in information technology with business requirements, in an open and transparent way, gives it a unique viewpoint. 'Recognition that the next technology trend is just around the corner resulted in the recent UN/CEFACT Plenary meeting directing a new work programme to move UN/CEFACT closer to web services' said Dr Christian Fruhwald, Chair of UN/CEFACT. 'This new work, known as UN/CEFACT Business Collaboration Framework (BCF), will allow UN/CEFACT to identify the growing needs of government, commercial and industrial organizations as they approach their global information exchange requirements.' 'Going forward we expect to make use of much of our ebXML technical work as we continue to develop UN/CEFACT's technology neutral and implementation neutral global e-framework. We hope to use the newly established liaisons with the OASIS Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) Technical Committee (TC), plus the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) and our UN/CEFACT Techniques and Methodologies Business Process Working Group to align our efforts, and eliminate duplication of work', says Klaus-Dieter Naujok Chair of UN/CEFACT Techniques and Methodologies Group and former Chair of the ebXML Project..."

• [July 23, 2003] "Core Components and ebXML Registry." By Joseph M. Chiusano (Booz-Allen-Hamilton). Presentation to the US Federal CIO Council XML Working Group, July 23, 2003. Also in .PPT format.

• [July 14, 2003] "Thailand Links Up With Singapore Over ebXML." By Pongpen Sutharoj, Suchalee Pongprasert. In The Nation (July 14, 2003). "Thailand and Singapore are collaborating to set the standard of information interchange using ebXML to allow the two countries to do business by paperless processes. The move aims to encourage the exchange of data using ebXML in two main areas -- international trading and tourism. ebXML is the use of XML to standardise the secure exchange of business data. It is designed to create a global electronic market-place in which enterprises of any size, and in any location, can safely and securely transact business by the exchange of XML-based messages. Manoo Ordeedolachest, president of the Asian-Oceania Computing Industry Organisation (Asocio) said that the collaborating countries had set up an ebXML committee to oversee the development and define the standard of information exchange under a project called the XML industrial programme. Asocio is an ICT body which comprises 23 member countries, representing more than 10,000 ICT companies. He said that the committee had picked tourism as an industry model in the use of ebXML to do business between the countries. Singapore is working on the details of standards for data exchange. It is expected that standard will be completed before the annual Asocio meeting in Hanoi in November. In the tourism industry there are a large number of small and medium-sized businesses, but Manoo said that in the initial stage the data exchange would be used in the area of airline and hotel reservations as well as car rentals before expanding to other areas such as diving, yachts and restaurants. First adopted by Thailand and Singapore as a pilot project, the standard will be expanded to other Asocio member countries. He said that the standard would comply with the ebXML developed by the OpenTravel Alliance (OTA)... Manoo said the next step was for the committee to promote the use of the ebXML standard in international trade, allowing business to deal with government agencies paperlessly. Instead of submitting piles of documents for imports and exports, businesses could deal with, for example, the Customs Department electronically. The standard will be used as a foundation to further develop electronic government-related services in the two countries..."

• [June 26, 2003]   ebXML Registry Specifications Support Federation and Content Management Services.    The OASIS ebXML Registry Technical Committee has voted to approve the latest versions of its OASIS/ebXML Registry Services Specification v2.5 and OASIS/ebXML Registry Information Model v2.5 as Committee Specifications. The ebXML Registry "provides a set of services that enable sharing of information between interested parties for the purpose of enabling business process integration between such parties based on the ebXML specifications. The shared information is maintained as objects in a repository and managed by the ebXML Registry Services defined in this document. Such information is used to facilitate ebXML-based Business to Business (B2B) partnerships and transactions. Submitted content may be XML schema and documents, process descriptions, ebXML Core Components, context descriptions, UML models, information about parties and even software components. New enhancements and features in the Version 2.5 release include: (1) Content based event subscription and notification; (2) content management services, supporting automatic semantic content validation, automatic content cataloging, and plug-in support for user-defined content management services; (3) a distributed registry based on a federated model. The Distributed Registry includes features for federated query support, linking of content and metadata across registry boundaries, replication of content and metadata among registries, and moving of content and metadata from one registry to another as needed. Access control and authorization is based on the XACML 1.0 standard, and provides for fine-grained, or custom access control and authorization."

• [June 12, 2003]   Hong Kong CECID Donates ebMail Client Software for ebXML Message Handling.    The University of Hong Kong Center for E-Commerce Infrastructure Development (CECID) has announced the release of its ebMail code base to the ebXML development community under an open source Academic Free License. ebMail is "a desktop e-mail client which helps organizations, small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SME) in particular, to engage in B2B e-commerce activities. This lightweight toolkit enables trading partners to exchange business documents cost-effectively through email, or ebXML Message Service (ebMS) over Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP). ebMail is a trimmed-down ebMS handler which does not require any application server software and dedicated Internet connection to use ebXML. It allows a user to compose electronic documents offline through graphical user interface (GUI), and send and receive documents when the user is connected to the Internet. ebMail employs plug-in modules to provide different graphical user interface (GUI) forms for capturing business data into different schemas of XML documents (e.g., price quotation, purchase order, invoice, etc.) and binary file attachments (e.g., PDF, graphics, etc.). These plug-ins can load, save, and manipulate business data in the local file system, as well as import documents from office applications to the GUI for efficient document handling. ebMail plug-ins can also handle simple business processes that define choreographies of document exchanges."

• [June 03, 2003] "UN/CEFACT Plenary Endorses Latest ebXML Specifications." - "International standards bodies OASIS and UN/CEFACT today announced that the latest completed versions of ebXML specifications have been endorsed by the 2003 Plenary session of UN/CEFACT meeting in Geneva. The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business endorsed the adoption of ebXML global standards for exchanging business messages, establishing trading relationships, communicating data in common terms and defining and registering business processes. Seven components of ebXML were reviewed and endorsed by the Plenary including the OASIS Open Standards: ebXML Message Service Specification v2.0; ebXML Registry Information Model v2.0; ebXML Registry Services Specification v2.0; and the ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement v2.0; as well as the ebXML Business Process Specification Schema v1.01 now managed by UN/CEFACT, and the jointly managed ebXML Technical Architecture v1.04 and the ebXML Requirements v1.06. 'We are proud that the UN/CEFACT Plenary has added another level of international endorsement to the four ebXML specifications which are OASIS Open Standards,' noted Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS. Ray Walker, chair of the UN/CEFACT Steering Group added, 'The endorsement of the UN/CEFACT Plenary is another milestone for ebXML. It demonstrates conclusively that ebXML has begun to fulfill its promise to make e-business possible for any company or organization anywhere in the world. It also paves the way for the development of a formal UN recommendation to governments and to inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations on the use of ebXML in their eBusiness exchanges'..."

• [June 03, 2003] "Iopsis Unveils Web Services Assembly Product for ebXML and Business Process Orchestration. Iopsis iNsight Provides Architecture and Modeling Tools for Web Services Applications." - "Iopsis Software, an innovator in production grade Web services development tools and infrastructure, today announced version 2.1 of its iNsight application assembly product. Iopsis iNsight is the industry's first tool that lets developers use standard UML notation to define and orchestrate Web services, and it has pioneering support for OASIS ebBPSS and BPEL4WS modeling. Working as a supplement to the Sun ONE Studio and NetBeans Integrated Development Environments from Sun Microsystems, Iopsis iNsight provides modeling, code generation, choreography, and assembly of Web services for use in business processes and end-user applications. 'Iopsis's iNsight 2.1 is an ideal complement to Sun ONE Studio 4 Enterprise Edition for Java, providing a complete platform for businesses to rapidly develop enterprise class Web services applications,' said Ashwin Rao, Senior Product Manager for SunONE Studio... Iopsis iNsight allows developers to rapidly assemble Web services from existing Java code. Unlike previous tools that blindly generate WSDL and XML from low-level Java interfaces, iNsight helps developers use rich business logic interfaces (e.g., 'reserve inventory') in long-running Web services transactions. 'Until now, tools generated WSDL files that merely reflected internal interfaces that were often useless for application-level contracts,' said Rajesh Pradhan, CTO of Iopsis. 'Iopsis iNsight works at a higher level and automatically handles versioning, object naming and interoperability issues, creating Web services that are useful in a real business context.' Iopsis will be showcasing iNsight in booth 406 at San Francisco's JavaOne next week. The demonstrations will show modeling Web services interfaces, choreographing their actions in long-running business processes, and deploying working applications to the standard environments of .NET, Apache and J2EE's JaxRPC... Iopsis iNsight has always worked as a seamless extension to the SunONE Studio IDE, providing ease of use and automation to Java developers working in Web services. iNsight has added a series of packs that lower the costs and time involved with developing Web services applications: (1) Foundation Pack: The core components that extend the SunONE IDE with new windows and code generators for XML and WSDL, plus functionality for repurposing existing software assets in SAP R/3 and XML data sources. (2) Basic Pack: Creates Web Service Interfaces that conform to the WS-I Basic profile, extending the IDE capabilities with UML based modeling of WSDL interfaces. (3) Orchestration Pack: Creates choreography interfaces based on BPEL4WS 1.1 and ebXML BPSS 1.05 modeling, facilitating deployment to IBM's BPWS4J, Collaxa's Orchestration server, and ebMSH 2.0-compliant servers. (4) Mobile Access Pack: The Configuration and deployment tools for wireless web service applications using the Iopsis iNfinite multi-channel application framework... Iopsis iNsight 2.1 will be available for free download, evaluation and purchase in June 2003 at www.iopsis.com. iNsight runs on Solaris 8 + 9, Windows 2000 + XP, and RedHat Linux 7. Iopsis iNsight 2.1 is typically $1000-2000 per developer seat, depending on the number of packs used..."

• [May 26, 2003] "Government to Set Up ebXML-RosettaNet Link." By Kim Joon-bae. In Korea IT Times (May 20, 2003). "Two next-generation international e-commerce standards, 'ebXML' and 'RosettaNet,' will soon become interoperable, allowing the nation to take a leading role in linking the two mainstay standards on the global level. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said on May 18, 2003 that it would make concerted efforts with the Korea Institute for Electronic Commerce, an organization leading ebXML development, and RosettaNet Korea to develop an adapter used to link the two standards. The decision came after a meeting organized by RosettaNet Korea and attended by MOCIE and KIEC, and the project will become a part of the 'RosettaNet-ebXML link plan' proposed by RosettaNet. Once the adapter is completed, firms in the electronics and electrics industries using RosettaNet will be able to engage in e-commerce activities with firms poised to adopt ebXML, which is in a final development stage before commercial use. Given the fact that ebXML is a global e-commerce standard and RosettaNet has established a foothold as an industry standard at home, interoperability between the two standards will contribute significantly to boosting the nation's role in link on the global level... The ministry's decision is expected to give sense of stability to firms using RosettaNet by enabling interoperability with the fast-spreading international standard ebXML. It will also likely serve as a catalyst for adoption of ebXML in the electronics and electrics industries. The government has been providing full support for adoption of ebXML even before a commercial launch, citing its general-purpose use across a full variety of industries... 'Interoperability will not lead to immediate effects since ebXML is still in a development stage, but the decision carries significance in that the government has begun to provide support for RosettaNet, which is fast spreading into the electronics and electrics areas,' said Prof. Kim Sun-ho at Myungji University..."

• [May 23, 2003] "ebXML Applications Demonstrated Live at London Conference." - "The XML Europe 2003 Conference showcased two days of live ebXML demonstrations and presentations that tackled demanding real-life business needs, to an overflow audience each day.Highlighting the event, a group of five technology companies -- XT-I, Seeburger AG, Sun Microsystems, Sonic Software, TIE International -- representing the e-Business Board for European Standardization, in association with OASIS, demonstrated ebXML messaging in real-life steel industry business scenarios. The business cases, supplied by the European steel industry e-marketplace Steel24-7, showed transactions with XML and EDI business payloads sent and received by different vendors' systems using the ebXML Messaging Services protocol. In each case the systems exchanging the data integrated the payloads into simulated corporate databases. The demonstrations showed that ebXML can routinely handle the rigorous requirements of high-performance business under realistic conditions. In one demonstration, the participants even took one of the systems out of service interrupting the transaction, but the message remained in persistent storage -- a key requirement of ebXML messaging -- which allowed the message to go through once the system came back online. The event featured several case studies of current business uses of ebXML including: the telecommunications industry in the U.K. (Martin Roberts, BT), the container shipping industry in India (Visva Visvanathan, Indian Institute of Science), a travel industry global distribution system in the U.S. (Mike Wheaton, Sun Microsystems), General Motors (Dan Malks, Sun Microsystems), and the international paper industry (Tilo Zimmermann, Ponton Consulting). The program also discussed innovative applications and extensions of the ebXML architecture, including: the European openXchange project (Erwin Folmer and Dennis Krukkert, TNO E-business), an open-source implementation of the ebXML registry specifications (Farrukh Najmi, Sun Microsystems), Content Assembly Mechanism (David Webber, SmartDraw), ebXML Test Framework (Jacques Durand, Fujitsu), ebXML Test Centers (Monica Martin, Sun Microsystems), and interoperability of ebXML messaging (Rik Drummond, Drummond Group). Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS who gave the welcoming address to the conference participants said, "The ebXML Showcase illustrated that these specifications are for real, and delivering solid business value for companies large and small... The demonstrations and cases discussed at the conference should erase any doubt that the ebXML framework can provide the reliability, security, and flexibility companies need to do e-business in the 21st century'..."

• [May 21, 2003] "Yellow Dragon Announces the General Availability of Yellow Dragon Messaging 1.0. Secure and Reliable Messaging for Web Services and ebXML." - "Yellow Dragon Software Corporation, a developer of key messaging and metadata management software for Service Oriented Architectures (SOA's), including ebXML and Web Services, announced today the general availability of Yellow Dragon Messaging version 1.0, its ebXML Messaging Services v2.0 compliant messaging platform. Yellow Dragon Messaging 1.0 supports all mandatory and optional features of the ebXML Messaging 2.0c specification, as well as Collaboration Protocol Agreements, version 2.0. The software has been certified interoperable with 12 other software vendors under under another name. The software makes secure and reliable messaging for web services a reality. This is a "must have" requirement for many web service users. Yellow Dragon Software's offers the product for a free evaluation period along with a new Messaging Server Management console to make it easy to get up and running. Yellow Dragon Software has experienced a high degree of serious interest from value added resellers who appear to agree that this ebXML-based messaging solution is a needed commodity. The business community has been applying pressure to web services vendors to offer this functionality. Now anyone can download and have it running in less than 30 minutes... Yellow Dragon Software provides messaging and metadata management software for Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs), including ebXML, Web Services and others. Yellow Dragon is an active member of the ebXML community, and several of its personnel are prominent participants in the standardization activities within the W3C, OASIS, UN/CEFACT and OAG..."

• [May 16, 2003]   OASIS TC Approves Test Framework Documents for ebXML Messaging Service (ebMS) Version 2.0.    The OASIS ebXML Implementation, Interoperability and Conformance (IIC) Technical Committee has announced the approval of four committee specifications for use in conformance testing with ebXML Messaging Service (ebMS) version 2.0. "The initial ebXML IIC efforts have focused on providing a computable and extensible test framework with ebMS as the first edition of the suite of test specifications. Plans are under consideration for CPP/A (Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement), Business Process Specification Schema (BPSS) and Registry/Repository (Reg/Rep). The Test Framework can be used to support conformance testing and interoperability testing in different configurations, from point-to-point testing between business partners, to centralized configurations involving a test center. eBusiness partners can download necessary components. Tests can be driven either by one of the partners, or by a test center, which can be viewed as a service. Or, for interoperability tests, a test center can be used as a hub, providing monitoring and routing functions, while tests are driven from an end-point. In both cases, the test will be executed in an automated fashion. Test traces and results are generated for a collection of test (test suites) for later review." The approved committee specification documents include ebXML Test Framework Document, Version 1.0, ebXML Messaging 2.0 Basic Interoperability Profile (BIP) Test Suite, version 1.0, ebXML Deployment Guide Template for ebXML Messaging 2.0, Version 1.0, and EAN.UCC (European Article Numbering / Uniform Code Council) Deployment Guide 1.0, an instance of the ebXML Messaging Deployment Template 1.0.

• [May 07, 2003] "Registering Web Services in an ebXML Registry." By Joseph M. Chiusano (Booz Allen Hamilton) and Farrukh Najmi (Sun Microsystems). Prepared for the OASIS ebXML Registry Technical Committee. Technical Note. Version 1.0. 12-March-2003, updated May 7, 2003. 16 pages. A posting from TC Chair Kathryn Breininger (Boeing Library Services) declares that this document is an approved Technical Note. "This document describes the current best practice for registering Web services in an ebXML Registry. It conforms to the following specifications: [1] OASIS/ebXML Registry Information Model (ebRIM) v3.0, release pending; [2] OASIS/ebXML Registry Services Specification (ebRS), v3.0, release pending... An ebXML Registry provides a stable store where information submitted by a Submitting Organization is made persistent. Such information is used to facilitate ebXML-based Business to Business (B2B) partnerships and transactions. Submitted content may be XML schema and documents, process descriptions, Web services, ebXML Core Components, context descriptions, UML models, information about parties and even software components. The purpose of this document is to provide a Best Practice for registering Web services and their associated entities in an ebXML Registry... The characteristics, capabilities, and requirements of a Web service can be described and published, thereby enabling automatic discovery and invocation of the service. One mechanism by which these descriptions can be published is in an ebXML Registry. The most common mechanism for describing Web services today is the Web Services Description Language, or WSDL; however, the Service description that is registered can be in any format such as OASIS/ebXML Collaboration-Protocol Profile and Agreement (CPP/A) or the emerging DAML-S. A Web service can be represented in an ebXML Registry through several Registry Information Model classes: Service, ServiceBinding, and SpecificationLink. Service instances are RegistryEntry instances that provide information on services (e.g. Web services)... ServiceBinding instances are RegistryObject instances that represent technical information on a specific way to access a specific interface offered by a Service instance. A Service has a collection of ServiceBindings... A SpecificationLink provides the linkage between a ServiceBinding and one of its technical specifications that describes how to use the service with that ServiceBinding. For example, a ServiceBinding may have a specific SpecificationLink instance that describes how to access the service using a technical specification (such as a WSDL document)..." XML Schemas and sample XML instances are provided for these classes. Extended scenarios are discussed in section 5; they include Versioning of Web Services, Associating a Web Service with an Organization, Associating a Web Service with an Access Control Policy, Registering a Service Description that is External to the Registry, Web Service Redirection, and Customizing Metadata Using Slots. [source .DOC]

• [March 27, 2003] "OASIS and UN/CEFACT to Host ebXML Showcase at XML Europe 2003 in London. Conference Will Highlight ebXML Implementations Around the World." - "International standards bodies, OASIS and UN/CEFACT, will host the ebXML Showcase in London, 5-6 May 2003. Highlighting the growing use of Electronic Business XML (ebXML) in a range of industries as well as ebXML's role in Web services, the two-day event will be held in conjunction with IDEAlliance's XML Europe 2003 conference. The ebXML Showcase is designed for developers and business managers worldwide with an interest in ebXML's modular suite of specifications for conducting business over the Internet. The event will feature answers to real-life questions of adopting the UN/CEFACT and OASIS ebXML standards for exchanging business messages, establishing trading relationships, communicating data in common terms and defining and registering business processes. Attendees will also hear about the business benefits of managing electronic commerce through ebXML from existing ebXML end users and software suppliers. Keynote presentations from Paul Murphy of the European Commission, Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS, and Ray Walker, chair of the UN/CEFACT Steering Group, will be featured at the ebXML Showcase. The program will also include updates from ebXML users in the telecommunications, shipping, publishing, manufacturing, and e-commerce industries. Representatives of the United Nations, Fujitsu, NIST, SeeBeyond, Sun Microsystems, and others will present. 'ebXML adoption around the world has been steadily building, and some of the most pervasive and exciting applications are being implemented in Europe,' said Patrick Gannon. 'The London Showcase will offer industry organizations and business users the chance to learn more about planning, integrating, and implementing various combinations of the ebXML specifications in practical business scenarios. The program will explore how ebXML is being used to facilitate Web services with the support of global product vendors and the backing of major standards-setting bodies.' Ray Walker added, 'We are very pleased that the ebXML specifications will be submitted to the UN/CEFACT plenary immediately following the ebXML Showcase. This should pave the way for a UN recommendation to industry, commerce and governments on the use of ebXML.' The ebXML Showcase will feature a presentation by the European ebXML interoperability pilot project (CEN/ISSS eBES Vendor Forum), demonstrating interoperable implementations of the ebXML Messaging OASIS Open Standard in a real-life use case scenario. The demo will employ e-business integration scenarios from an ebXML application currently being used within the steel industry..."

• [March 18, 2003] "The ebXML Messaging Service." By Pim van der Eijk. From WebServices.XML.com (March 18, 2003). "The ebXML Messaging Service specification (ebMS) extends the SOAP specification to provide the security and reliability features required by many production enterprise and e-business applications. As an OASIS Open standard, ebMS is a mature specification, supported by a variety of commercial and open source software implementations. The interoperability of many of these implementations has been demonstrated in a number of ongoing projects internationally. This makes ebMS a strong complement or even alternative to other web service specifications... In this article we examine a specification that deserves serious attention in this context, namely, the the ebXML Messaging Service specification (ebMS). ebMS, endorsed in August 2002 as an OASIS standard, adds security and reliability extensions to SOAP and aligns e-business messaging with other e-business integration standards (like trading partner agreements and business process specification). After three years of development, ebMS has become a mature specification. While it is designed to support the ebXML framework, ebMS is a standalone specification that can be used independently of other ebXML specifications. Prospective users evaluating message service or web services technology have a choice of commerical and open source implementations of ebMS, many of which have been verified for interoperability in implementation pilots... The OASIS Implementation, Interoperability and Conformance TC addresses the requirements for ebXML interoperability, with an initial practical focus on ebMS. The committee is chartered to provide a conformance plan, a set of reference implementation guidelines, a set of base line interoperability tests, and guidelines and direction for third-party creation of conformance laboratories. Many participants in this TC are also active in other interoperability projects. One of the deliverables of this TC is a test framework that allows automation of interoperability testing of ebMS implementations. The ebXML IIC is currently finalizing its Basic Interoperability test suite, which aims at bringing together the various ebMS interoperability test initiatives, thus providing a common interoperability platform. The IIC has also developed the concept of a Deployment Template, first developed for ebXML Messaging. This is an important tool in defining interoperability at the business or usage level. It has been used by EAN-UCC to specify its deployment and implementation guidelines (which include the use of GLN mentioned earlier) in a more systematic way, which is easier to map to ebMS requirements, for users and vendors..."

• [January 30, 2003] "Fourteen Software Products Certified eBusinessReady for ebXML Messaging Interoperability. Interoperability Certified Software Facilitates Implementation and Saves Costs." - "eBusinessReady, an industry-neutral software compliance and interoperability testing program under joint partnership of the Uniform Code Council, Inc. (UCC) and Drummond Group, Inc. (DGI), announced today that software products from 11 leading solution providers successfully completed the program's ebXML Messaging 2.0 interoperability testing. A total of 14 software products were certified eBusinessReady. Companies demonstrating interoperability among their products included bTrade, inc., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Cyclone Commerce, Fujitsu, IPNet Solutions, Inc., Sonic Software, Sterling Commerce, Inc., Sun Microsystems, Sybase, Inc., TIBCO Software, Inc., and XML Global Technologies. Sun Microsystems funded testing scholarships for several of the participants. An eBusinessReady certified product enables vertical and horizontal interoperability across the supply chain and distribution channels. ebXML Messaging is a key standard that enables web services, providing secure and reliable messaging for B2B communications. The companies underwent testing to demonstrate that their ebXML messaging software products complied with a common level of interoperability, enabling them to effectively communicate with other eBusiness solutions, eliminating costly communication obstacles and facilitating efficient trading partner relationships..."

• [January 23, 2003] "eBusinessReady Program Certifies 35 Software Products in First Year. Program Launches Certification Seal and Website." - "eBusinessReady, an industry-neutral software compliance and interoperability testing program under joint partnership of the Uniform Code Council, Inc. (UCC) and Drummond Group, Inc. (DGI), announced today it has certified 35 products since its launch in November 2001. The products were certified to support AS1 and AS2 EDI/XML messaging over the Internet, VICS Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR), or ebXML messaging V2.0 standards. The UCC, a not-for-profit standards organization, is the founding sponsor of eBusinessReady, which provides the foundation for driving interoperability testing of multiple, standard compliant software products. DGI facilitates and manages the software testing for the eBusinessReady program. Enterprises and supply chains are increasingly demanding tested software solutions and the eBusinessReady program delivers a neutral third party to assess global interoperability. 'eBusinessReady has received an overwhelming response within the industry during its launch year,' said Michael Di Yeso, executive vice president and COO of the UCC. 'A certified product enables companies to more easily interface with the systems of their customers and partners and save the costs associated with implementing incompatible supply chain solutions. eBusinessReady helps software users simplify the procurement process and provides them with a selection of interoperable software products that meet their needs for price point and feature sets'... The program also unveiled the eBusinessReady certification seal and its website. The eBusinessReady seal informs software buyers that a solution has been tested and certified to ensure seamless interoperability across industries on a global scale. The program's website, located at www.ebusinessready.org, provides a comprehensive resource for software vendors and buyers, and features updated reports about the program and certification. An eBusinessReady certified product enables multiple software solutions to interact seamlessly for improved supply chain performance. The program brings together software vendors, exchanges, vertical industries and the standards community in a neutral, standards-based testing environment that simulates real-world operating conditions..." See: (1) "Uniform Code Council (UCC) XML Program";(2) "VICS CPFR XML Messaging Standard."

• [January 16, 2003] "XML Global Introduces Security and Reliability for e-Business Web Services. GoXML Messaging leverages ebXML technologies to provide advanced reliability and security features for Web services deployments." - "XML Global Technologies, Inc., an XML middleware company, announced the release of GoXML Messaging 3.0. GoXML Messaging is a secure and reliable SOAP-based messaging system that supports the industry standard ebXML Messaging Specification 2.0. ebXML is a suite of e-business standards sponsored by OASIS and the UN/CEFACT. Gartner analyst Jess Thompson has stated that 'ebXML Messaging is the crown jewel of the ebXML specification suite.' GoXML Messaging 3.0 has been successfully certified in the current round of Drummond Group ebXML Messaging 2.0 interoperability tests sponsored by the Uniform Code Council, Inc. (UCC). GoXML Messaging 3.0 addresses the issue of Web services security, which Pacific Data Works analyst Andrew Binstock says is 'the biggest obstacle to exposing Web services to defined groups or the public'. In his recent Software Development Times article Binstock adds, '[The issue of] Security, of course, appears even with internal applications, such as intranets.' GoXML Messaging now empowers businesses to publish Web services that offer security guarantees for business documents such as invoices, health records and digital images... Unlike other messaging systems that typically require additional proprietary server software, GoXML Messaging is designed to operate as a lightweight web application or as a small-footprint embeddable software component. This enables existing applications to engage in secure and reliable document exchanges over intranets and the Internet. Key features of GoXML Messaging 3.0 include: (1) certified for ebXML Message Service 2.0 interoperability; (2) support for ebXML CPA 2.0 trading partner agreements; (3) persistent message storage to guarantee reliable messaging; (4) an easy-to-use Java API. With the release of GoXML Messaging 3.0 XML Global adds further depth to its suite of business integration components, which include GoXML Transform, a data transformation engine, and GoXML Registry, a metadata registry based on the ebXML specification..."

• [December 19, 2002]   UN/CEFACT ebXML Core Components Technical Specification Approved for Implementation Verification.    The UN/CEFACT Techniques and Methodology Group (TMG) recently approved the version 1.90 UN/CEFACT ebXML Core Components Technical Specification for Step 6 'Implementation Verification' as defined in the UN/CEFACT/TRADE/22 Open Development Process for Technical Specifications. The Step 6 verification review period "is the most critical part of the development process as problems and issues are identified; the editing group collects the problems and issues identified from the implementors in order to further refine and improve the specification." According to a posting from Mark Crawford, Editor of the UN/CEFACT Core Components specification, "the OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL), OAG, EAN-UCC, SWIFT, UN/CEFACT, ANSI ASC X12, and a host of other standards organizations are already using this new [Core Components] approach as the basis for building interoperable XML business standards; the Department of the Navy has included aspects of this specification in its XML Developers Guide, and it is referenced in the Federal XML Developers Guide as well." CCTS addresses the "lack of information interoperability between applications in the e-business arena. Traditionally, standards for the exchange of business data have been focused on static message definitions that have not enabled a sufficient degree of interoperability or flexibility. CCTS seeks to define a flexible and interoperable way of standardizing Business Semantics. The UN/CEFACT ebXML Core Component solution described in the CCTS specification presents a methodology for developing a common set of semantic building blocks that represent the general types of business data in use today and provides for the creation of new business vocabularies and restructuring of existing business vocabularies."

• [December 03, 2002]   ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement 2.0 Approved as OASIS Open Standard.    OASIS announced that its members have voted to approve the ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement (CPPA) Version 2.0 as an OASIS Open Standard. TC Chair Dale Moberg (Cyclone Commerce) said: "ebXML CPPA ensures interoperability between two parties, even organizations that use software from different sources. The CPP defines a party's message-exchange capabilities and the business collaborations that it supports. The CPA defines the way two business parties will interact in performing the chosen business collaborations." According to Brian Gibb (Sterling Commerce) the specification "addresses a major issue with the rapid deployment of Internet B2B e-commerce -- the absence of a standard definition of technical parameters for communication and security that business partners need to agree upon. Representing these configuration parameters in the standard format of the ebXML CPPA specification will greatly accelerate users' integration processes. In addition to this immediate value, version 2.0 of the specification sets the stage for the standardized CPA negotiation process to come." The OASIS technical commmittee was chartered to continue the work of ebXML on Collaboration Protocol Profiles (CPPs) and Collaboration Protocol Agreements (CPAs).

• [December 02, 2002] "ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement Ratified as OASIS Open Standard. New Version of OASIS UN/CEFACT Work Enables E-Business Collaboration." - "The OASIS interoperability consortium today announced that its members have approved the ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement (CPPA) v2.0 as an OASIS Open Standard, a status that signifies the highest level of ratification. ebXML CPPA defines business partners' technical capabilities and documents agreements between partners, enabling organizations to securely engage in electronic business collaboration... 'ebXML CPPA ensures interoperability between two parties, even organizations that use software from different sources. The CPP defines a party's message-exchange capabilities and the business collaborations that it supports. The CPA defines the way two business parties will interact in performing the chosen business collaborations,' explained Dale Moberg of Cyclone Commerce, chair of the OASIS ebXML CPPA Technical Committee. 'The OASIS Open Standard also facilitates the migration of both traditional EDI-based applications and other legacy applications to ebXML-based platforms.' ebXML CPPA was developed by Commerce One, Cyclone Commerce, E2open, Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM, Intel, IONA, Mercator, SAP, SeeBeyond, Sterling Commerce, Sun Microsystems, Sybase, TIBCO, Vitria, webMethods, and other members of the OASIS ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement Technical Committee... In related news, the ebXML OASIS UN/CEFACT Joint Marketing Team published version 1.0 of the ebXML Adoption Update, a listing of ebXML implementations, projects, products, and industry initiatives from around the world..." See: (1)