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For Immediate Release
Contact:
James Galvin
CommerceNet
410-549-5545
galvin@commerce.net

CommerceNet To Offer an eCommerce Registry Service

Service will advance the future development and growth of XML-based electronic commerce

PALO ALTO, Calif., May 21, 1998 - CommerceNet, the leading worldwide electronic commerce consortium, announced today that they are developing and will soon be offering a new eCommerce Registry Service. The initial objective is to develop a robust set of services to accelerate the adoption of XML-based electronic commerce. The service will then be expanded to include other ecommerce content, for example interoperability specifications.

The Registry will provide:

The process will allow anyone to submit ecommerce XML DTDs with immediate availability to anyone who wants access. The quality analysis will be provided by a panel of industry experts and made available through the Service. All activities will be operated in an open and unbiased manner. This service will be critical to companies wanting to take full advantage of XML in ecommerce.

"XML will have a dramatic impact on the future development and growth of electronic commerce," said Randall Whiting, President and CEO of CommerceNet. He further stated that XML will have a broader impact than many people anticipate and will enable a new level of interoperability between applications, companies, and industries. This level of interoperability will enable companies to form many new business models and approaches to business. This higher degree of interoperability will create a dramatic growth in new forms of ecommerce allowing companies to more tightly integrate supply chains, allow cooperative product design and development, and create new levels of integration between business partners.

As a non-profit consortium, CommerceNet is ideally suited to provide the impartial hosting that the XML registry requires. They are in discussion with a number of their members who are major forces in electronic commerce to offer this important service. Facilitating the evolution of ecommerce is an important part of CommerceNet's mission.

CommerceNet is now recruiting three levels of company participation for the development and operation of this service: strategic development partners, contributing partners, and sponsoring partners. Specifically, CommerceNet hopes to closely coordinate their registry services with the efforts of the many XML-specific organizations. They are currently in discussion with a number of the major ecommerce vendors to endorse and sponsor the program.

The architecture is expected to be based on CommerceNet's eCo Framework. Over the past 2 years CommerceNet has been working to develop an open architectural framework for ecommerce. Last fall, NIST provided funding to a joint venture composed of CommerceNet, VEO Systems, BusinessBots, and Tesserae Corporation, to develop new concepts and technologies for component-based electronic commerce. The partners in this venture have been developing a number of breakthrough concepts and approaches with financial support from NIST's Advanced Technology Program.

About CommerceNet

CommerceNet is the premier industry association for promoting and building electronic commerce solutions on the Internet. Launched in April 1994 in Silicon Valley, CA, its membership has grown to more than 500 companies and organizations worldwide. They include the leading banks, telecommunications companies, VANs, ISPs, online services, software and service companies, as well as end users, who together are transforming the Internet into a global electronic marketplace. CommerceNet can be contacted at Tel: 650-858-1930; Fax: 650-858-1936; URL: http://www.commerce.net.