PodCasts on ebXML 2006 - noted experts interviewed

A series of PodCasts has been made available by OASIS as part of the 5 year celebration of ebXML.

Recorded in June over two dozen experts internationally in the use and development of ebXML have provided a series of interviews.

Each series focuses on a particular aspect of ebXML - including:

ebXML Overview
ebXML End Users
ebXML Happenings
ebXML Core Components
ebXML Registry/Repository
ebXML Business Process
ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement
ebXML Messaging
ebXML SOA
Universal Business Language (UBL)
Universal Business Language Small Business Subset (UBL SBS)

Marking the ebXML 5 Year Anniversary

April marks the anniversary of the original release of the ebXML specifications in Vienna, Austria.

Much has occurred in five years, not only in terms of ebXML but also in the industry as a whole and in cultural changes in society with regard to electronic commerce.

We look back on the intervening five years, and look ahead to the next five years!

The ebXML initative has many achievements to be proud of, read about these and more in this retrospective of ebXML at age five!

ISO Focus Article - "ebXML - When Innovation Really Matters"

The ebXML specifications are formal ISO 15000 series specifications covering eBusiness implementations. So how is ebXML being used in the context of ISO work?

This article is reprinted by permission from ISO Focus magazine and highlights innovative developments using ebXML today.

"The ebXML standards are now building a track record of innovation worldwide, with two industry-wide applications described below" - from ISO Focus, February 2006 issue - see article link above for full transcript.

Cataloguing the ebXML ISO15000 standards functionality today

The ebXML JCC Joint Coordinating Committee has produced a document for the five year anniversary that details the current status of the original ebXML components, all but one of which has now achieved ISO15000 standardization (the fifth component - BPSS - is currently being moved through the OASIS member approval process prior to referral to ISO also).

The document details in separate chapters each of the five components, gives a synopsis of its development status, features and brief details of illustrative adoptions and fielded applications.

Overall the document provides a useful snapshot for people wanting to quickly review ebXML, its components and capabilities.

In addition to this work OASIS also has other committees working on related aspects to ebXML such as the ebSOA - Service Oriented Architecture, BCM - Business-Centric Methodology and CAM - Content Assembly Mechanism work.

Overview of the new ebXML Business Process V2.0.3

Business processes are key components to enable and drive collaborating partner relationships for electronic business (eBusiness). The ebXML Business Process Specification Schema (ebXML BPSS / OASIS ebBP) provides capabilities to drive those eBusiness collaborative processes.

Full details on the technology aspects are available in the OASIS ebBP/BPSS white paper.

As a part of the original eBusiness eXtensible Markup Language (XML) [ebXML] framework of specifications the ebBP (ebXML Business Process Specification Schema) defines a standard language to configure business systems for business collaboration execution between collaborating parties or business partners. It provides:

• Standard and extensible business transaction patterns
• Support for modular definitions to complex nested activities
• Support for use of web service, hybrid and ebXML assets
• Semantic tailoring for business processes and business documents
• Scripting in XML syntax and mechanisms across the implementation stack
  

The changes and capabilities defined in the v2.0.x packages have substantially increased the business value-add for using standard process definitions. These definitions support tailoring of eBusiness processes and business documents to serve our user community.

The ebBP focuses on an integrated eBusiness adaptable approach in order to support heterogeneous environments, particularly Small- to Medium-Enterprises. As with other specifications and capabilities, ebBP can be leveraged with other ebXML and/or emerging web services technologies.

Currently the OASIS ebBP v2.0.3 set of packages are a committee specification and pending the approval process as a full OASIS standard.

EU-sponsored Introduction to ebXML for Managers and Adoptors

A white paper giving the overview to both the landscape of small business automation and then how ebXML can be applied itself to solve typical use cases. Provides a concise and extensive introduction to the classic ebXML model and the tools and techniques it supports for eBusiness implementations.

http://www.interpay.nl/binaries/ebXMLforManagers%20English_tcm36-37005.pdf

With the tools now available from http://www.freebxml.org to help small businesses implement ebXML along with the comprehesive catalogue of tools documented at: http://www.ebxmlforum.net/articles/ebfor_SoftwareProducts.html

and government sponsored S2S (C2G) solutions such as demonstrated by: http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/system.htm

there is a wealth of solutions available in the marketplace today for the entrepreneur to succeed with ebXML.

Back in time five years: Understanding ebXML, UDDI, XML/EDI

Here is the article from XML.org in November 2000 - looking forward five years on ebXML and describing the then UN/CEFACT view of ebXML.

Somethings have indeed come to past - with the emergence of Asia and India as software powerhouses, along with open source tools and Java that counterbalance the old order with Silicon Valley being the center of everything software.

Interestingly also - the direction that UDDI has taken is vastly different from the original envisioning of its creators and first business model, including the open OASIS UDDI work and focus away from yellow and green pages to more technology centric web service WSDL roles.

Likewise the embodiment of ebXML in Java and XML with today's implementations provides the hard components that are implementing the UN/CEFACT model.

Somethings are clearly there, others remain to be delivered. Interestingly the original vision is still so relevant today - the challenges and the needs - that our technology suite in 2006 has yet to deliver on these capabilities integrated as a seemless whole. Although clearly we are much closer to realizing this today - for example with the ebXML Registry foundation now extending out into communities such as the IHE/XDS work for secure healthcare document exchanges - (see http://www.freebxml.org for registry details).

The challenge ahead is to forge open public interoperable implementations that deliver the full set of capabilities. The components, parts and tools are there to build this now, just the delivery is as always the toughest path to cross.