ebXML

“electronic Business XML will enable anyone, anywhere to do business with anyone else”

Mission
To provide an open XML-based infrastructure enabling the global use of electronic business information in an interoperable, secure and consistent manner by all parties.

History of ebXML
The ebXML initiative was conceived due to the widely held need to enable enterprises of any size and in any geographical location to conduct business electronically in a simple, cheap reliable way.  There are technologies that currently exist to perform electronic trading, such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), (and it should be noted they perform this task very well) but they are often costly to implement, the information itself is not human readable and the these technologies often require the use of private, fee paying networks.  These factors, plus others, have caused technologies, such as EDI to have minimal penetration into the global market place (in the case of EDI, only 5% market penetration with the majority of the penetration being at the large corporation end of the business spectrum) and therefore do not fulfil the overriding principle driving ebXML of “anyone, anywhere to do business with anyone else".

The ebXML initiative began in November 1999 in San José, California. To achieve its stated goal ebXML developed a set of general technical and business principles that it aimed to follow. These are:

·        Enable simple, easy and ubiquitous electronic business through the use of XML.

·        Use W3C XML technical specifications holding recommended status to the maximum extent practicable.

·        Provide a global cross-industry open, interoperable standard for business-to-business and business-to-consumer trade.

·        Coalesce the structure and content components of divergent XML initiatives into a single useable XML business standard.

·        Provide impetus so that common resources currently engaged in short-term vertical solutions shall be marshalled to reach a common long-term, horizontal solution .

·        Support vertical and horizontal segments of industry and business participants.

·        Avoid proprietary solutions that impose financial or software requirements constraints on ebXML users to buy, install or programmatically support any ebXML unique software products in the conduct of business information exchange.

·        Strive to minimize costs of doing business electronically.

·        Provide multi-lingual support.

·        Accommodate national and international trade requirements.

·        Provide a migration path from accredited EDI and developing XML business standards.

The first phase of the project was completed in May 2001 with the production of an Architecture and key Specifications to allow eBusiness enablement.  Using ebXML, companies now have a standard method to exchange business messages, conduct trading relationships, communicate data in common terms and define and register business processes. 

ebXML activity is still ongoing though under the control of the two bodies that oversaw the core project, UN/CEFACT and OASIS. The specifications are being refined and projects are underway to demonstrate the viability and real-world use of ebXML.

Why extensible Markup Language (XML)?
Business looks to XML as a means of gaining competitive advantage through leveraging new technology. Minimizing the cost of doing business electronically is a key element in achieving a competitive advantage. The cost of doing business electronically can be grouped into acquisition, development, deployment and customisation, integration with business applications, and operations and support. It is expected that using XML for electronic business will be less costly than traditional forms of EDI and other existing electronic commerce technologies in each of these areas. This expected cost reduction is a driving force for considering XML over traditional EDI technologies.

Sponsors
The project was overseen by UN/CEFACT and OASIS with participation coming from all communities, Vendors, Sectors and Organisations.

Endorsements
ebXML has garnered widespread support from industry sectors, vendors and government bodies. A list of these endorsements can be found at our Supporting ebXML pages.

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This page last modified on 2003-10-21