Very interesting read! (:-> PNL has joined them. Many more interesting things to read at this link.
ec.fed.gov
Emerging Technologies
Extensible Markup Language
The Federal Electronic Commerce Program Office is actively focusing on the development of an open buying environment for the Federal government. Federal shoppers will be able to quickly search the vast array of vendor products available across many government and vendor catalogs, compare products and take advantage of the best value using Public Key Infrastructure and Smart Cards for end-to-end secure purchasing and payment.
Several emerging technologies and standards, Open Buying on the Internet (OBI), Extensible Markup Language (XML), and other standards have the potential of making Electronic Commerce the most promising avenue for conducting government business in the year 2000 and beyond.
The growing availability of sophisticated technology and easy-to-use Web tools are helping Electronic Commerce flourish throughout government. Implementing Electronic Commerce tools need not be expensive. Agencies can reduce costs by following standard business practices and by using commercial off-the-shelf products .
An ambitious standard implementation effort is being undertaken by, RosettaNet, an independent consortium dedicated to the development and deployment of supply chain eBusiness standards. GSA has finalized agreements with the RosettaNet consortium to pilot the use of Partner Interface Processes (PIP) with four other firms for its Feb. 2, 2000, debut. This follows RosettaNet?s announcement of publication of the first 10 PIP specifications. MicronPC, 3Comm, Netfish and IPNet are the four firms which will join with GSA to pilot the standards. Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Vitria Technology Inc. and the Air Combat Command are also considering whether to join. GSA is among more than 60 enterprises representing $600 billion in annual revenues and which promote a mandate for RosettaNet?s standards development strategy. The majority of the consortium?s members have committed to achieving a goal of global implementation on February 2. Many members are employing Enterprise Application Integration software to accelerate the development.
Recognizing the need to provide greater flexibility in data exchanges on the Web, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) created a new standard, Extensible Markup Language (XML). XML is seen by W3C and an increasing number of Web developers as the replacement for HyperText Markup Language, the authoring language used to create documents on the World Wide Web.
Open Buying on the Internet (OBI) provides a standard framework for secure and interoperable business-to-business Internet commerce, automating high-volume, low-dollar transactions for goods and services between trading partners. A consortium developed OBI supports the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Accredited Committee X.12 EDI transactions. Currently OBI supports two transactions, a purchase request, and a purchase order.
The primary focus of CommerceNet's eCo Framework Project is to demonstrate the value of the integration of three common component-based electronic commerce services. These eCo services' product levels are powerful enough to let businesses keep right on using the payment methods and processes that are employed today using OBI and etc. CommerceNet believes that these three core services will provide interoperability between many commerce services and serve as a foundation to operate web based trading communities including the Government.
References:
Logistics Management Institute "Open Buying on the Internet and Extensible Markup Language: Recommendations for Adoption By the Federal Government," January 2000 (If you need the FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here.)
Rik Drummond "EbXML: Will it Make a Difference?" The Technology Report, December 4, 1999
Leslie Lundquist "Why eCo should be Your Strategy" reprint from CommerceNet
The Strategies Report , October, 1999
Rik Drummond "XML Leads as New Standard" reprint from CommerceNet
Research Report Research Report #99-30 October 13, 1999
Additional information on emerging technologies:
- RosettaNet: rosettanet.org
- CommerceNet: commerce.net
- World Wide Web Consortium: w3c.org
- American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Accredited Committee X.12 EDI: snad.ncsl.nist.gov.
- Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA): x12.org
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