EDI tried, and in many eyes failed, to get businesses talking
electronically, so what hope for the XML revolution?Nick Langley
explores the world of information exchange.
XML (eXtensible Markup Language ) is promoted as the universal
language for e-commerce, enabling business partners' IT systems to
talk to one another by exchanging documents, which can be acted
upon at the process level, rather than the data level. Currently,
however, business partners need to work together to agree their own
version of XML.
'Whereas HTML allows programmers to define the look and feel of
information presented to a user through a web browser, XML allows
programmers to define data structures for information interchange
between computer systems,' commented Ian Doyle, chief architect of
BEA Systems. 'Information can be passed from one system type to
another, regardless of hardware, operating system, database and
software environment. It's implemented on top of standard internet
and web communications protocols.'
Doyle said XML can be regarded as the modern equivalent of
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), but that it can be implemented
much more extensively and cheaply. 'A good XML implementation, with
a sound understanding of internal IT systems, allows businesses to
increasingly interconnect with, and extend appropriate processes to
existing and potential business partners.'
XML's acceptance is almost universal, although doubters are
becoming more vocal. Mike Thompson, an analyst with Butler Group,
has warned that with the need to translate thousands of different
tag sets, it's debatable whether XML is even a standard.
'XML is totally useless unless companies get together and agree
tags,' said Chris Harris-Jones, principal consultant at Ovum.
However, he said organisations are slowly getting together to
create XML business standards.
The problem is that many such initiatives have directly, or
apparently, overlapping aims and memberships. BASDA (the Business
and Accounting Software Developers Association) has developed
eBIS-XML, which concentrates on XML based accounting. But so does
XBRL.org (Extensible Business Reporting Language), which recently
issued the specification for XBRL for General Ledger.
XBRL uses United Nations Ledger standards, but the UN also backs
ebXML as 'a standard method for companies to exchange business
messages, conduct trading relationships, communicate data and
define and register business processes.'
However, Microsoft, Ariba and IBM couldn't wait for ebXML, and
founded the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration
initiative (UDDI). Then there's the Business Internet Consortium,
with its XML based eBusiness Standard Convergence Workgroup, formed
'to bring clarity by defining the generic layers and the
corresponding recommended XML standards of a complete B2B, XML
based solution stack that is standardised, comprehensive, and
interoperable.' The Consortium's latest member is RosettaNet, an
industry body set up by IBM, Compaq, Dell, Intel and Motorola among
others. RosettaNet has created a suite of XML based Partner
Interface Processes (PIPS ) to link businesses in the supply web.
In its turn, the Uniform Code Council has announced a set of XML
schemas which include Purchase Order, Dispatch Advice, Invoice,
Charges, and Payments. These are based on Simple e-Business
(Simpl-eb), a 'common definition of e-Business data and processes
across the value chain.'
Business documents
Nor must we forget Microsoft's
BizTalk Server 2000, which is aimed at processing business
documents, such as bills of lading, invoices, and purchase orders,
as secured e-mail-like messages.
Thanks to the activities of these bodies and others, there are a
number of standard XML 'dialects' tailored for specific business
sectors, including electronics, financial services and
pharmaceuticals, which predefine much of the information
interchange. One such initiative was announced in July, by North
Sea oil companies.
Exchequer Software which worked with Basda on developing eBIS-XML,
recently installed its Web-enabled accounting package, Enterprise,
at the global engineering company Cougar Industries. Customers can
upload their account details over the Web, and are offered pricing
which reflects their account history. They can then place an order,
which is fed directly back into Enterprise to create a sales
order.
Similarly, Clover Business Systems' Wizz400 web storefront for
IBM's iSeries enables users to send and receive orders in XML
format. 'Wizz400 supports any of the standard XML schemas,' says
Clover channels director Richard Green. 'In fact each customer or
supplier can make use of any standard they wish.' Wizz400 has been
implemented by Electrolux Laundry Systems, which expects a
significant reduction in the cost of handling orders, which come in
at a rate of one every 12 seconds.
Free download
There are plenty of XML parsers and other tools on the Web, which
can be downloaded for nothing. XML is also an integral part of
current releases of application development toolsets. Oracle 9i
comes with built-in support for XML. Sybase's forthcoming ASE 12.5
enables developers to build and integrate XML applications. IBM has
the DB2/XML Extender, which enables Web services applications to
access data stored in DB2 and other databases. And among
Microsoft's recent Web Services announcements is XLANG, an 'XML
business process language which provides a way to orchestrate
applications and XML Web Services into larger-scale, federated
applications'.
As with any new solution enthusiastically adopted by its market,
there is a skills issue, BEA's Doyle said. 'However, as with Java
and other hot IT properties, there is no shortage of companies
developing packages and tools that automate the creation of XML and
its associated data structures and processes.'
XML is listed on the DfEE's occupation shortage web site, which
deals with work permits for overseas nationals. But Scott Hebner,
IBM's ebusiness director, has predicted that the adoption of
platform-neutral technologies like Java and XML will steadily
reduce the IT industry's overall skills shortage.
Major XML players
Worldwide Web Consortium:
www.w3.org
IBM developerWorks:
www.ibm.com/developerworks
Microsoft:
www.microsoft.com/xml
Sun:
www.java.sun/xml
BEA Systems:
www.bea.com
Clover:
www.wizz400.comXML products
Soap (Simple Object Access Protocol) is 'an open, standards
based interoperability protocol that uses XML to provide a common
messaging format to link together applications and services
anywhere on the internet' (Microsoft). Soap was originally a
Microsoft initiative, but IBM and the ORB specialists Iona have
also contributed a great deal. Both IBM and Microsoft are using
Soap in their 'Web Services' strategies.
The Soap standard (Version1.2) is now in the independent hands of
the Worldwide Web Consortium. Apache, the opensource Web server
people, have taken over IBM's Soap for Java toolkit. IBM's
WebSphere supports it. As you'd expect, it is supported by
Microsoft's Windows XP and VB6. UDDI is Soap based, and ebXML has
pledged to support it. eBay has signed up with Microsoft to develop
Soap based services.
Version 2.0 of Microsoft's Soap Toolkit enables users to develop
XML Web Services, or add such capabilities to any existing
application that supports the Component Object Model (Com).
IBM Global Services has announced systems integration
support to help businesses build Web services applications using
IBM's infrastructure software. IBM's software for developing,
publishing, hosting and deploying web services includes WebSphere
Application Server Version 4, which supports UDDI and Soap. DB2 and
Domino have also been Web Service-enabled
Sun has also announced its Web Services strategy, based
around Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE).