Re: What do people really expect from ebXML?

[Alan Kotok <akotok@disa.org>]

David, William, et al:

William, you are much too kind.  Thanks for the plug.

David, a very well-said two cents.  I believe, ebXML has the capability to 
meet all of its stated requirements, summed up in your message.  But 
everyone needs to keep their eyes on the prize, that being serving the 
smaller businesses who want and need to benefit from business data exchange.

What's different today from even a few years ago is the larger base of more 
powerful desktop systems sitting in smaller business, as well as Web-based 
services (ASPs or whatever) that can relieve client systems of the 
functionality needed to run sophisticated business services.  As a result, 
it should take less sophisticated and less expensive software to accomplish 
many of the functions called upon by point-to-point EDI systems.

Here's an example: go to Citibank's www.Bizzed.Com site.  Click on 
Networking.  Can't you imagine an ebXML registry on that menu?  Then, click 
on Tools.  Wouldn't a Web service called, Manage Your Inventory, fit under 
that category?   Unless I have missed something significant along the way, 
that is what we have been telling people ebXML would accomplish.

The POCs I have seen suggest that this is all possible, as long as the 
specifications allow for simple and basic implementations.  At the DISA 
conference last month, for example, the ebXML demo included a business 
scenario with messages supporting a vendor-managed inventory for a local 
paper wholesaler, hardly a Fortune 1000 candidate.  We can do  it 
folks.  Just don't forget who all this effort is for.

Alan Kotok
Director, Education and Information Resources
Data Interchange Standards Association
akotok@disa.org
+1 703-518-4174



At 12:13 AM 4/24/01 +1000, David Lyon wrote:

>Hi guys, I'm new to this list so please forgive me if I have the wrong
>idea.....
>
>however, my two cents worth is.........
>
>EDI was such a good idea twenty years ago but technically it's just like
>a steam engine.... it's time for a change......
>
>What people expect is that ebXML will *FIX* so many of the
>technical problems that we've had with EDI, and take electronic
>commerce onto the next level........
>
>The next level is the SME, now powered with Pentium computers
>that outperform any computers that old Ford and General Motors
>had in the good ol' days of EDI. One VAN I worked at had a
>computer as powerful as a Pentium 150. In those days it was
>really cool. Now it's rather drab.
>
>SMEs want some really cool snooting software that all allows them
>to trade!
>
>So guys, where is it ?
>
>Is that what ebXML is about, or am I in the wrong place?
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: William J. Kammerer <wkammerer@foresightcorp.com>
>To: ebXML Core <ebxml-core@lists.ebxml.org>
>Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 11:23 PM
>Subject: What do people really expect from ebXML?
>
>
> > What do people really expect from ebXML?  Or in other words, what do
> > businesses expect from ebXML Core Components?  I can reduce the scope of
> > my first question simply because I think I can answer why they might
> > want TR&P Messaging Services, the Registry, and Automated Trading
> > Partner Agreements.  I might even be able to make a stab at answering
> > that for Business Process modeling.
> >
> > For example, TR&P Messaging Services is giving folks something much
> > better than what they have now, replacing EDIINT AS1 and AS2 for
> > point-to-point EDI over the Internet.  The Registry and Repository will
> > at least be able to let you automatically locate your Trading partners'
> > CPPs (Collaboration Partner Profile), and thus automate the process of
> > "hooking" up to them -  avoiding the pain of the trading partner
> > maintenance required of EDI over the Internet packages today.  Just
> > these two parts of ebXML could completely remove what's perceived
> > (perhaps incorrectly) as a major impediment to automated B2B
> > interoperability (e.g., EDI) -  the "expensive" VAN.  Throw in a few
> > more examples, and people will immediately discern the benefit of ebXML
> > in ameliorating the misery of what they go through today.
> >
> > I'm asking questions like these, especially of real businesses  (as
> > opposed to vendors), to share with some folks in Marketing and
> > Awareness.  After suitable distillation, a talented writer like Alan
> > Kotok will probably be able to help craft convincing propaganda pieces.
> > If you do have additional ideas on why Messaging Services, Business
> > Processes, Registry and Trading Partner Automation will be attractive to
> > business and industry - and just as important: why they're better than
> > what we have now - please share your ideas, and I will gather and
> > forward them to Beth Morrow of the M&A group.
> >
> > But the benefits of Core Components is a tough one to explain.  In all
> > fairness, it's the most complex piece of ebXML.  And its analog in
> > conventional EDI has been around and working for years -  so CC has a
> > tough hurdle to jump.  Sure, I know that modeling the data structures
> > might help the standards making process, but that's not a benefit that
> > will sell ebXML to the business community - only a small fraction of
> > that community actually participates in the standards-making process, as
> > they are mostly standards "consumers."    We might even say that Core
> > Components will lead to an explosion of inexpensive off-the-shelf shrink
> > wrapped B2B software - but why?  Why didn't EDI lead to inexpensive
> > off-the-shelf shrink wrapped B2B software?
> >
> > In short, why is it expected that the standards and products built upon
> > the CC specs will result in anything better than what we have today with
> > EDI?
> >
> > William J. Kammerer
> > FORESIGHT Corp.
> > 4950 Blazer Pkwy.
> > Dublin, OH USA 43017-3305
> > +1 614 791-1600
> >
> > Visit FORESIGHT Corp. at http://www.foresightcorp.com/
> > "accelerating time-to-trade"
> >
> >
> >
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