Re: [ebxml-dev] RE: [EDI-L] Article on ebXML Core Components

[Andrzej Jan Taramina <andrzej@chaeron.com>]

> > Will the registry/repository concept for ebXML eventually merge with its
> > counterpart defined for UDDI/Web Services ?

There are some fundamental issues that might prevent this as well as the political 
ones.

UDDI is a registry only...no repository, where as ebXML has both.  That could (and 
may need to be) rectified by the UDDI spec (imagine 10,000 WSDL definitions 
pointed to by a UDDI rep.....how would you manage the storage of all these in a large 
corporation in a doable fashion?  Put them on different web servers all over the 
company?  Not likely......some form of centralized repository will eventually be 
needed to complement UDDI).

The big issue is that UDDI has been designed to be a "global" public directory 
(though that does not preclude private implementations), with support for federation 
and distribution of nodes (meaning that the distributed system appears as a single 
global registry).  Whereas ebXML RegRep has been designed as a community-level 
registry, to target a specific group of parties with a common interest (a supply chain, 
industry vertical, etc.) and no provision has been made for distribution/federation.  
Those are big chasms to cross in trying to merge the two together.  Different 
philosophical roots.

Best practice seems to suggest that you use ebXML RegRep for community stuff, 
and use UDDI more globally which in turn has a "pointer" to the specific RegRep.

...Andrzej

Chaeron Corporation
http://www.chaeron.com