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ebXML
gains traction in Japan
Asia
has become a hotbed of ebXML activity, as noted by the news of
ebXML's
adoption in Thailand, in early August 2003 .
But behind the headlines, Japan has also emerged as a leader in
the propagation of ebXML in Asia. Under the leadership of the
Electronic
Commerce Promotion Council of Japan (ECOM),
ebXML has taken root in several industries and is in the process
of becoming Japan's e-business architecture.
Encouraging XML and ebXML for
business
ECOM
has taken the lead in promoting the adoption of XML for Japanese
e-business. As part of this campaign, ECOM published an Internet
EDI (XML/EDI) Guidebook,
in February 2003, with an English-language version issued in May
2003. The guidebook gives the rationale for the use of XML in
general for e-business, but spells out as well a broad
endorsement of ebXML for Japanese business.
For
Japanese business, ebXML fits into an ongoing development of
e-business taking advantage of current large-scale EDI use in
many industries, as well as wide Internet connectivity. The
guidebook specifies three levels of implementation of Internet,
XML, and EDI, currently in use in Japan:
Internet
EDI -- Transmission of EDI messages over HTTP, FTP, SMTP, or
specialized banking industry protocol
Basic
XML/EDI – Representation of EDI messages in XML, and
transmitted over Internet protocols (HTTP, FTP, SMTP)
Collaboration
XML/EDI – Exchange of XML messages based defined by
business processes, with messaging formats based on larger
framework specifications (RosettaNet, ebXML)
While
Internet EDI and Basic XML/EDI implementations make wholesale use
of existing Japanese industry EDI syntax, Collaboration XML/EDI
takes a different approach, while still preserving the
industries' investment in traditional EDI. Collaboration XML/EDI
is built around business processes, aiming first for
standardization of those business processes, rather than building
the standards on individual messages, as done with EDI.
Collaboration XML/EDI also requires a messaging infrastructure
that provides a framework for security and reliability.
The
Collaboration XML/EDI approach aims for real-time message
exchanges and processing. The document notes that real-time
message exchanges provide little benefit if the trading partners
use batch processing to integrate the data into their business
systems. But while Collaboration XML/EDI takes a different tack
from the earlier methods, it still uses the same Internet, XML,
and EDI technologies as the previous approaches, to encourage
interoperability among all three.
In
the document ECOM defined its requirements for Collaboration
XML/EDI from three perspectives (1) messaging, (2) business
documents, and (3) business processes. ECOM found ebXML well
suited to address all three perspectives, with ebXML Messaging
Service (ebMS) for messaging, core components for interoperable
semantics and naming conventions in business documents, and BPSS
for defining business processes. ECOM also endorsed the ebXML
collaboration protocol profile and agreement (CPPA) and
registry/repository specifications. The guidebook concluded:
These
ebXML standards should be adopted actively, since widespread use
of of ebXML standards will lead to the development of a common
ebXML infrastructure (such as a registry and repository system
based on ebXML specifications) and solution software products,
leading to business document exchange and business process
collaboration on the international scale and to inter-industry
collaboration as well. Moreover, this will enable ebXML solution
vendors to make solutions software products available. With the
widespread use of these products, prices are certain to decline.
ebXML endorsements and
implementations
As
of mid-2003, several Japanese industries reported their current
or planned adoption of ebXML. ECOM gave a significant boost to
ebXML implementation by sponsoring a series of interoperability
tests of ebMS in September 2002. Japanese companies Fujitsu,
Hitachi, NEC, NTT, and Infoteria took part in these tests.
The
retail distribution industry, through its Distribution
Systems Research Institute (DSRI),
has begun adopting ebMS for its e-business messaging. In the last
fiscal year (2002), the group developed a messaging guideline
based on ebMS. It has also developed company profile templates
based on the ebXML CPPA specifications.
DSRI
had earlier developed a series of eight standard XML business
documents based on its EDI specifications, called JEDICOS. The
ECOM document says the group later followed guidance from the
Global Commerce Initiative (GCI) , an early supporter of ebXML,
to adopt ebXML core components as part of its XML business
messages. GCI promotes international standards in the retail
distribution industry.
Japan's
electronics and information technology industries have worked on
a dual standards track, adopting both RosettaNet and ebXML. While
RosettaNet has endorsed ebXML's business process specification
(BPSS) for its point-to-point processes, the Japan
Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association
(JEITA) has
gone further and adopted the ebMS and CPA specifications for its
interactions. JEITA conducted proof of concept tests in late 2001
and early 2002 . Buyer participants in the tests included Sony,
Hitachi, Fujitsu, Oki Electric, Sharp, Matsushita Electric, and
NEC. Suppliers included Alps Electric, TDK, Murata, Kyocera,
Taiyo Yuden, and Fujitsu.
Much
of Japan's economy depends on international trade, and Japan has
been an active participant in the Trade
EDI or TEDI Club that
encourages the adoption of e-business for international trade
transactions. TEDI , as part of the Pan-Asian E-Commerce
Alliance, participated in proof-of-concept testing of ebMS v 2.0
with counterparts in Singapore, Malaysia, and Korea earlier in
2003.
Other
industries in Japan either planning or studying ebXML adoption
include public procurement, travel, and iron and steel.
We thank
Yukinori Saito of ECOM for his assistance in this article.
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