Business at XML 2002
Rounding up the news from the business side of the recent XML 2002 conference,
Alan Kotok reports an increase in government clients for XML businesses.
Standards For Electronic Instructional Materials
A bill proposed to the U.S. Congress seeks to create an electronic standard for
instruction materials that will help visually disabled schoolchildren.
Interoperability Summit: Good Intentions, Little Action
Alan Kotok reports from the second interoperability summit organized by
e-business standards groups. He finds that it's still early days for e-business
interoperability, and many more players need to come to the table.
Government and Finance Industry Urge Caution on XML
The XML world recently received a double-dose of sobering news, as reports from
both the U.S. General Accounting Office and NACHA, an electronic payments organization,
urged their constituents to move cautiously on any commitment to XML.
U.S. Federal XML Guidelines
The US Government's guidelines for use of XML in Federal agencies shows an
encouraging appreciation of XML, but also highlights the difficulties inherent in
drafting
such guidelines.
Making XML Work in Business
In this report from the XML 2001 conference, Alan Kotok describes where XML is
really working inside businesses.
Interoperate or Evaporate
Last week's business standards interoperability summit resulted in a clear
message to standards groups from vendors: learn to work together or lose your
support.
When the Going Gets Tough: Real World XML
When XML gets deployed in businesses, it's modeling and interoperability that
prove key. But is that enough to meet the demands posed by today's economic
circumstances?
Dulles Airport: a Lesson for ebXML
Sidebar of Alan Kotok's ebXML article
Can XML Help Write the Law?
A report from the Conference on Congressional Organizations' Application of XML,
where both the mechanics and the public benefits of making legislation available in
XML were
discussed.
ebXML Ropes in SOAP
Our report on the latest happenings in ebXML covers their adoption of SOAP, and
takes stock as ebXML nears the end of its project.
ebXML: Assembling the Rubik's Cube
The fourth meeting of the Electronic Business XML working group sees the
intiative make good progress. But will the group be able to meet its self-imposed
18-month
deadline?
Going Where No Business Data Have Gone Before
After much discussion, now it's time to get busy building the specifics of
XML-based e-commerce and begin to see what new capabilities this enables.
EDI, Take It and Leave It
EDI's precision, responsiveness, and ability to separate data from documents are
to be admired. Its twin international systems and ever-changing standards are
not.
XML to the Rescue?
XML offers not only a fresh start for universal standards, but it's also more
affordable for small companies than custom EDI systems.
EDI, Warts and All
EDI was developed to replace the growing piles of hard copy documents in shipping
and transportation companies. But as it grew, it developed some cumbersome tendencies
and
two distinct international standards that require translation.
The XML/edi Group's XML for E-Business Initiative
Less Is More In E-Business: The XML/edi Group
The XML/edi Group's "XML for E-Business Initiative" seeks to deliver on the
promise of XML for the many businesses currently unable to use established electronic
business mechanisms. In this article, the authors explain the initiative and argue
strongly
for simplicity in XML specifications.
Tracing XML-based Bank Transactions
Does XML make money laundering easier? Alan Kotok looks into how the Web's new
banking and investment services, many based on XML vocabularies, might help to catch
the bad
guys.
Even More Extensible
Since our first survey of XML business vocabularies in February this year, the
number of entries in our tables has more than doubled, highlighting the large push
forward
in vertical and cross-industry standardization activity.
Extensible and More
Two years after the XML 1.0 Recommendation, we see XML being applied in many
areas—especially e-business. Alan Kotok takes a snapshot of XML e-business
activity.
XML and EDI Lessons Learned and Baggage to Leave Behind
Don't throw the baby out with the bath water! Thirty years of Electronic Data
Interchange yield valuable lessons for XML advocates.
ebXML Gathers Pace
A recent meeting of the ebXML initiative was able to demonstrate proof-of-concept
technology of some of its early specifications. A third of the way through its allotted
18-month timetable, ebXML has made definite progress, but still has a long way to
go.