- What is ebXML?
Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language, commonly known as e-business XML, or ebXML (pronounced ee-bee-ex-em-el) as it is typically referred to, is a family of XML based standards sponsored by OASIS and UN/CEFACT whose mission is to provide an open, XML-based infrastructure that enables the global use of electronic business information in an interoperable, secure, and consistent manner by all trading partners.
In general ebXML is a…..
- Global Standard for electronic business
- Standard which enables anyone, anywhere to do business with anyone else over the Internet
- Specifically designed to support SME
- Complementary to other B2B initiatives (UDDI, RosettaNet, TradeXchange, etc.)
- An end-to-end B2B XML Framework
ebXML for B2B Collaboration?
- Business Semantics
- Interoperability
- Reliability
- Security & Privacy
- Non-repudiation
The ebXML specification specifies the structure and semantics of machine process-able Business Collaborations definitions. These semantics are aligned with guiding principles relevant to business processes such as the UMM.
At a high level, a Business Collaboration consists of a set of roles collaborating through a set of choreographed Business Transactions by exchanging Business Documents.
These basic semantics of a Business Collaboration are depicted below
ebXML Message Structure
The ebXML Message Service is layered over SOAP with Attachments. SOAP with Attachments, embeds a SOAP envelope as a first part of a MIME container, which contains all information needed for routing and thus allows for very efficient message processing. Other content (possibly multi megabyte EDI or UBL messages) can be appended as additional MIME parts and passed on to the receiving application. The general structure of an ebXML message is displayed in the following diagram
ebXML Features
B2B Standard Feature | ebXML Supportability |
Open public specification | Yes |
EDI payloads support | Yes |
XML payload support | Yes |
PDF and binary attachments support | Yes |
Secure messaging with authentication | Yes |
Reliable message delivery mechanism | Yes |
Legal receipt verification support | Yes |
Built-in audit log and tracking | Yes |
Business process workflow enabled | Yes |
Role and action use support in envelope | Yes |
Conformance suite for implementations | Yes |
Digital certificates and encryption | Yes |
XML encryption support | Yes |
Open source implementations available | Yes |
Uses web services infrastructure (Apache/SOAP) | Yes |
Asynchronous and Synchronous support | Yes |
SMTP delivery support | Yes |
Service & Operation levels authorization | Yes |
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Final Thoughts
ebXML is a complete and mature specification that provides useful extensions to SOAP. It has been implemented by a wide range of vendors, and many of these implementations have been verified for interoperability. People looking for web services to provide a secure and reliable messaging service for e-business applications or enterprise application integration today should take a close look at the specification and its implementations.