ADVISORY/Open Standards Developed by Industry Consortium Provide the Key to "Off-the-Shelf" Interoperability for Major e-Commerce Applications.Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers ADVISORY...for Nov. 2 (Thursday) CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 2, 2000 B2B (Business to Business) Refers to one business communicating with or selling to another. See B2B e-commerce, B2C and B2G. B2B - business to business Vendor Challenge Showcases Live Demonstrations of Open, XML-based Standards Required for Companies to Conduct Business over the Internet Over 20 leading technology providers unveiled actual real-time B2B solutions today in response to a challenge issued by Ford Motor Company, Lucent Technologies and Lockheed Martin For the former company, see . Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. Over 50 media and industry analysts gathered today to witness three e-business scenarios demonstrating how new, non-proprietary, XML-based standards can facilitate complex, extensive, multi-party e-business relationships. The event was sponsored by Open Applications Group, Inc. (OAGI OAGI Open Applications Group, Inc. OAGI Open Applications Group Inc. ) and hosted by Canopy International, Inc. It involved over 20 technology providers that cooperatively built solutions to specific e-business challenges issued by major companies in the automotive, aerospace and telecommunications industries. The scenarios focused primarily on e-procurement, but also involved interfaces with legacy systems and functions, including ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) An integrated information system that serves all departments within an enterprise. Evolving out of the manufacturing industry, ERP implies the use of packaged software rather than proprietary software written by or for one customer. and PDM (1) (Product Data Management) An information system used to manage the data for a product as it passes from engineering to manufacturing. The data includes plans, geometric models, CAD drawings, images, NC programs as well as all related project data, notes and systems, supply-chain monitoring and control systems, and warehouse management systems. They all used OAGI's open standards-based XML XML in full Extensible Markup Language. Markup language developed to be a simplified and more structural version of SGML. It incorporates features of HTML (e.g., hypertext linking), but is designed to overcome some of HTML's limitations. Business Object Documents (BODs) for all communication throughout each process, making them virtually "hands free." Non-proprietary, XML-based and easily implemented... "Today's demonstration proves the efficacy of non-proprietary standards to smoothly and easily facilitate complex e-business initiatives required by major companies like Ford, Lockheed Martin and Lucent," explained David Connelly, OAGI's president and chief executive officer. "We were asked by these companies to work with technology providers to build common processes, common schema and common business documents to help them meet their own e-business challenges quickly, efficiently, and at a minimum cost in time and integration services," he added. "This event is the result." In the first scenario, a Ford engine plant is able to manage routine and emergency, alternative non-production MRO MRO In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Mauritanian Ouguiya. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. purchasing in a highly automated environment that involves a warehouse management system deployed in a facility operated by a third-party logistics A third-party logistics provider (abbreviated 3PL) is a firm that provides outsourced or "third party" logistics services to companies for part, or sometimes all of their supply chain management function. provider. In the second scenario, a customer order triggers fulfillment activity within Lucent's manufactured stock system and automatically creates a new purchase order to suppliers further up in the supply chain as a direct response to the original customer order. The third scenario, presented by Lockheed Martin, illustrates conceptually how a manufacturer might use BOD-enabled communication to support PDM and ERP interoperability and institute flexible pricing on the fly. The demonstrations were built around twelve Business Object Documents and a set of standardized XML schema The definition of an XML document, which includes the XML tags and their interrelationships. Residing within the document itself, an XML schema may be used to verify the integrity of the content. , both issued by OAGI. A BOD BOD: see sewerage. defines a given business process, which may include multiple transactions between various companies. Issuing a purchase order is an example of such a process. The business message is simple... According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Daniel Hale Daniel "Danny" Hale, played by Danny McCarthy, is a fictional character from the American television series, Prison Break. Hale was introduced as a Secret Service agent in the pilot episode of the series, serving under the Vice President of the United States. of irista, the overall coordinator of the live demonstrations: "The B2B Vendor Challenge message is very simple. Vendor-implemented BODs can reduce the cost and time it takes to integrate by an order of magnitude A change in quantity or volume as measured by the decimal point. For example, from tens to hundreds is one order of magnitude. Tens to thousands is two orders of magnitude; tens to millions is three orders of magnitude, etc. . This makes it possible to achieve very complex, large-scale, multi-party interactions." A wide range of technology vendors The 21 technology companies who worked cooperatively to execute the XML solutions demonstrated today were: Canopy International, Oracle Corporation, irista Inc., Microsoft Corporation (company) Microsoft Corporation - The biggest supplier of operating systems and other software for IBM PC compatibles. Software products include MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows NT, Microsoft Access, LAN Manager, MS Client, SQL Server, Open Data Base Connectivity (ODBC), MS Mail, , eXcelon Corporation, Extricity Inc., J.D. Edwards (J.D. Edwards & Company, Denver, CO, www.jdedwards.com) A developer of multinational, integrated enterprise software for distribution, finance, human resources, manufacturing and supply chain management. , Glotech Solutions, Killdara Corporation, MEGA International, Mercator Software, Netfish Technologies, PeopleSoft Inc., PSDI/mro.com, Psion Teklogix Inc., Robocom Systems International, SAGA Software Inc., StreamServe Inc., Tilion Inc., webMethods Inc. and Wonderware Corporation. Solution orientation is essential According to Charles Searight, president and chief executive officer of Canopy International, "the Vendor Challenge proves that, with the right combination of standardized messaging and schema, e-business can occur smoothly and without disruption, but it needs to be supported by the correct solution implementation and management processes." Bill Harrelson, Canopy's chief technology officer and a member of the OAGI Executive Committee, said that Canopy has been working with OAGI member companies to produce a body of standards that gives companies the ability to connect and perform business transactions automatically. "It's these standardized BODs and XML definitions that have made it possible to easily integrate the wide range of technology vendors participating in this event," he added. "That in itself was a major accomplishment," said Mr. Harrelson. About OAGI The Open Applications Group is a non-profit consortium focusing on best practices and process based XML content for eBusiness and Application Integration. It is the largest publisher of XML based content for business software interoperability in the world. Open Applications Group, Inc. members have over 5 years of extensive experience in building this industry consensus based framework for business software application interoperability and have developed a repeatable process for quickly developing high quality business content and XML representations of that content. About Canopy Canopy International offers consulting and integration services enabling companies to create open interoperability in e-business relationships. Canopy's e-business integration services help business-to-business companies maximize their investments in e-business technology. Canopy provides full lifecycle integration services--including strategy, architecture, implementation and maintenance--that result in scalable, industrial-strength connectivity solutions accelerating information flow through the entire value chain. According to the Ford and Lucent .... "It is important that vendors include standard interoperability interfaces in their products," said Bruce Ambler, senior manager, CIO CIO: see American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. (Chief Information Officer) The executive officer in charge of information processing in an organization. Strategy Planning and Architecture, Lucent Technologies. According to Tim Thomasma, lead application architect, Ford Motor Company: "The OAGI Vendor Challenge will help to focus vendors on delivering compatible products that we can use today." For more information on OAGI, go to www.openapplications.org. For more information on Canopy International, go to www.canopyint.com. For online information: http://www.openapplications.org/challenge |
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