ASC X12 Agrees to Jointly Develop Business XML.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 2000

ASC X12 Committee continued their focus on improving business-to-business communications across industries by voting at their October meeting to develop accredited cross-industry business standards based on the Extensible Markup Language or XML.

This respected standards body, accredited by American National Standards Institute (ANSI), will prepare these new standards based on the emerging Electronic Business XML (ebXML) initiative.

"This expansive ASC X12 standards-setting initiative will make possible for a factory in Toledo to send electronic orders over the Web to customers in Sao Paulo or Stuttgart, just like they send them to Dearborn or St. Louis," says David Barkley, chair of the X12 Committee. Barkley adds, "By working together with our EWG partners and basing the effort on ebXML, we can reach our goal of a unified business message standard."

X12 also agreed to join forces with the UN/EDIFACT Working Group (EWG) for the definition and validation of a set of protocol-neutral electronic business objects valid within both the UN/EDIFACT and the X12 business processes.

This single set of business objects would be the basis for future developments with new and emerging technologies, and would be submitted for inclusion into the UN/CEFACT and OASIS ebXML initiative. To further underscore their commitment to a unified business message standard, X12 also agreed to appoint committee spokespersons for ebXML technical specifications efforts.

Building on two decades of experience defining business communications syntax and transaction sets, ASC X12 will be helping to define business processes and modeling using core business objects via XML. Building on the framework in the international arena, X12 will be working to help formalize the modeling process.

The ebXML initiative is a worldwide effort to develop a common framework for using XML for business messages. A critical part of the initiative combines a definition of business processes with an identification of common or core components used in most business messages. The XML standards proposed by X12 will be based on ebXML recommendations.

ASC X12, comprised of cross-industry representation, develops the most widely used EDI standards that interact with a multitude of e-commerce technologies and serves as the premier tool for integrating electronic applications. Through standards setting and active participation in emerging and technically relevant initiatives, ASC X12 facilitates the effective exchange of electronic information.

DISA, the association driving global e-business, is the leading provider of educational and networking forums on the booming digital marketplace.

DISA also provides technical and management services to standards and XML specification development organizations, including ASC X12, the OpenTravel Alliance, the Interactive Financial Exchange Forum, the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, Open Philanthropy Exchange, and the XML/EDI Group.

DISA's affiliation with the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association, EC User Groups and emerging initiatives around the world facilitates an interchange of e-commerce development in the marketplace.

For additional information, contact DISA at 703-518-4165 or www.disa.org.