OBI and ICH Form Collaborative Alliance.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 2000

The Open Buying on the Internet (OBI) Consortium and

Interoperability Clearinghouse Converge on Interoperable Standards

Initiative for e-Commerce Transactions.

The Interoperability Clearinghouse(TM) (ICHnet.org), a not-for-profit technology research and validation consortium, has joined forces with The Open Buying on the Internet (OBI) Consortium to roll out a joint initiative that deals with both the complexity and rate of change of today's fast paced IT market. The initial focus of this collaborative interoperability validation effort will be on on-line transactions. OBI joins other open systems advocates in this process including; Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD C3I), Open Applications Group (OAG), Boeing Aerospace, Object Management Group (OMG.org), NDIA, Software Productivity Consortium, US Navy, The OBJECTive Technology Group (TheOTG.com), Department of Commerce, and a host of other government and industry IT leaders.

The ICH has established a significant knowledge base of interlinking standards and technologies for Secure E-Business including; IDEs, Web Application Servers, Application Middleware, Enterprise Middleware, Component Technologies, B2B, Data Integration (XML), Data Warehousing, Portals, Enterprise Directories, Data Management, Storage Area Networks, Information Assurance (VPN, PKI, Digital Signature), VOIP and other networking topographies.

John Weiler, Executive Director and co-founder of the ICHnet.org states: "Having applied the ICH Method successfully in e-government, manufacturing, healthcare, and media domains, the IT community now has a viable means of wading through the hype, complexity, and rate of change of today's e-business market place. IT practitioners can now convert business models into interoperable e-solutions in a timely and unbiased forum."

Fred Sollish, Executive Director of OBI adds: "The integration of OBI's internet standard, together with ICH's enterprise view brings industry a solid foundation for achieving interoperability via the Internet. Our combined resources will help IT users world wide accelerate their entry into the e-business market."

About The ICH:

The Interoperability Clearinghouse (ICH), is a collaborative research and validation consortium that helps enterprise engineers model and verify interoperable secure e-business frameworks. The Validation Method supports Standards Organizations (SDOs), software vendors (ISVs), testing labs, integrators and domain practitioners in creating validated solution frameworks. Members are able to leverage the ICH architecture methodology, tools, and knowledge base, to provide "in context" IT roadmaps to transition from "Architectures to Implementation Reality." To promote these validated e-solutions, the ICH is rolling out a set of educational resources including; an e-solutions portal, an internet "configurator" to manage IT assets, a vertical industry conference series ([e-mail]), and a internet news letter.

The goal is to provide IT users a high integrity, technology neutral, architecture service whose research cannot be compromised. ICH technology research and consulting services are available to both members and non-members alike. Through the ICH services, IT users can now cope with the rate of technology change, market hype, and complexity of developing interoperable e-solutions.

The ICH is headquartered in Alexandria, VA, USA.

About the OBI Consortium

The Open Buying on the Internet (OBI) Consortium is a non-profit organization dedicated to developing open standards for business-to-business Internet procurement. The Consortium provides a forum for standards development, education, and compliance certification. OBI is managed by CommerceNet, the largest grouping of eCommerce influencers in the world working to make Internet commerce easy, trusted and ubiquitous.