Searching the Next Generation Internet Will be Faster and More Accurate Thanks to a New Free Open Standard Dictionary Used to Code Information.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

BETHLEHEM, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 9, 2002

Just as the web has revolutionized how we access information the new standard dictionary to be released by the Electronic Commerce Code

Management Association (ECCMA) will revolutionize the speed and

accuracy of Internet searches

The Achilles' heal of electronic commerce has always been the inherent difficulty in creating a common language for buyers and sellers.

Finding common ground between the needs of sellers to differentiate their wares from their competitors and the needs of buyers to compare has never been easy.

Building on its success in the creation of the Universal Standard Product and Services Classification (UNSPSC), the first global standard commodity classification, the members of ECCMA have been working towards the release of the first draft version of the ECCMA Open Technical Dictionary (eOTD).

This incredible work creates for the first time, a central dictionary of names and definitions of trading concepts, essentially goods and services that are bought, sold or exchanged.

As many industry groups are working on industry classifications, the eOTD is designed to support their work by providing a classification neutral dictionary of names and attributes (also referred to as characteristics or properties) of items: Basically if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck but could be classified as poultry or game depending on the industry.

Just as the Internet has its roots in ARPANET, a government sponsored development, so too does the eOTD. The new open technical dictionary has as its origin the Federal/NATO Cataloging System managed by the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) in Battle Creek, Mich.

Commenting on the contribution made by DLIS, Deputy Rick Maison said, "The creation of an open standard with links to the Federal Cataloging System will make it easier for us to obtain the information we need to maintain our catalogs. We are happy to participate in this development of open standards."

Peter Benson, Chief Technical Officer of ECCMA, said, "The Federal Cataloging System is at the heart of the National Stock Numbers, (NSN), the world's largest inventory management system that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The expertise of the DLIS staff in developing and managing a central cataloging system is truly unique and a shining light of success in a dark chapter of electronic commerce where the lack of content standardization has been the cause of so many implementation failures. To enable the ECCMA members to leverage the obvious success of a system implemented in over 50 countries, ECCMA will maintain compatibility between the eOTD and the Federal/NATO Cataloging System."

EDITOR'S NOTE: ECCMA is a not-for-profit membership association that oversees the maintenance and distribution of codes used in electronic commerce. ECCMA provides an open, transparent and efficient process for the development of open standards for content. The association manages several codes, including the Universal Standard Products and Services Classification System (UNSPSC) code.

This is an international, hierarchical coding system used to classify goods and services. The UNSPSC code provides a standard index classification for electronic catalogs and standard account codes for performing in-depth Spend Analyses.

Web site address: www.eccma.org