Description
The proliferation of profiles attempting to use Web Services for B2B document exchange has been a barrier to their adoption. There is a recognized need among user communities and within the vendor community to reduce the number of disparate profiles and to converge towards a smaller set of profiled standards for e-Delivery that can accommodate both similarities and differences in requirements in various domains.
The OASIS ebXML Messaging version 3.0, Part 1, Core Specification (ebMS 3.0 [EBMS3CORE]) standard and the AS4 profile of ebMS3 for electronic data interchange over the Internet (EDIINT, [AS4]) have significant momentum as Web Services-based B2B protocols. The more recent Part 2, Advanced Features, specification enhances the core specification [EBMS3PART2].
This document looks at Web Services profiles originally developed within the EU PEPPOL and SPOCS projects. The START [START] and LIME protocols were developed in PEPPOL and submitted to the OASIS BDX Technical Committee. The SPOCS project has adopted the ETSI REM SOAP protocol. This document examines whether the requirements that drove the design of START and REM SOAP can be met by ebMS 3.0 and AS4. This examination is considering the following aspects:
- Message Metadata and Packaging. This includes the REM Dispatch XML structure.
- Initial Sender Authentication. Neither ebMS 3.0 nor AS4 have mechanisms to include evidence about the way messages forwarded by an MSH were sent or submitted to that MSH and how the sender of a message authenticated itself.
- Multi-Corner aspects of metadata and packaging.
The following three aspects are not discussed in this document:
- Light Clients. PEPPOL has specified a separate protocol called LIME. A functional equivalent, the “Pull mode” exists in ebMS 3.0.
- Routing and Discovery. PEPPOL has separate specifications (SML and SMP) to support this. A concept similar to SMP has existed in the ebXML CPP. This functionality is orthogonal to message protocols and likely compatible with protocols other than START.
- (Delivery) receipts and non-repudiation. This is discussed in a separate document submitted to the ebCore TC list http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/ebcore/201108/bin00000.bin (rename to .odt)
