Press Release

OASIS ebXML Registry Technical Committee Approves Updated Specs

Consortium Membership to Vote on OASIS Standards

Boston, MA, USA; 30 January 2002 — The OASIS ebXML Registry Technical Committee announced its approval of the ebXML Registry Services Specification v2.0 and the ebXML Registry Information Model v2.0. Both are updated versions of specifications originally developed under the ebXML Initiative, jointly sponsored by OASIS and the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT). The new versions of the specifications have advanced under the OASIS technical process and have been submitted to the OASIS membership at-large for consideration as OASIS Standards. The OASIS membership will vote on the ebXML Registry specifications in April 2002. The use of registries facilitates business-to-business and intra-enterprise transactions by enabling a manageable method of discovering and connecting with partners, and exchanging business data. ebXML Registry specifications provide a set of services that allow information to be shared between interested parties, enabling prospective trading partners to find one another and conduct business. The shared information, which may include company profiles as well as industry-specific messages, vocabularies and other data, is maintained as objects in a repository and managed by the ebXML Registry Services, defined in the new versions of the specifications. “The goal of our technical committee at OASIS has been to communicate the functionality of ebXML Registry Services to software developers and specify the interface for Registry clients,” explained Kathryn Breininger of Boeing, chair of the OASIS ebXML Registry Technical Committee. “We wanted to provide a basis for future support of more complete ebXML Registry requirements.” In addition to defining the interface to the ebXML Registry Services, the ebXML Registry Services Specification also identifies message definitions and XML schema. A separate document, the ebXML Registry Information Model, provides information on the types of metadata that are stored in the registry as well as the relationships among the various metadata classes. Karl Best, director of technical operations at OASIS, emphasized that the revised ebXML Registry specifications were designed to be compatible with other ebXML specifications. “ebXML is a modular suite of specifications that enables enterprises of any size and in any geographical location to conduct business over the Internet. In addition to the defining and registering business processes through an ebXML Registry, other ebXML specifications provide companies with a standard method to exchange business messages, conduct trading relationships, and communicate data in common terms.” The two revised specifications have been approved by the members of the OASIS ebXML Registry Technical Committee, which include Boeing, Fujitsu, IONA, Logistics Management Institute, NIST, Sterling Commerce, Sun Microsystems, Vitria Technology, webMethods, and others. The specifications are now under review by the entire membership of OASIS; voting on OASIS Standards will be held in April 2002. About OASIS OASIS (www.oasis-open.org), a not-for-profit, global consortium, drives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. OASIS is the home for XML conformance, Web services, security, business transactions, electronic publishing, topic maps and other interoperability specifications development. OASIS has more than 400 corporate and individual members in 100 countries around the world. OASIS and the United Nations jointly sponsor ebXML, a global framework for e-business data exchange. OASIS operates XML.org, a community clearinghouse for XML application schemas, vocabularies and related documents. OASIS hosts The XML Cover Pages, an online reference collection for interoperable markup language standards. For more information: Carol Geyer Director of Communications OASIS www.oasis-open.org carol.geyer@oasis-open.org +1.978.667.5115 x209