SBC's Sterling Commerce Helps Drive ebXML Standards Efforts; Industry Leaders Collaborate on ebXML Messaging Conformance and Interoperability Testing

Business Wire, Nov 27, 2001

Business Editors/Technology Writers

COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 27, 2001

SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC), through its subsidiary Sterling Commerce, today joined other industry leaders in announcing participation in the ebXML Messaging Interoperability Compliance Pilot. The pilot, which began Oct. 8, is purposed with bringing together the user community, vendors and standards bodies to drive adoption of ebXML messaging.

Sponsored by the Uniform Code Council (UCC), supported by the Global Commerce Initiative (GCI), and coordinated by Drummond Group Inc., the pilot aims to validate conformance of the messaging service through testing against real-world, industry-supplied scenarios and ensure the availability of multiple, interoperable vendor solutions for subsequent deployment. Future iterations of the pilot will test functionality of other ebXML framework components including partner profile, registry access and business process.

ebXML is an evolutionary standard based on Internet technologies designed to create an open, consistent global framework that will accommodate various types of e-transaction technologies ranging from EDI to XML. It is a joint initiative of the United Nations and OASIS, the international, not-for-profit consortium that advances electronic business by promoting open, collaborative development of interoperability specifications.

"Our philosophy is to perform conformance and interoperability testing in an interactive and non-competitive environment," said Rik Drummond, Drummond Group CEO. "In the early cycles of testing, such as this one, it is expected that vendors will enter the pilot with incomplete software which will be improved throughout the initiative. An interactive process is followed where everyone cooperates and completes the pilot together to prove the capability and ensure the availability of a selection of solutions."

Sterling Commerce has been involved with ebXML development since initial stages, through its participation last year in successful proof-of-concept testing for key automated registry and messaging specifications based on the ebXML standard. Brian Gibb, Sterling Commerce director of Applied Research, is vice chair of the ebXML Messaging Services Technical Committee. Other OASIS ebXML technical committees the company serves on include Implementation, Interoperability and Conformance; Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement; and Registry. In addition, Sterling Commerce supports the Automotive Industry Action Group's (AIAG) efforts to apply and adapt the standard to meet specific needs of automotive manufacturers and suppliers.

"Sterling Commerce has a long-standing history of involvement with developing e-business standards," said Sam Starr, the company's chief delivery officer. "We are one of the first companies to embrace ebXML functionality in our product offerings and will be among the first to make ebXML available in our advanced integration product once testing is complete. Our recently launched STERLING Integrator, an e-business integration platform, is based on a J2EE architecture that unifies three critical aspects of e-business - EDI, Internet-XML and application integration - as one unified business process, tearing down the walls between internal and external integration. The ebXML standard provides a framework for these capabilities that applies industry-embraced standards to ensure interoperability.

"Our primary goal is to help companies realize the ROI benefits of e-business, and standardization is essential to widespread adoption of e-business," Starr said. "By participating in critical test projects such as this pilot, we continue to play a leadership role in advancing key standards development and adoption."

Plans are to complete the testing in February of 2002.

About the Uniform Code Council

The Uniform Code Council, Inc. (UCC) is a not-for-profit standards development organization originally founded in 1972. The UCC, along with its global partner EAN International, administers the EAN.UCC System, which includes the Universal Product Code (U.P.C.) and other tools to facilitate efficient global trade. The EAN.UCC System is used by nearly one million member companies worldwide. The UCC functions as a primary resource for business and industry, developing worldwide identification codes, data carriers, and electronic commerce.

About Global Commerce Initiative (GCI)

The Global Commerce Initiative (GCI) is a voluntary body created in October 1999 to improve the performance of the international supply chain for consumer goods through the collaborative endorsement of recommended standards. GCI works to identify and address process barriers between continents. It is not a standards body, but a global user group. It works with more than 300 member companies to facilitate and recommend optimum, commercially viable voluntary best business process recommendations for implementation by the companies. EAN International and the UCC have made a major contribution to the GCI's effort to quickly standardize Internet trading in the consumer products industry with the first in a series of electronic commerce standards. (http://www.globalcommerceinitiative.org)