Electronic business now has its own language: XML. For years the Internet
has provided connectivity. However, until now, it has been used primarily
for e-mail, file transfer and Web searching. Now, with XML, the Internet
opens itself to electronic business, and we are witnessing nothing less than
a big bang: the explosive growth of new ways of conducting business between
all kinds of organizations. The limiting factor for growth, it seems, is not
the technology, now the imagination and the capacity for change, are setting
the limits.
This development is no accident, though. XML was defined by the
independent World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) under the SGML standard to make
up for some of HTML's obvious shortfalls. Some people consider XML a better
version of HTLM with improved mark-up functionality for Web pages.
But that is not even half the story. XML brings two major breakthroughs
to the Internet.
First, XML is a powerful, yet flexible, means to organize the information
content –the knowledge, or "fuel "for advanced economies –and
to make it maintainable and efficiently searchable. Daily practice proves
how badly needed this is:
A search on the Web for the fastest chip on the market also yields, among
other things, a long list of references to "potato chips ".
HTML defines how text is displayed on the screen, but it is useless when
it comes to organizing and qualifying content. All this changes with XML:
Information can be structured, labeled with tags and qualified with
attributes. These provide meaning and validity to the text and information
on the Internet. The information can be organized, maintained, processed and
understood more easily.
With data formatted in XML, and a common industry vocabulary, a search
for the fastest chip can easily be put in context and deliver meaningful
results. The Internet is going this way, fast. Indeed, more mergers bringing
together Internet and content, like the ones between America Online and Time
Warner or Vodaphone and Vivendi, will come.
Second, XML is the language that will support all automated transactions
between and within all types of organizations: economic actors,
administrations and communities. Advanced societies made up of interacting
organizations will formalize and automate all routine transactions in the
form of XML messages, which will include rich, multimedia information.
The possibilities that XML is opening up for electronic business are
far-reaching. XML, being a meta-language, i.e. a language for defining
languages, will leverage ideas that haven ’t surfaced yet.
Two things are necessary, though, for businesses to realize the vast
potential of XML. First, applications and IT infrastructures must become XML-compatible.
Products are now being delivered to the market in volume. Second –and most
importantly – industry and business associations need to agree on binding
definitions of their XML vocabulary and messages. The same principle that is
applicable in object-oriented architecture, i.e. collaborative processing
with well-defined interfaces, applies here.
A lot of progress has already been made in this area. HL7 (Health Level
7), OMF (Weather Observation Markup Format) or CML (Chemical Markup Format)
are good examples of industry-specific vocabulary standards under the
umbrella of XML. They are specialized dictionaries for automated data
exchanges. These dictionaries can be deposited at public clearing points on
the Web, such as xml.org (OASIS) or BizTalk.org (Microsoft Corp.).
Wherever possible, businesses should use standard and binding interface
data models. This will unleash the true potential of XML-based collaborative
chains within industries.
