ebXML- Is it Viable for Web Transactions?

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Your boss has asked you to write a 5 page paper which integrates the materials from the above articles. Specifically he/she wants to know if ebXML is a viable and reasonable approach for electronic web transactions. Then he/she wants to know how to get started developing applications for ebXML. Where are the resources, what is required, where do people obtain the skills?
Provide a well reasoned and support paper to accomplish the above requirements.
Submit a combined paper with two sections, each for the respective sections above
Solution:

Section-1: Viability of ebXML

ebXML or "e-Business XML" is assuming growing importance by the day due a wide range of reasons. It is widely seen as the successor to Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). The viability of ebXML is often put to question, due the number of technologies that have been springing up of late. However, ebXML has been quite successful and is likely to dominate the electronic web transaction segments over the next five years.

In the last five years, the usage of ebXML infrastructure has expanded globally and has made a mark in the mainstream business. Since its inception, ebXML has created a new and compelling metaphor for conducting e-Business via the Internet. This segment of the industry was dominated by EDI; however, ebXML had distinctive advantages, as it offered vision and model for better e-Business using open standards which was created by combining the business knowledge gained from twenty years of EDI-based interactions and marketplace expertise of internet-based companies using XML. The ebXML model brought forward a change from processes that are highly labor intensive to configure and deploy manually in a paper based culture to a world where trading partners can discover each other and then begin to do business electronically by linking their systems together using ebXML and the Internet (Idealliance.org, 2004).

Another key factor that is likely to propel the growth of ebXML in the coming few years is the increasing usage of Linux Operating System and other UNIX based variants. This growth has been supported by giant emerging markets such as China and India. The LINUX communities, through organizations such as the Open Source Development Lab (OSDL), ...