XML, like client-server, is going to be a driving force going further.
So, too, are mainframes, which will always have a place where people are
doing tons of I/O (oops, the web in it's client-server greatness never
predicted the sheer volumes of I/O required to run an information-based
business). A2A, B2B, B2C, B2G, C2G, whatever cute acronym you come up
with - it's all about integrating disparate systems and letting them
exchange information. Not data, mind you, but information.
Unfortunately the people at the forefront of the e2e market (which
covers all that capital letter gobbledygook above) were marketeers, not
technologists or realists. They hyped bad business models that were
destined to fail no matter how much they were automated, nor how much
power and/or intellectual capital was placed behind them.
Sharing information means sharing the structure the data is encoded in.
EDI does that, through a rigorously structured data dictionary. XML can
do that, through structured 'dialects'. HTML can present it. However
you do it, noone is just going to open up their infrastructure to the
world and let anyone send them anything over port 80 to their hearts
content.
EDI is nothing more than EAI with enveloping and control structures
placed around it. EAI connects disparate systems together. EDI does
the same thing, with tighter rules and a control and enveloping
structure so you can send a bunch of stuff at the same time, vice
exchanging objects between application systems like EAI - oh, by the way
the systems happen to be in different organizations, sometimes. It
provides non-repudiation, acknowledgments, etc. - all of which are a
necessary part of communication between entities - whether they exist
within one set of corporate boundaries or not. XML, through ebXML,
RosettaNet, etc. can provide the same sort of construct...
Now, if EDI is doing fine for me, do I need XML? That's up to the
organization in question and every one is different. If I haven't
implemented jack, and I need to connect to my trading partners, is B2B
though a CommerceNet, Ariba, or some other open business interchange the
way to go?
Probably, unless you have a bunch of us X12 weenies...er...purists
running around.
It's all about allocation of scarce resources. Intellectual capital is
the scarcest one of all. At the end of the day, did your supplier get
your order? Whether you're implementing EDI, XML, cXML, java beans, or
tin cans and string - if you do it with no malice aforethought and
you're just spending money because some technology vendor happened to
have the brightest color ad that week in _The American Journal of
Exchanging Bits and Bytes_, you're probably up the proverbial creek
without a paddle. If you're implementing technology because there's a
valid business case, and you have demonstrated through a proof that you
can derive ROI - well, you're probably at least going to keep your job.
With the above, and $0.25, well, you can probably get a cup of coffee -
albeit not a cup of whatever Starbucks is selling these days (boy, was
Paulie Walnuts right - did they miss out on a racket or what?).
Of course, as always, have a nice day.
Anthony Beecher wrote:
>
>
>
> Sounds like a radical statement, but let me clarify:
>
> The dot com world has been gutted. Dot coms are dying left and right.
> Much of the investment money driving XML initiatives was living on the
> B2B hype which was younger brother to the B2C. Now B2C is dying and
> it would seem that B2B is going along with it.
>
> You also see XML initiatives failing, like that Dell hub that shut
> down the other day.
>
> None of our trading partners are interested in touching XML for
> another 2 to 3 years until the standards settle. Noone wants to
> invest in an XML product, because it may be useless next year.
>
> Is the truth finally being shaken out - That XML is not a "Magic
> Problem Solver" and that the real issue is and always was the
> differing capabilities of different backend systems?
>
> Anthony Beecher
> Manager of Vendor Systems
> buy.com
> work: 949-389-2246
> page: 877-649-8519
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
--
Rob McNeece
Principal Architect (Airmobile)
Entity-to-Entity (e2e) Integration Solutions
New Era of Networks
c-(703)622-3155 f-(703)847-8882
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
The above opinions are solely and totally my own, or those of the aliens
that kidnapped me last night and subjected me to several painful anal
probes.
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