Commerce One establishes standards for B2B markets

HONGKONG - At the eLink 2000 Hong Kong conference today, Commerce One announced the release of Commerce One XML Common Business Library (xCBL) 3.0, its interoperability standard for the exchange of business documents. It also announced that Compaq, Microsoft, SAP and Sun Microsystems will leverage xCBL 3.0 as a key standard in the development and delivery of B2B solutions.

According to Commerce One, xCBL 3.0 provides XML document formats which allows buyers, suppliers and service providers to integrate their existing systems quickly and efficiently into e-marketplaces.

The component architecture will enable integration of trading partners and allow marketplaces to support diverse business services. Furthermore, xCBL 3.0 will be the underlying XML technology that will enable the interoperability of all the e-marketplaces within the Global Trading Web (GTW).

"Standards for XML documents provide the foundation for e-commerce and the cornerstone for e-marketplace transactions," said Kevin Schick, vice president of product marketing at Commerce One. "With support from the industry's leading B2B solution providers, we believe xCBL 3.0 will provide a broad technology platform for building dynamic e-marketplaces and enabling the move of global business commerce on to the Web."

Like earlier releases, xCBL 3.0 is available for free to other companies for use on an unrestricted basis. The full set of xCBL 3.0 documents and accompanying documentation will be available in mid-December at www.xCBL.org Web site. Commerce One is working with its partners, customers and industry standards organisations to place xCBL completely in the public domain and align with initiatives such as ebXML.

In addition to SAP, Microsoft and A2i, several catalogue technology and content vendors have announced their intent to use xCBL for catalogue content.