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XML and Web Services In The News - 17 January 2007
Provided by OASIS |
Edited by Robin Cover
This issue of XML Daily Newslink is sponsored by SAP AG
HEADLINES:
Abstract Syntax Notation X (ASN.X) and Related Specifications for Review
Staff, IESG Announcement
The Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) announced that it has
received a request to consider a collection of Internet Drafts as IETF
Proposed Standards. The IESG plans to make a decision in the next few
weeks, and solicits final comments on this action. [1] "Abstract Syntax
Notation X (ASN.X)" — Abstract Syntax Notation X (ASN.X) is a
semantically equivalent Extensible Markup Language (XML) representation
for Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) specifications. ASN.X completely
avoids the numerous ambiguities inherent in the ASN.1 language,
therefore specifications written in ASN.X are much easier to parse and
manage than original ASN.1 specifications. ASN.X, together with the
Robust XML Encoding Rules (RXER), constitutes a schema language for XML
documents that offers, through other ASN.1 encoding rules, alternative
compact binary encodings for XML instance documents." [2] "Abstract
Syntax Notation X (ASN.X) Representation of Encoding Instructions for
the XML Encoding Rules (XER)" specifies the ASN.X representation of
encoding instructions for the XML Encoding Rules (XER). [3] "Encoding
Instructions for the Robust XML Encoding Rules (RXER)" defines encoding
instructions that may be used in an Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1)
specification to alter how ASN.1 values are encoded by the Robust XML
Encoding Rules (RXER) and Canonical Robust XML Encoding Rules (CRXER),
for example, to encode a component of an ASN.1 value as an Extensible
Markup Language (XML) attribute rather than as a child element. Some of
these encoding instructions also affect how an ASN.1 specification is
translated into an Abstract Syntax Notation X (ASN.X) specification.
[4] "Abstract Syntax Notation X (ASN.X) Representation of Encoding
Instructions for the Generic String Encoding Rules (GSER)" specifies
the ASN.X representation of encoding instructions for the (GSER).
[5] "Robust XML Encoding Rules (RXER) for Abstract Syntax Notation One
(ASN.1)" defines a set of Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) encoding
rules, called the Robust XML Encoding Rules or RXER, that produce an
Extensible Markup Language (XML) representation for values of any
given ASN.1 data type.
See also: the ASN.X spec
BEA Plans to Show Off Runner and Graffiti
Peter Sayer, InfoWorld
New software from BEA Systems for tagging, presenting, and searching
enterprise data will be shown in Paris in March 2007. The company will
show off the three projects, known by their code names Builder,
Graffiti, and Runner, at the Documation show on March 7; products
based on the three projects will be made generally available for sale
worldwide in June 2007. Graffiti will allow business users to annotate
or tag information found on their intranet with descriptions of its
content, source or validity. The same tool will then allow them to find
information based on its tags, or on the value other users place on it.
Runner is designed to allow the rapid integration of nonportal
applications into a portal infrastructure, while Builder is a tool for
SOA systems such as BEA's Aqualogic platform, allowing users to tap
into SOA data sources with relatively little programming effort. Tags
are a feature of Web 2.0 social bookmarking sites, such as Flickr or
Deli.cio.us . While many commentators have focused on the technology
aspects of Web 2.0, such as use of AJAX, the key feature for BEA is
allowing user interaction. Although the products will be shown in March,
and will go on sale in June, the company has still not decided whether
they will be sold separately, or integrated into Aqualogic. In other
news, BEA is funding the creation of a new user club in France. The
club is aimed at BEA software users from developers up to chief
information officers.
Northern European Countries Target eProcurement Standard Based upon
OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL) 2.0
Staff, eGovernment News
A cooperation of Northern European Countries has agreed on a common
implementation of the eProcurement standard UBL 2.0. All European
countries are now invited to join the project at a workshop to be held
in Brussels on 15 February 2007. Public administrations of Denmark,
Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland have formed, with the contribution
of the United Kingdom, a cooperation in order to support domestic and
cross border electronic trade. The name of the collaboration is NES
(Northern European Subset) and its aim is to simplify the use of
eProcurement for buyers and suppliers, especially among SMEs. The
participating countries have identified the urgent need for an open
XML based standard covering the entire procurement process from
catalogue to invoice. Such a standard is a prerequisite to reaping the
benefits of a full electronic procurement cycle. The open international
eProcurement standard UBL 2.0 from OASIS is seen by NES as the standard
that can fulfill this at present. The NES countries have therefore
made a northern European implementation of UBL 2.0 in order to create
a common platform for eProcurement. Implementation guides, business
rules and processes show how the participating countries plan to apply
UBL. The NES countries see UBL as a stepping stone to a unified
eProcurement standard within UN/CEFACT, and are therefore actively
involved in the work of converging UBL with UN/CEFACT. UBL and the
UN/CEFACT Supply Chain Group (TBG1) began the Convergence Project in
July 2006 and have already converged on business requirements for seven
documents, including the cross industry invoice. The remaining documents
will be converged during 2007. NES also sees a unified European
eProcurement standard as an instrument for achieving the goals set in
the European Action plan i2010 and is therefore encouraging other
European countries to join the cooperation and make the implementation
available for use in all EU countries. Development of NES is
inspired by two years of active deployment in Denmark that legalized
use of UBL under the banner OIOXML.
See also: UBL references
Liberty Alliance Announces Interoperability of Identity Products
Staff, Liberty Announcement
Liberty Alliance, the global identity consortium working to build a
more trusted Internet for consumers, governments and businesses
worldwide, today announced that products from CA, Entr'ouvert, Ericsson,
HP, NTT, NTT Software and Symlabs have passed Liberty Alliance testing.
With today's testing results, nearly 80 identity products and solutions
from vendors around the world have now passed Liberty Alliance testing
for SAML 2.0, Liberty Federation and Liberty Web Services. Today's news
marks the first time Liberty Alliance has tested vendors for
interoperability of ID-WSF 2.0, the latest version of Liberty Web
Services specifications which was released as final in October 2006.
ID-WSF 2.0 includes Liberty People Service, the industry's first open
Web services framework that allows consumers and enterprise users in
any market segment to manage applications such as calendars, blogs,
e-mail, instant messaging and photo sharing in a secure, privacy-
respecting and trusted federated social network. Liberty Interoperable
products are deployed extensively by governments and businesses
worldwide. Organizations can trust that products that have passed
Liberty Alliance testing will deploy quickly and can immediately
interoperate with other Liberty-enabled technologies. During testing
held in France the week of December 4, 2006, the products and services
listed below demonstrated interoperability with one or more of the
following standards, Liberty Federation, which consists of ID-FF 1.1,
1.2 and SAML 2.0, and Liberty Web Services, which consists of ID-WSF
1.0, 1.1, 2.0 and Liberty People Service specifications.
See also: Liberty Alliance references
uXcomm Brings SOA Flexibility to Management Framework
Paula Musich, eWEEK
Systems management platform provider uXcomm has launched a new
architecture and products based on it that are designed to be to
management applications what SOA is to business applications. The new
SOMA (Service-Oriented Management Architecture) and follow-on uXcomm
XManage Server Edition and XManage Information Appliance Edition
products based on SOMA are aimed at reducing the time it takes
manufacturers to develop deep-dive management applications for their
products and at easing the integration headache for enterprises trying
to link together disparate point tools. SOMA is a SOA implementation
for systems management that bridges the gap between different
management applications by encapsulating them in XML and allowing them
to communicate as one application At the heart of the SOMA architecture
is an MSB (Management Service Bus) that provides device makers and
software developers with a common communications mechanism. The MSB
converts all applications and deploys them as run-time services based
on XML. Developers can use the XML-based services to create a full
set of management applications or agents that have a request-response
interface that allows the MSB to translate and execute management
actions between any two transactions. The modularity of the SOMA
architecture and the XManage products allow them to be deployed in
two ways: as a universal console for aggregated management, control
and provisioning for thousands of systems, or as agents deployed on
devices.
Announcing XFORUM: The XForms Community Forum
Kurt Cagle, XForms.org Announcement
XForms is definitely beginning to be taken seriously in a number of
places. The Mozilla XForms extension is becoming increasingly robust
and bodes well to become integrated with Mozilla as "core" technology
with the release of Mozilla 3.0. XForms solutions implemented in
JavaScript are proliferating as well, the two languages developing a
certain synergy that makes it possible to provide at least base-line
support in all modern web browsers. Meanwhile XForms is beginning to
make its way into consumer devices... When I started XForms.org, my
goal was to create a clearinghouse of information and help foster a
sense of community for XForms developers. This news portal is a first
part of it; we now have support to making this site become the premiere
XForms oriented news site on the web. As part of this, I wish to
announce 'XFORUM - the XForms Community Forum' — an open source, open
standards community forum site built using the superb Simple Machines
Forum software. My intention with XFORUM is to create a place where
the web developer, IT manager, software vendor, business manager, or
general technologist can ask questions, answer questions, promote open
source projects and commercial products, shoot the breeze, and
otherwise interact about XForms and related technologies. Membership
is free and carries no obligation.
See also: XForms.Org
Drupal's Milestone Week
Sean Michael Kerner, InternetNews.com
The Drupal project celebrates two major milestones this week: the
release of Drupal 5.0 and the sixth anniversary of the project. It's a
long way away from the project's humble beginning in founder Dries
Buytaert's dorm room. Drupal 5 introduces a long list of improvements
to the venerable open source CMS, including retooled administration
pages, a Web-based installer, more logging reports and performance
improvements. Buytaert: "With Drupal 5, we focused a lot on improving
the user experience," Buytaert explained. "For Drupal 6, I'd like to
focus on making Drupal easier to develop and theme for. In addition,
I'm really interested in working on Drupal's end-user programming
functionality (custom content types, query builder),
internationalization and performance." At this point however Buytaert
and his cohorts at the Drupal project will first need to see how
Drupal 5 gets deployed and used, which will help to shape the
requirements and the feature list for the next Drupal. Though Drupal
may well be displacing proprietary CMS solutions, competition with
either proprietary or open source CMSes is not the focus for Buytaert.
Since the open source CMS market is a young market, most projects are
growing rather than competing. In the open source world, CMS project
are colleagues and not competitors, in Buytaert's opinion. One thing
is for certain, though, Drupal has come along way from its humble
beginnings. For the Drupal 5 release there were over 492 contributors
submitting 1,173 patches.
See also: the web site description
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