Conmergence

Can Medical Banking Connect the Healthcare IT Dots for Politicians?

<ed.note>John Casillas testified today before the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) American Health Information Community concerning the medical banking vision of a unified view and unified platform to connect EHR|PHR, real-time adjudication, Healthcare Savings Accounts, High Deductible Health Plans, Consumer Driven Healthcare. AHIC decided at its November 29, 2005 meeting to form workgroups in the following areas: biosurveillance, consumer empowerment, chronic care, and electronic health records. Subsequently, at the May 16, 2006 Community meeting, two additional groups were formed: the Biosurveillance Data Steering Group as a sub-workgroup within the Biosurveillance Workgroup (renamed Population Health and Clinical Care Connections Workgroup), and the Confidentiality, Privacy & Security Workgroup, which was created as a cross-cutting workgroup responsible for an issue relevant to all the workgroups. More recent, at the August 1, 2006, meeting, the Community formed the Quality Workgroup to address the need for the development of quality measures; and at the October 31, 2006, meeting, the Personalized Healthcare Workgroup was formed to develop and make recommendations on standards for interoperable integration of genomic test information into personal e-health records.</ed.note>

A Roadmap for Interoperability of eHealth Systems

RIDE is a roadmap project for interoperability of eHealth systems leading to recommendations for actions and to preparatory actions at the European level. This roadmap will prepare the ground for future actions as envisioned in the action plan of the eHealth Communication COM 356 by coordinating various efforts on eHealth interoperability in member states and the associated states. Since it is not realistic to expect to have a single universally accepted clinical data model that will be adhered to all over the Europe and that the clinical practice, terminology systems and EHR systems are all a long way from such a complete harmonization; the RIDE project will address the interoperability of eHealth systems with special emphasis on semantic interoperability.

In order to create RIDE Roadmap, first the European best practices in providing semantic interoperability for eHealth domain will be assessed and the quantified requirements to create a valid roadmap will be identified. Based on these requirements, the goals, and the economical, legal, financial and technological challenges of the industry for the 21st century for achieving interoperability in eHealth solutions will be elaborated. RIDE will also focus on the limitations of the policies and strategies currently used in deploying interoperable eHealth solutions.

A research portal for sharing resources addressing semantic interoperability in eHealth domain will be created and maintained; the key actors and stakeholders will be coordinated around RIDE special interest groups to create a wide consensus at the European level. Through eight RIDE workshops a shared vision for building a Europe-wide semantically interoperable eHealth infrastructure will be created. After assessing the gaps between the 'as-is' situation and the 'to-be' eHealth vision, the emerging trends and opportunities to achieve the vision statement, the required advances in the state of the art research, technology and standards will be identified.

More here

Enable real-world trading partner collaborations in SOA

[ An introduction to the ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement standard ]

By Leo Fernandez, Ash Parikh, Varun Gupta, Javaworld.com

This article is part of a series of short articles that introduce readers to the industry's various Web services standards. These articles provide a quick introduction to these standards, their backgrounds, underlying architectures, benefits, status, and industry adoption. As some of the content may be a depiction of the authors' viewpoints, readers are encouraged to refer to the links provided in Resources to gain a deeper understanding of a particular standard. This article focuses on Web services-enabled trading-partner collaboration standards that influence a service-oriented architecture (SOA).

ebBP v2.0.3 packages has been approved as an OASIS Committee Specification

We are actively working within OASIS and with other interested user communities in Asia, United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands to gain the implementation certifications to advance to OASIS Standard and hopefully to ISO to complete the ISO-15000 series (mentioned in OASIS Symposium last week).  We'd welcome your support in this regard.

We've consolidated a wealth of information relevant to our user communities at our public web site at: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=ebxml-bp  v2.0.3 Packages and, if desired, individual schema files, see "Technical Work Produced by the Committee."

ebBP is also in the news:

1. ebBP was featured in the SOA Business Session at the OASIS Symposium, May 2006, see "Expository Work Produced by the Committee."< /li>
2. ebBP was featured at the OMG Think Tank on "Business Collaboration Using ebBP" (also posted at the location above). Thanks to our team member Sally St. Amand for providing interested users and BPM enthusiasts with more details on ebBP at this event.

Both presentations are available at the public web site provided. Also, check out web site:

• Frequently Asked Questions
• ebBP Overview
  • Process definitions for
    • CPPA negotiation
    • UBL or UBL Small Business Subset (SBS) v1.0 process definitions: Features modular definitions and use of new document reference function and also includes CPPA package
    • Dutch government criminal justice instances and use case document
    • Business signal examples
    • Knit wear Italian draft process definitions
  • Draft ebBP editor: User guide and update are to be released very soon.

Note, the UBL Small Business Subset v1.0 is now an OASIS Committee Specification and includes a set of ebBP v2.0.3 modular process definitions, called Universal Business Processes.

As we've said before (and will say again politely), our focus on user communities is paying off - one example being the interest in the UBL community - and we now have achieved Committee Specification. We're interested in those that are developing their own process definitions and can show their successful use of ebBP. We encourage you to check out our public web site and keep abreast of our progress made thus far.  For those using or interested in using ebBP, please contact Dale Moberg and myself (particularly if you are an OASIS member!). Best regards.

Respectfully,
    Dale Moberg, <dmoberg @ us.axway.com>
    Monica J. Martin, monica.martin @ sun.com
    and the ebBP team

Bird Flu XML [was: ebXML at the CDC has been a success story]

Integration languages make B2B communication more effective

April 7, 2005 By Johanna Ambrosio, SearchCIO.com

... Granted, it's early going, according to experts, and adopting these kinds of communications protocols is anything but a quick-and-dirty kind of project. It can take years for systems to be built and for customers and partners to be brought fully into the loop.

But that's not stopping the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. The federal watchdog organization over flu, hepatitis and other health threats has based the messaging portion of its new Public Health Information Network (PHIN) on ebXML. The protocol will act as the standard means for exchanging messages among all 50 states and the CDC. Other users -- including clinical facilities and medical laboratories around the country -- will be brought in as well, said Barry Rhodes, associate director for public health systems development.

At this point, PHIN has been implemented in about 15 state health departments, with the rest to be rolled out over the next three years, Rhodes said. PHIN, based on a bevy of computing and other standards, is about the secure and reliable exchange of information. It's envisioned to be a unifying framework built on top of existing standards whenever possible; for instance, Secure Sockets Layer and some Java technologies are included in the system as well.

For its part, ebXML is "the envelope into which we put messages," Rhodes explained. "Some are XML messages and some are not."

The CDC chose ebXML as the underlying message transport because it liked its approach. "The developers of ebXML looked at the business need of interactions between business partners, of how that could happen." Rhodes said. "We needed that business process modeling perspective that ebXML provides. [In comparison,] Web services tools take a bottoms-up approach -- that approach is more of a solution to a technical issue, of how to distribute functionality across servers and the Internet."

So far, ebXML at the CDC has been a "success story," because it has allowed much greater interoperability than what previously occurred among the states, Rhodes said. "Our ROI is about communication and getting more information to and from the CDC."

Rhodes was not able to share specific data, but he talked about one application -- in operation for years -- that gathers information about notifiable public health threats, including E. coli bacteria and the chickenpox.

"We look at the data and analyze it for things like latency and the amount of data received -- and we have compared those to what was happening pre-PHIN," Rhodes explained. "We've seen a demonstrable increase in the amount of data and a decrease in information latency."

The biggest threat to ebXML adoption, he said, is that it's early enough in the technology's lifecycle that it's not yet a sure bet that all the major computing vendors will support it. "It's one thing to put forth a standard," he said, "but if Microsoft and IBM choose not to implement it, that makes it very difficult. Predicting the future is a hard thing." ...

An OASIS White Paper: 'The ebBP' (ebXML Business Process Specification Schema)

By The OASIS Business Process TC (Dale Moberg and Monica J. Martin, co-chairs) For OASIS

Executive Summary

Business processes are key components to enable and drive collaborating partner relationships for electronic business (eBusiness). The ebXML Business Process Specification Schema (BPSS or ebBP) provides capabilities drive those eBusiness collaborative processes. As a part of the original eBusiness eXtensible Markup Language (XML) [ebXML] framework of specifications, the ebBP is targeted for monitoring of collaborative business processes among parties or business partners.

The ebBP (ebXML Business Process Specification Schema) defines a standard language to configure business systems for business collaboration execution between collaborating parties or business partners. It provides:

Standard and extensible business transaction patterns

Support for modular definitions to complex nested activities

Support for use of web service, hybrid and ebXML assets

Semantic tailoring for business processes and business documents

In the second quarter 2006, the OASIS ebBP v2.0.3 set of packages are moving towards OASIS standard. The changes and capabilities defined in the v2.0.x packages have substantially increased the business value-add for using standard process definitions. These definitions support tailoring of eBusiness processes and business documents to serve our user community.

The ebBP focuses on an integrated eBusiness adaptable approach in order to support heterogeneous environments, particularly Small- to Medium-Enterprises. As with other specifications and capabilities, ebBP can be leveraged other ebXML and/or emerging web services technologies.

It is the ‘community at large’ that has emboldened the development of ebBP and likely will drive its adoption.

So much promise, so much challenge

3/27/2006 By S. Michael Gallagher, washingtontechnology.com

SOAs link disparate systems, but still make federal agencies think

If ever a technology seemed tailored to the needs of government, it is service-oriented architecture. With the need for thousands of disparate systems to share information, particularly for homeland security, across organizational boundaries, SOA offers agencies an attractive shortcut to their data-sharing goals.

SOA lets organizations share their applications’ data and business logic with other applications, either in the same organization or across divisions, by publishing them as Web services. Because these services can use the same protocol used by Web applications, they also can be configured for use behind a firewall or across firewalls.

And because SOA uses a standard set of protocols, defined by organizations such as the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, and the Web Services Interoperability Organization, IT can be used to tie together the functionality and data from widely disparate applications. Agencies can use tools from several software companies to connect Web services to nearly any information system, including mainframe “green-screen” applications.

The Defense Department, through its Defense Information Systems Agency, has begun to move forward with a significant cross-service SOA, Net-Centric Enterprise Services. Market analysts at Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn., estimated that by 2008, 80 percent of all new software projects will be based on SOA.

Release of Webswell Connect 1.4.1 open-source ebXML integration platform

Webswell Inc. released a new version of Webswell Connect, the open-source ebXML integration platform. Webswell Connect 1.4.1 constitutes a comprehensive ebXML integration platform that supports http, https and email communication while keeping it safe and reliable implementing digital signatures, encryption, acknowledgments mechanism, duplication elimination etc. Webswell Connect 1.4.1 contains the most recent versions of its components: Webswell Broker (ebXML message broker) and Hermes 1 (ebXML message service handler). The whole platform is production quality and has been implemented in business cases where it has been proving its interoperability with other integration platforms on the market. Webswell Connect 1.4.1 is entirely open source software distributed under Academic Free License. Download here.

The Webswell Connect 1.4.1 contains:

• E-business registry and repository
• ebXML messaging system
• Application connector called Webswell Broker
• Demonstration and monitoring utilities
• Components and libraries needed for the platform function
• XML editor

About Webswell:
Webswell Inc. is a Sacramento, California based integration company specialized in building ebXML and Web Services integration solutions and providing related consultancy. Webswells mission is to help companies of any size to build business integration solutions and exploit benefits that such integration provides. All Webswell software is based on open, non-proprietary standards and is open-source licensed.

Contact:
Ladislav Urban
http://www.webswell.com

TigerLogic Plug-In for Sun Services Registry

Ash Parikh* wrote recently

...Just wanted to inform you that the press release on the Plug-In is now live and the respective download page on our website is in place, fully tested and ready for download requests.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060302/lath057.html?.v=47

http://www.rainingdata.com/

http://www.rainingdata.com/products/TLSunPlugin/index.html

http://www.rainingdata.com/products/TLSunPlugin/signup/index.html

Cheers!

*Director of Development and Technology, EAG
Raining Data Corporation (NASDAQ: RDTA)
"Technology for Innovative Solutions"
www.rainingdata.com
+1 (510) 673-2922 - Office
+1 (510) 372-0432 - eFax
ash@rainingdata.com - Email

Co-Chair: SDForum Web services SIG
Founding Member: OASIS SOA Blueprints TC
Co-Chair: W2COG Technical Advisory and Oversight Committee
Member: OASIS, JCP, W3C, EPCGlobal, Supply-Chain Council, BPM Institute
Founder and President: World Wide Institute of Software Architects
Product Advisory Board Member: Iopsis Software, WindSpirng

TradeXchange to serve 8,000 users by 2007

Kenneth Liew, ComputerWorld Singapore

A new trade and logistics platform, TradeXchange, is expected to go live in October 2007 and will support an estimated 8,000 users from the Singapore trading community.

In a speech at a Singapore Customs event last month, Lim Hwee Hua, Minister of State for Finance and Transport, said TradeXchange will be a neutral and secure platform that will enable exchange of information between shippers, freight forwarders, carriers and government agencies, to facilitate the flow of goods within, through and out of Singapore. This trade infrastructure will be able to provide seamless inter-connectivity among commercial and regulatory systems for our trade and logistics businesses.

...A 10-year contract to develop and operate TradeXchange has been awarded to CrimsonLogic. Valued at $6.5 million, the platform is expected to generate about $200 million for CrimsonLogic over the 10-year period through subscriptions.

...TradeXchange will be developed on the Java platform and based on a service-oriented architecture. It will also be aligned with global best practices and technical standards including W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), UN/Cefact (United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business), Oasis (Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards), ebXML and RosettaNet.

ebBP Editor wiki

This document provides brief information about the ebBP Editor, and a User Guide for end-users presenting the usage and capabilities of the ebBP Editor. Please note that, this document DOES NOT provide a background on ebBP. Moreover, the ebBP Editor is based on the ebBP v2.0.1 specification, but is not dependent on this specification. That is, it can be easily adapted to future specification versions.

The ebBP Editor is a tool designed to help the user in creating generic as well as domain specific Business Process Specifications based on ebBP Version 2.0 by using semantic mechanisms. The editor lets the user to create Process Specifications from scratch or use the existing ones.

CEN/ISSS Workshop eBES organizes three ebXML Market Survey Events

With the support of the European Commission DG Enterprise and Industry, the CEN/ISSS Workshop eBES organizes three ebXML Market Survey Events.

These events will take place respectively in:

• Madrid on 31 January 2006
• Lisbon on 1 February 2006
• Oslo on 8 February 2006

If you are interested do not hesitate to contact the organizers or the eBES Secretariat

7 Software Applications Certified by Drummond Group for Global ebXML Interoperability

Interoperable ebMS Systems Mark Launch of Drummond Certified™ Program

AUSTIN, TX—Jan. 25, 2006—Drummond Group Inc. (DGI), the leading interoperability e-commerce certification company, today announced that seven software products from seven leading companies successfully completed the Drummond Certified™ program’s ebMS (ebXML Message Service)-4Q05 interoperability testing. This test round formally launched DGI’s Drummond Certified program designed for industries to drive adoption of technical standards and certify a stable foundation of software products to support their supply chains. Starting in 2006, all ebMS, AS1, AS2, AS3 and CSOS tests will be conducted under the Drummond Certified program.

ebMS is the messaging layer of the ebXML framework. The adoption of interoperable ebMS systems is critical to the growth of today’s marketplace to ensure that different information systems within numerous industries are able to exchange information efficiently and effectively.

Companies demonstrating interoperability among their products in the ebMS-4Q05 test round included Axway Software, Cleo Communications, Cyclone Commerce, Inc., Inovis USA, Inc., Oracle Corporation, Oxlo Systems, Inc., and Sterling Commerce. The software products from these solution providers deliver a cross-industry selection of tested standards- based, interoperable ebMS solutions to worldwide industries, including automotive, financial services, government, health care, public health and retail.

“For effective and timely responses between trading partners around the world, it is essential to choose tested and certified interoperable ebMS products,” said Rik Drummond, DGI’s chief executive officer. “Reliance on secure business data messaging techniques that are interoperable with various product versions and platforms will continue to advance to serve the needs of ever-changing industries throughout the world. These Drummond Certified solutions are ready to simplify and streamline the integration process between organizations and their customers at all levels.”

Interoperability and conformance testing of B2B and electronic commerce products are DGI’s core competency. DGI is structured to support an organization’s testing effort in an efficient, professional, cost-effective manner. By providing conformance and interoperability testing services, as well as certification and test development of software applications, DGI facilitates these professional, vendor-neutral services under its own newly- launched Drummond Certified program and various association-branded certification programs throughout several industries.

For specific ebMS-4Q05 test results, final report and registration information for 2006 test rounds, please visit: http://www.drummondgroup.com/html-v2/ebXML-companies.html.

The list below reflects products that passed the ebMS-4Q05 Drummond Certified™ interoperability test.

Company Product, Version
Axway Software ebMS Connector v2.1
Cleo Communications VersaLex™ v3.0 tested in VLTrader™ v3.0
Cyclone Commerce Cyclone Interchange/Activator/Central v5.3
Inovis USA Inc. BizManager 3.0
Oracle Corporation Oracle Application Server 10g (10.1.2)
Oxlo Systems Inc. AutoTPX ebMS MSH, v1.31
Sterling Commerce Gentran Integration Suite/Sterling Integrator v4.1

Webswell starts ebXML certification process with KorBIT consortium

Jan 13th, 13:27 UTC , LinuxPR

Webswell Connect interoperability and ebXML standards conformance certification process launched

January 2006 - Sacramento, CA - Webswell Inc. has started the certification process of its Connect integration suite with KorBIT certification authority. During the certification process, Webswell Connect components will be tested for conformance with ebXML messaging standards (ebMS) and for interoperability with other state-of-the-art platforms.

• Conformance tests cover topics like Message Packaging, Core Extension Elements, Error Handling, Sync Reply, Reliable Messaging, Message Ordering and Security
• Interoperability tests focus on on-line communication between pairs of systems while various functions are monitored and evaluated, for example: Basic asynchronous or synchronous exchange with zero and more payloads, Acknowledgments processing, Error states processing etc.

Webswell expects from certification greater software quality and standards compliance guarantee that will significantly reduce efforts and costs of building B2B integration platforms.

Apart from certification process, Webswell and KorBIT agreed on closer cooperation. Webswell will build KorBIT adapter into future releases of Webswell Broker to provide prospective integration solutions developers with ability to test installed solutions for standards conformance and for interoperability quickly and easily. KorBIT will use Webswell Broker for more efficient usage of KorBIT testbed.

Webswell Broker release with built-in KorBIT adapter is planned for Spring 2006.

About KorBIT: Created in December 2002 in Korea, KorBIT is an open consortium formed to help enterprises to promote their interoperability in conducting businesses over the Internet. The KorBIT's mission is to demonstrate, validate, and assure interoperability among enterprises, by:

• Validating the conformance and interoperability of messaging, security, documents, and processes among enterprises;
• Validating the B2B, A2A, and supply chain solutions being used;
• Developing architectures, methodologies, and guidelines for automated testing and validation;

About Webswell: Webswell Inc. is a Sacramento, California based integration company specialized in building ebXML and Web Services integration solutions and providing related consultancy. Webswell's mission is to help companies of any size to build business integration solutions and exploit benefits that such integration provides. All Webswell software is based on open, non-proprietary standards and is open-source licensed.

enerbility Integrated CECID's Hermes for European Energy Trading

The Center for E-Commerce Infrastructure Development (CECID) of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and enerbility software gmbh of Vienna, Austria, are pleased to announce that the open source ebXML message service handler, Hermes, has been integrated in the electronic confirmation matching system enerbility 2.0.

enerbility 2.0 is the second generation of an ECM-system developed for the over-the-counter trading in the European energy industry. It is in use at major energy trading companies in Europe like E.ON, ATEL, Statkraft and APT.

enerbility focuses on the integration of best-of-breed third-party components into and around its transactional XML exchange and processing technology. To comply with the industry demand for ebXML, enerbility went for Hermes. In the selection process almost all available ebXML products have been evaluated and a selected subset has been tested.

Martin Schimak, the engineer evaluating the products, states: "In our evaluation process, we've considered all relevant aspects to find the best product concerning cost-performance ratio. We chose Hermes and are very satisfied with its stability and performance."

Hannes Stiebitzhofer, CEO of enerbility software gmbh, adds: "The reliability of Hermes - besides its ebXML MS 2.0 compliance as tested by ebXML Asia Committee - is a perfect complement to enerbility, running without any incidents for months."

CECID is happy about Hermes' first production use in the European energy trading market. "This is very encouraging to all of us. enerbility has demonstrated the use of Hermes in a 'raw material' supply chain. Without the support of our funding agency, the Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong, we couldn't have developed Hermes. On the other hand, today's Hermes is also the result of contribution by developers in the open-source community around the world. I'm very pleased to see Hermes being chosen as the messaging gateway to facilitate the energy sector," says Dr. David Cheung, Director of CECID.

Thomas Lee, CTO of CECID, also responds positively to enerbility's decision. "enerbility is an innovative and fast-moving company. We are proud that Hermes, an open-source project that has been downloaded by 80+ economies, is able to meet enerbility's stringent requirements for performance and scalability in terms of handling a large number of messages reliably and securely."

freebXML ebXML Business Process descriptions editor and Collaborative Partner Profile and Agreement editor

Dr. Asuman Dogac of Middle East Technical University, Software Research and Development, Center at Ankara Turkey [ http://www.srdc.metu.edu.tr/ ] announces the availability of the new freebXML BP Open Source project at Source Forge.

The project provides a royalty free ebXML Business Process descriptions editor as well as a Collaborative Partner Profile and Agreement editor developed by the METU-SRDC Team as a part of the IST 2103 Artemis project sponsored by the European Commission DG Information Society and Media, eHealth Unit.

The project is committed to Sourceforge: [ http://sourceforge.net/projects/freebxmlbp ] The latest user guide is available under "doc" directory of the "distribution". The developer mailing list is: [ freebxmlbp-developer@lists.sourceforge.net ] User mailing list is: [ freebxmlbp-user@lists.sourceforge.net ]

Healthcare Standards: Too Many, Too Few, Not interoperable [Updated Update]

Global standard for avian vaccines needed - expert

Dec 8, 2005 By Patricia Reaney

LONDON (Reuters) - International standards should be set for avian vaccines to combat the spread of the deadly H5N1 bird flu in chickens, a leading virologist said on Thursday.

Unlike influenza vaccines for humans which must contain a minimum amount of antigen to stimulate an immune response, no figure had been stipulated for avian vaccines, said Dr Robert Webster of St Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

"We should at least establish a minimal level," he told a briefing during a meeting on emerging diseases in London.

"There are no international standards. There should be."

ebXML registry suited for SOA complexities, say proponents

Sept. 05,  2005 By Colleen Frye, SearchWebServices.com
 
As deployments of service-oriented architectures grow more complex, the need for federated information management and governance is emerging -- areas for which an ebXML registry is particularly well suited, according to proponents. As such, the OASIS ebXML Registry Technical Committee is hitting the virtual road this month with webinars aimed at educating attendees on the features and capabilities of the ebXML Registry v3.0, which OASIS approved as a standard in May.

Use of an ebXML registry is also "an obvious next step for people looking to migrate from EDI [electronic data interchange]," said Carl Mattocks, consultant and project leader, asset inventory process improvement for Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. in Bridgewater, N.J., and a member of the technical committee (TC). Among vertical industries, Mattocks said e-government and health care are early implementers and, he predicted, "are obvious places where you'll see growth."
    
Vertical industry groups that have implementations of ebXML Registry include the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) initiative, the Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). "NIST has created a registry to help people register artifacts across the Web," Mattocks said.

ebXML Registry v3.0 Webinars - Thursday, 15 Sept 2005

Discover the advantages of the new ebXML Registry v3.0 OASIS Standard from the people who developed it. The OASIS ebXML Registry Technical Committee invites you to attend an open webinar to learn more about how ebXML Registry enables secure, federated information management within and across enterprises.

ebXML Registry provides the functionality you need to manage electronic artifacts for SOA including WSDL, XML Schema, BPEL, e-business and other process descriptions, ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profiles and Core Components, as well as application-specific artifacts. The OASIS Standard promotes service discovery and interoperability, while enabling secure, efficient sharing, reuse, and version control of artifacts. ebXML Registry can also be implemented for event or information asset registry and repository. In fact, any requirement you have for describing and registering items of interest to an organization can be accomplished with ebXML Registry.

ebXML Registry is particularly suited to support application- and domain-specific use cases. The fully ratified OASIS Standard has been adopted and deployed in vertical industries including government, health care, geospatial, telecommunications, banking, and finance.

http://www.oasis-open.org/events/webinars/webinars.php

The Costs of a National Health Information Network

2 August 2005 | Volume 143 Issue 3 | Pages 165-173 Annals of Internal Medicine

Rainu Kaushal, MD, MPH; David Blumenthal, MD, MPP; Eric G. Poon, MD, MPH; Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH; Calvin Franz, PhD; Blackford Middleton, MD, MPH, MSc; John Glaser, PhD; Gilad Kuperman, MD, PhD; Melissa Christino, AB; Rushika Fernandopulle, MD, MPP; Joseph P. Newhouse, PhD; David W. Bates, MD, MSc, and the Cost of National Health Information Network Working Group

Background: The use of information technology may result in a safer and more efficient health care system. However, consensus does not exist about the structure or costs of a national health information network (NHIN).

Objectives: To describe the potential structure and estimate the costs of an NHIN.

Design: Cost estimates of an NHIN model developed by an expert panel.

Setting: U.S. health care system.

Measurements: An expert panel estimated the existing and the expected prevalence in 5 years of critical information technology functionalities. They then developed a model of an achievable NHIN by defining key providers, functionalities, and interoperability functions. By using these data and published cost estimates, the authors determined the cost of achieving this model NHIN in 5 years given the current state of information technology infrastructure.

Results: To achieve an NHIN would cost $156 billion in capital investment over 5 years and $48 billion in annual operating costs. Approximately two thirds of the capital costs would be required for acquiring functionalities and one third for interoperability. Ongoing costs would be more evenly divided between functionality and interoperability. If the current trajectory continues, the health care system will spend $24 billion on functionalities over the next 5 years or about one quarter of the cost for functionalities of a model NHIN.

Limitations: Because of a lack of primary data, the authors relied on expert estimates.

Conclusions: While an NHIN will be expensive, $156 billion is equivalent to 2% of annual health care spending for 5 years. Assessments such as this one may assist policymakers in determining the level of investment that the United States should make in an NHIN.

Supply Chain Event Management Revisited

July 1, 2005 By Ajay Ramachandran and Ash Parikh, BIJ

... RFID technology, by itself, has minimal value. The real value comes from being able to manage, query and analyze the information, link it to data and ultimately incorporate it into real-time processes.

XML is a standard data format endorsed by software industry leaders. Web Services refers to an integration style based on the use of structured XML document exchange between servers. Several critical factors make Web Services an ideal medium for communicating information about the SC:

• Data across the SC is embedded in a variety of formats, including Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMSes). A neutral format is needed to integrate these information silos. XML Web Services provides a standard way to integrate multiparty SCs.
• XML documents can consist of nested elements distributed over multiple remote servers. XML is currently the most sophisticated format for distributed data. Similarly, when XML Web Services are used for integrating the SC, dramatically different locations, data systems, formats and partners all appear as one system. Web Services can solve the problem of visibility and lower the cost of integration.
• The hierarchical (tree) structure of XML documents lets you efficiently filter, compare, and aggregate documents element by element. XML provides a layered model for filtering RFID data. As messages move to high er layers of the model, message traffic naturally decreases, providing a natural way of filtering the signal from the noise, while the contextual richness of the message increases, providing a natural way to add context to complex events.

RFID and Web Services alone don’t entirely solve SCEM problems. Once installed, RFID systems begin to create huge data volumes and XML Web Services-based integration begins to expand the type and scope of events available. A method is needed for extracting meaningful, actionable information in real-time.

XQuery is a vendor-independent, powerful, easy-to-use, XML-native mechanism for querying large volumes of distributed data. It’s built on top of XPath, a sequence-based language for addressing parts of an XML Web Services document. XPath models an XML document as a tree of nodes. This tree-like structure lets XQuery query against nested or hierarchical document formats. ...

Are Open Source Integration Solutions Mature?

by Henry Peyret and Michael Goulde with Andrew Parker, Forrester®, CIO.com

Companies have begun to use open source integration solutions in their critical projects. When compared with commercial integration solutions, the feature coverage of these open source tools remains poor. This is not surprising: Established standards are important as a platform for open source development, but standards bodies have yet to establish many standards in this area — particularly for the most advanced features. Despite this, open source integration solutions represent a viable alternative to commercial integration products for “follower” enterprises. To move forward, Forrester believes that large organizations — particularly government and large enterprises — will increasingly need to invest and participate in open source committees to drive requirements and interoperability standards and fund the development of more capable and coherent open source integration solutions.

Registering Updates to UDDI Registry Products

July 15, 2005 By Yvonne L. Lee, Software Development Times

You can’t tell the players without a program.

UDDI registries help programmers and SOA designers in much the same way that programs help fans at a sporting event. They tell developers and applications who owns a service, where the programmatic information is for the service, and what the rules are for who may access the service. Sun Microsystems and Systinet last month announced versions of their UDDI registries, while SOA Software updated a management tool based on its registry.

“You use the [UDDI] registry to describe the metadata, as well as a link to the WSDL,” said Luc Clement, senior program manager at Systinet and technical committee chair for OASIS’ UDDI specification technical committee. He said the registry also is used to store links to various resources important in a service-oriented architecture.

Sun’s Service Registry adheres to both UDDI 3.0 and ebXML, a suite of OASIS specifications that enables organizations to conduct business over the Internet. Sun’s registry incorporates standards for business processes, core data components, collaboration protocols, messaging, and registries and repositories.

[ebXML, UDDI] Registries mature for SOA management

July 13, 2005 By Colleen Frye, News Writer, SearchWebServices.com

There's a strong need for data and meta data to be presented together and integrated. Miko Matsumura, Vice President of Marketing, Infravio

As service-oriented architecture (SOA) management players build out their offerings, registry, security and contracts between requestors and providers will be key differentiators, according to Steve Garone, vice president for applications and integration infrastructure software at Ideas International, in Port Chester, N.Y.

For Web services, registries and Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI), a Web-based distributed directory standard, were considered enabling technologies -- but optional, Garone said. "As people begin to move toward the new architecture, the registry will become more important to implement an SOA and manage it in a secure way."

The notion of SOA and the virtualization of IT resources add an extra dimension to the service discovery process, he said. "You can say the Web service is called this, this is how it's accessed and what server it runs on. But what happens in real time when you're deploying [that service] on different platforms? A registry has to keep track of that, so it becomes even more important."

Korea's e-Business Solution Testbed To Be Adopted As International [ebXML] Standard

July 13, 2005 By Kim Joon-bae, Korea IT News

e-Business solution testbed developed in Korea is expected to be adopted as international standard next month.

According to government and academia sources, the Korea Agency for Technology and Standards (ATS) and KorBIT, a consortium led by Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), are set to seal accords with the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) next month, respectively, to use ebXML solution testbed as international standard for certification.

The ATS will exchange a comprehensive memorandum of understanding with the OASIS, while KorBIT will sign an agreement with the international organization. Being a non-profit international standardization organization headquartered in the United States, the OASIS is developing ebXML in cooperation with the UN/CEFACT.

The ATS has been developing the e-business solution testbed in conjunction with the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since July 2003. In this project, the ATS is developing e-commerce message and registration depository, while the NIST is working on the development of electronic documents and business processes.

"As ebXML solution is widely spreading around the world, interoperability of the solution among enterprises is emerging as an important issue. The solution testbed being developed in Korea is about to be adopted as an international standard," said Pak In-su, manager at the ATS.

"C.O.M.B.A.T." Aims At Reducing Healthcare Costs

Effort Will Help Banks And Healthcare Support National Healthcare Information Infrastructure

The Medical Banking Project will officially launch an open source project targeting the cross-industry transaction needs of banking and healthcare constituencies at its 2005 Medical Banking Leadership Forum, hosted in Nashville, TN., at the Vanderbilt Center for Better Health. Dubbed C.O.M.B.A.T. for "Cooperative Open-source Medical Banking Architecture and Technology", the mission of the new membership-driven pilot program is "to combat the rising costs of healthcare using medical banking principles and technology."

"We wanted to implement an open source medical banking project since 1991," said John Casillas, founder of the Medical Banking Project. "The idea is that this type of project will provide real-world case studies that inform policy, commerce and academia."

Discussions with open source advocates materialized into an ad-hoc focus group that matured over the past 9 months. A proposed industry architecture presented at the Medical Banking Institute last February by John Hardin, CIO of MedAccessPlus Health Information Network in Manchester, KY and the former chief architect of e-business for General Motors, drew heavy interest by members of MBProject, which includes banks, healthcare providers, health plans, policy groups, IT/consulting firms, large employers and others.

MBProject workgroups will organize around the new initiative and provide issues resolution as the project gets underway. Leaders of the workgroups form a Steering Committee to oversee the program. An advisory board, comprised of liaisons to industry standards groups, and a Secretariat fill out the governance structure.

"Our first objective is to tie together established open source components that support real time administrative and clinical messaging for healthcare," comments Casillas. "Our targeted pilots – focused on community safety net interactions – will demonstrate how banks can engage the digital transformation in healthcare."

Members of the Medical Banking Project are rallying around the new initiative. For instance, a new HSA Workgroup at MBProject headed by Dave Harris, partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Healthcare Revenue Cycle Practice (also a featured MBProject columnist under the "Dr. HSA" label), will identify business level requirements for implementing real time financial processes in healthcare, and feed those requirements to the C.O.M.B.A.T. programming subcommittee. ACS’ BP Fulmer, a new member of MBProject who heads the commercial EDI division of the national Medicaid processor, said that "banks are seeking more education in this dynamic area and the C.O.M.B.A.T. initiative will provide practical guidance."

Tom Dean, CEO of Critical Technologies, Inc., winner of the Project’s "2005 Person of the Year Award" also expressed support. "Clearly banks have a unique position in that they reach over 55 million online banking consumers and nearly all healthcare organizations via bank accounts." Dean heads the Charity Workgroup at MBProject and is focusing efforts on the first pilots of the C.O.M.B.A.T. architecture, which will bridge community safety net interactions with traditional healthcare settings. The pilots are slated within the states of Tennessee, Delaware and Kentucky.

Casillas says that leveraging existing bank systems that have been rigorously tested against HIPAA requirements, a key early focus of MBProject, will reduce initial and ongoing costs for adopting a national healthcare information infrastructure. He adds that "large employer groups recognize this and that is why they are starting to turn towards MBProject."

For more information on the C.O.M.B.A.T. Initiative, please visit: http://www.mbproject.org/combat-homepage.php

Registry + Repository = SOA Platform

June 6, 2005 By John K. Waters, ADTMag.com

There's a deafening buzz in service-oriented architecture around repositories, which appear to be emerging as a core component of SOA. What is actually emerging, says Miko Matsumura, is an integrated registry-repository model, which could serve as the core technology of what amounts to an SOA platform.

“Up to now, SOA has mostly been about point-to-point Web services integration,” Matsumura tells SOATrends. “If you’re connecting one point to another point, there’s no need for any kind of platform. It’s really just a cat’s-cradle kind of series of connections between everything and everything else. But people are starting to get interested in connecting things in a way that creates direction, coherence or intention.”

Matsumura is the former vice president of product marketing at Systinet, co-creator of The Middleware Company's SOA Blueprints (the first complete, vendor-neutral specification of an SOA application set), and the original Java evangelist at Sun Microsystems.

He recently signed on as VP of marketing at Infravio, a provider of SOA Web services management products, where he is expected to advance his Intentional SOA methodology.

Intentional SOA is about ensuring the business value of SOA, using best practices and principles, Matsumura explains. It raises key questions to help SOA builders stay on course during design and implementation. Intentional SOA moves beyond ad hoc Web services enablement, mandating a strategic, enterprise-wide view that directly addresses the gamut of business, technology, security and governance concerns posed by SOA.

Matsumura says the roles of registry and repository are sometimes confusing. That confusion, he says, is understandable.

Hermes Selected Best Infrastructure Building and Communication Application by Linux Business Award 2005

Hong Kong SAR, Peoples Republic of China – July 7, 2005 – Center for E-Commerce Infrastructure Development (CECID), University of Hong Kong (HKU) is pleased to announce that our open source ebXML business-to-business (B2B) Messaging Server, Hermes, has won the Grand Award in Infrastructure Building and Communication Application of Hong Kong Linux Business Award 2005 http://www.hitechweekly.com/linuxaward2005.htm. Companies and products competed under Business Adoption Award and Product Development Award in sub-categories of Enterprise Business Application; Infrastructure Building and Communication Application; Industry Based Application and Linux Appliance resulting in four Grand Award and 10 Merit Award winners.

Organized by the HKSAR Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, Hong Kong Productivity Council and Hong Kong Linux Industry Association, Linux Business Award aims to educate and motivate enterprises in deploying IT application on Linux platform. Five entries were shortlisted to the final stage of Product Development Award’s Infrastructure Building and Communication Application category. Based on innovativeness and technology, deployment scale and scope, quality, cost effectiveness and benefits to society, Hermes came up with the top score to win the Grand Award. Two Merit Awards were also granted in this category.

Hermes Business-to-Business (B2B) Messaging Server is an open-source Message Service Handler embracing an e-commerce open standard (OASIS ebXML Messaging Service v.2.0). This award-winning product provides a standardized, reliable and secure infrastructure for enterprises to exchange business data on the Internet. Developers from 80+ economies have already downloaded Hermes’ source code since its release three years ago, and Hermes has many successful deployments. Some local users of Hermes include MTR, OOCL, Sony, HMV, bigboXX.com and HKSAR Government. Besides certified for ebXML and AS2 interoperability, Hermes has won Certificates of Merit (Product Category) at the 6th HK Computer Society IT Excellence Awards and Asia Pacific ICT Award 2004 (R&D Category). Hermes is available free from http://www.freebxml.org.

The Enterprise: Business Process Management Languages Part 4: BPMN

July 2005 Issue By Clive Finkelstein DM Review Magazine
 
In previous months, I discussed the concepts of service-oriented architecture (SOA). I covered three main business process management languages: BPEL (Business Process Execution Language), Business Process Modeling Language (BPML) and also Business Process Specification Schema (BPSS) for ebXML. These business process management languages can be used to generate executable XML-based code directly from workflow diagrams or process models. This month I will discuss Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) - a process modeling diagramming standard.

Sun previews tool for SOA management

30 June 2005 - By Warwick Ashford, ITWeb

The increasing number of South African companies employing services-oriented architecture (SOA), Web services and electronic business extensible markup language (ebXML) can take advantage of early access to the new Web service registry from Sun Microsystems.

“The Sun Service Registry (SSR) is included in the Web Services Developer Pack (WSDP) v1.6, which is available for download from the Sun Java Web site,” says Tony Willis, engagement architect at Sun Microsystems SA.

Willis says any company committing to SOA and Web services projects, will sooner or later need a governance and management tool to keep track of services and manage associated metadata.

“The SSR exceeds the basic functionality of existing Web services registries to provide in-depth management and governance of services, enabling users to publish, manage, govern, discover and reuse services within a broad range of applications,” he explains.

Brailer: I.T. a Question of Economics

June 28, 2005 Health Data Management

“Adopting health care information technology is not a technical feat; it’s a feat of economics.” That was the heart of David J. Brailer, M.D.’s message in his presentation at the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute on June 28 in Las Vegas.

Brailer, national coordinator for health information technology in the Department of Health and Human Services, acknowledged that a better case needs to be made for the financial benefits of I.T., particularly electronic medical records. Today, electronic records use is in the “early adopter phase” where “the costs are quite high and the risks are great,” he said.

Creating a uniform definition of what constitutes a valid electronic health record will remove some of the risk involved in buying the technology, he contended. Brailer also touted certification of I.T. software to enable providers to more easily compare products. He further called for the industry to “harmonize” the ongoing multiple standards-setting initiatives, which could lead to more affordable records systems.

New JBI standard could change Java

29 Jun 2005 By Nitin Bharti, News Editor | SearchWebServices.com

JBI acts like a container of containers, allowing various service engines and binding components to plug in and communicate using a common messaging bus. Business Process Execution Language services, Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations translators and J2EE-based Web services are pluggable are examples of service engines. Binding components, on the other hand, act as translators between the JBI environment and different protocols such as SOAP, Applicability Statement 2 (AS2), Electronic Business XML (ebXML) and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

The power behind the SOA repository

By Ash Parikh, Robert Smik, and Premal Parikh, JavaWorld

The nature of SOA data requires a native XML data management server

This article is written for readers looking at and considering efficient, flexible, and standards-based approaches to implementing real-world service-oriented architectures, or SOAs. With the proliferation of Web services and, hence, SOAs as viable approaches to developing and enhancing software architectures, it is imperative to acknowledge that the amount of SOA data will also continue to grow. Furthermore, as the Web services standards stack broadens in functionality, the number of SOA artifacts required to support these new standards grows by the day. We must recognize the obvious need to store, manage, query, manipulate, and transform SOA data. Also, requesting applications frequently access SOA data. A case can thus be made for a mid-tier cache that exposes technology-independent, reusable, and functionality-rich services, hence, improving SOA scalability and performance. Additionally, as enterprises engage in collaborations with trading partners, interaction with complex schemas becomes a challenge. Thus, more than just a simple XML persistence mechanism is needed. A native XML data management server lends itself seamlessly to such complex demands for SOA data management. (3,000 words; June 27, 2005)

Vordel debuts latest version of hardened XML security appliance - with on-board acceleration developed in association with Dajeil

June 21, 2005 – webitpr.com

Best-of-breed combination of XML processing and security acceleration addresses the enterprise requirements for XML security appliance 

Vordel, the XML Web Services security company today announced the release of VS3000, the latest version of its hardened XML security gateway appliance. Developed in conjunction with hardware security acceleration experts Dajeil, the Vordel VS3000 XML Security Gateway is a wire-speed in-line device which filters XML traffic on the network.

Through a combination of standards-based access control and comprehensive XML attack prevention, the VS3000 allows an organization to control who accesses its XML applications, as well as controlling what data they send to it. The device functions as an XML-level router, augmenting existing network infrastructure.

The VS3000 is unique in its capability to provide protection for all classes of XML applications: SOAP-based Web Services, “plain XML” applications and “REST style” applications invoked using only HTTP. The device supports all XML dialects, including ACORD, FIXML, and ebXML.

ebXML Registry News from SUN [Update]

This week saw the announcement of a new ebXML Registry product by Sun. Related stories appeared in|on cbr, i-newswire, internetnews, techworld, and yahoo. One more at javaworld.

HHS sees incorporating health care standards into Federal Information Processing Standards

Jun. 7, 2005 BY Bob Brewin

The National Institute for Standards and Technology will work to add electronic health standards to a new series of Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). NIST officials will also incorporate certified electronic health record (EHR) systems developed under contract proposals released today by the Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the statements of work in the requests for proposals, NIST will consider whether a contractor’s list of standards is ready for governmentwide use. The RFP for certification of EHR systems and software contained similar language. It added that the next version of FIPS will be based on public and private recommendations from the American Health Information Community, a public/private organization announced yesterday by HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt. The community will lead the development of a nationwide electronic health care system.

Dr. David Brailer, the national coordinator for health information technology, said the agency will use the results from the two standards and certification contracts to help develop a model of what a standards-based “commercially available electronic health record should look like.”

Health Leaders Seek Consensus Over Uninsured

May 29, By ROBERT PEAR, NYTimes.com

At a time when Congress has been torn by partisan battles, 24 ideologically disparate leaders representing the health care industry, corporations and unions, and conservative and liberal groups have been meeting secretly for months to seek a consensus on proposals to provide coverage for the growing number of people with no health insurance.

The participants, ranging from the liberal Families USA to the conservative Heritage Foundation and the United States Chamber of Commerce, said they had made progress in trying to overcome the ideological impasse that has stymied action on the problem for eight years.

The group, which first came together last October, has not endorsed any specific plan, but has discussed a range of options, including tax incentives for the purchase of insurance, changes in Medicaid to cover more low-income adults and the creation of insurance purchasing pools at the state level.

"This effort holds as much promise as any I've participated in over the last decade, probably more," said Kate Sullivan Hare, the executive director of health care policy at the United States Chamber of Commerce.

Historically, such efforts have failed because of profound disagreements over the proper role of government. The group is far from any final agreement, but persists in seeking common ground, even as the problems of the uninsured have been eclipsed on Capitol Hill by Social Security and other issues.

The group also includes top executives from AARP, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, America's Health Insurance Plans, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Johnson & Johnson, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Governors Association, Pfizer and the Service Employees International Union.

The group's overarching goal is to agree, by the end of this year, on proposals that expand coverage to as many people as possible as quickly as possible. By meeting in secret, the group has tried to shield itself from political pressures. Some of the proposals under discussion could lead to increases in federal spending or regulation, at a time when the government already faces large deficits and Republicans generally oppose further expansion of government.

Though federal policymakers talk little about the issue these days, the problems of the uninsured have been gaining urgency among people who provide and pay for health care, including employers.

Increasingly, business executives say, health care costs hurt the global competitiveness of American companies. "This is a crisis," General Motors said in its latest annual report, noting that its health costs - $5.2 billion last year - had "a tremendous impact" on its profitability.

A Medical Banking Road Map for America Now Available

Franklin, TN (May 16, 2005) Medical banking, or "the latent integration of banking technology, infrastructure and credit with healthcare administrative operations" is occurring at a much quicker pace today relative to even six months ago. Acquisitions between banks, their supporting vendors and healthcare firms is a key area to watch today. These acquisitions are at the tip of a sea of change in industry patterns that is finding unlikely alliances between banks and healthcare organizations.

The Medical Banking Project, which facilitates the medical banking industry (and coined the term "medical banking™" to denote this area), recently completed a 69 page volume entitled "A Medical Banking Road Map for America". The document is available on their website at http://www.mbproject.org/services-pubs-roadmap.php for a fee of $195.00 (non-member price).

The concept for the document originated after ONCHIT Director, Dr. David Brailer, convened a national conference in Washington, DC, in July 2004. Speaking to a broad spectrum of healthcare stakeholders he challenged the industry to adopt a "National Healthcare Information Network". MBProject subsequently drafted an open letter to the banking and healthcare industry, encouraging participation in workgroups that finally presented at the 3rd National Medical Banking Institute in Nashville, TN, in February 2005. The recommendations of these workgroups are part of the information in the new volume.

"We are pleased to present this work to the industry. It comes after many years of wrestling with issues and trying to find clarity. Yet there is more work to do and this is definitely 'Version 1.0'. The volume will continue to be refined at our next Institute and we'll include our work on seamless HSA processing at that time," said MBProject founder John Casillas.

"Banks need to understand their role in the national effort to ramp healthcare onto digital networks. America benefits by leveraging banking systems to move healthcare from a paper and error-intense environment to a digital paradigm that we all want and need. Many banks are pressing forward yet the 'road map' isn't easy to follow and frankly, trail blazing never is. We will continue to meet a critical need for subject matter expertise, educational programming and facilitating pilot development as recommended by Institute attendees. This includes reaching out to non-bank stakeholders," says Casillas.

A Medical Banking Road Map for America is central to MBProject's educational goals. The document itself has been weaved into the Project's efforts to organize educational programming, from workgroups to the Medical Banking Institute itself. "As we continue this process, the road map will become so clear that the smallest community bank will help our national healthcare technology process", predicts Casillas.

2005 Public Health Information Network Conference Presentations Posted

The 3rd annual Public Health Information Network (PHIN) Conference was held at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia from May 10-12, 2005. This year's theme, "Improving the Public's Health: Convergence & Partnerships in Health Information", was aimed at connecting public health and clinical care in order to better protect the public. ... ensuring the implementation of standards-based integrated systems that address the needs of public health at all levels.

Health IT report calls for fed leadership

May 11, 2005 By Bob Brewin FCW.com

Mike Leavitt, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said investment in health care information technology is essential and a high priority for the U.S. health care system. He also released a report calling for the federal government to lead the promotion of widespread adoption of health care IT.

IT “is a pivotal part of transforming our health care system,” Leavitt said today. "We are at a critical juncture. Working in close collaboration, the federal government and private sector can drive changes that will lead to fewer medical errors, lower costs, less hassle and better care."

He spoke at the CEO Health Care Summit in Washington, D.C., organized by the Business Roundtable, an association of executives of major U.S. corporations.

Leavitt released a report prepared by HHS and the Business Roundtable's Health Information Technology Leadership Panel. The document states that widespread adoption of interoperable health IT should be a top priority for U.S. health care officials. As the biggest health payer and provider in the United States, the federal government should lead the widespread adoption of health technology, the report states.

Members of the Leadership Panel include the following chief executive officers: Frederick Smith of FedEx, Rick Wagoner of General Motors, John Faraci of International Paper, John Barth of Johnson Controls, Robert Ulrich of Target, Steve Reinemund of PepsiCo, Alan Lafley of Procter & Gamble, Richard Kovacevich of Wells Fargo and David Glass, formerly of Wal-Mart.

Of XDS, IHE, NIST and ebXML Registry

NIST are working with IHE on developing a cross-enterprise secure document exchange system (XDS). Read about this and related developments at the new ebxmlforum blog.

JCP Watch: WSCI on J2ME, Mobile Messaging from J2SE/EE and ebXML Support

By Apu Shah

Mobile mania has hit the JCP this week with three new specification requests relating to mobile technologies. The first proposes an API for mobile messaging (such as SMS and MMS) from J2SE and J2EE applications as opposed to J2ME applications. The other two proposals deal with adding Web Services Choreography and support for an ebXML specification to J2ME. In addition, Java Servlet, JSP and J2EE proposed final specifications have also been posted.

E-Business Meets and Greets ebXML

By Tom Clements, Oracle Magazine

Bringing business standards and processes to XML.

By themselves, business documents present a flat, one-dimensional landscape to most companies engaged in internet trade. What's missing is a way to define business processes—order entry, inventory control, payments—that can process data in a standardized and consistent manner both within and across industries. Also missing is a way to define a set of unambiguous and standardized core components for business transactions so that there is no misunderstanding over what a particular piece of business data means.

By cataloging common business processes and workflows, ebXML establishes common message sequences that can be deployed across industry boundaries to foster global trade.

ebXML Initiative

The ebXML initiative is broadly based on two earlier initiatives, OpenEDI and XML/EDI, and now operates under the auspices of the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) and the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT). The ebXML initiative is an attempt, in the words of the specification, to "create a single electronic global market."

OASIS Forms Committee to Develop SOA Reference Model

May 3, 2005

Adobe Systems, AmSoft, Boeing, Booz Allen Hamilton, Fujitsu, General Motors, Infravio, NEC, Reactivity, SOA Software, VISA, and Others Collaborate on a Foundation for Service Oriented Architectures

International standards consortium, OASIS, announced the formation of a new committee to develop a core reference model that will guide and foster the creation of specific, service-oriented architectures (SOA). The new OASIS SOA Reference Model (SOA-RM) Technical Committee will promote the continued development of multiple SOAs and related standards by acting as a guide for those writing SOAs and an analysis of their functional components.

"The term SOA is used in an increasing number of contexts with differing -- and even conflicting -- meanings," said Duane Nickull of Adobe Systems, chair of the OASIS SOA-RM Technical Committee. "If SOA is architecture, as the name implies, then we should define it as architecture. The reference model we create will be useful for the entire industry, offering a way to preserve a common layer of understanding across multiple service oriented environments and architectures."

Specifically, the SOA reference model will offer an understanding of the core elements within a service oriented environment and the associations and relationships among those elements. The reference model itself will not be directly tied to any standards, technologies or other concrete implementation details. Rather, it will be an abstract, designed to be used as a tool by software and enterprise architects developing specific SOAs.

"In addition to vendors, there is a significant contingent of SOA end users from across the globe rallying around this work to define the basic, common elements of any service-oriented system," noted James Bryce Clark, Director of Standards Development at OASIS. He cited participation from government agencies such as Japan's Electronic Commerce Promotion Council, Canada's Public Works and Government Services, and USA's Department of Homeland Security, as well as users that include Boeing, General Motors, Lockheed Martin, Mitre, and VISA.

The OASIS SOA-RM Technical Committee already has more than 45 members, and participation remains open to all organizations and individuals, especially those directly involved in the design, documentation, or implementation of SOAs. As with all OASIS projects, archives of the Committee's work are accessible to both members and non-members, and OASIS hosts an open mail list for public comment.

Industry Support for SOA-RM

Booz Allen Hamilton

"Booz Allen Hamilton is proud to participate in the development of a standardized SOA reference model" said Rebekah Metz, Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton. "A cornerstone of the service-oriented approach is encouraging the growth of diverse yet interoperable implementations. The planned SOA reference model will provide a unified foundation from which the architecture for such implementations can evolve. We look forward to sharing the benefits of this important concept with our clients."

Infravio

"This week, Infravio increased sponsorship of OASIS to participate in the OASIS SOA-RM TC and future SOA work," said Miko Matsumura, vice president of marketing at Infravio. "As OASIS moves 'up the stack' it becomes increasingly important to Infravio and our focus on SOA customer's business requirements."

Reactivity

"SOA success requires a reliable and flexible reference model enterprises can use as the basis for implementing their own infrastructures to support SOA," said Andrew Nash, CTO at Reactivity. "Reactivity has been a leader in the development of the SOA infrastructure and believes this OASIS Technical Committee presents a great opportunity to for all vendors to align their efforts to simplify SOA for the enterprise."

SOA Software

"As a leader in Service Oriented Architecture Infrastructure, we are focused on rapid implementation and adoption of emerging standards and are deeply committed to the standards process," said Roberto Medrano, Executive Vice President at SOA Software. "The SOA reference model will promote a deeper understanding of the value employing a correctly designed service-oriented architecture can bring to large enterprise and government organizations."

About OASIS

OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. The consortium produces open standards for Web services, security, e-business, and standardization efforts in the public sector and for application-specific markets. Founded in 1993, OASIS has more than 4,000 participants representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries. Approved OASIS Standards include AVDL, CAP, DocBook, DSML, ebXML, SAML, SPML, UBL, UDDI, WSDM, WS-Reliability, WSRP, WS-Security, XACML, and XCBF. http://www.oasis-open.org

Additional information:

OASIS SOA-RM Technical Committee: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/soa-rm

Cover Pages Technology Report: Service Oriented Architecture (SOA): http://xml.coverpages.org/soa.html
Contact: OASIS Carol Geyer,
978-667-5115 x209
carol.geyer@oasis-open.org

Get familiar with ebXML Registry

By Ash Parikh, JavaWorld.com

Learn the basics about the ebXML Registry standard

Summary
This article is the first of a series of short articles that will introduce readers to the industry's various Web services standards. These articles will provide a quick introduction to a standard, its background, underlying architecture, benefits, status, and industry adoption. As some of the content might be a depiction of the author's viewpoint, readers are encouraged to refer to the links provided in Resources to gain a deeper understanding of a particular standard. This article focuses on ebXML Registry from OASIS. (1,000 words; April 25, 2005)

Much like Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), electronic business XML (ebXML) was developed to enable business to be conducted electronically over the Internet. Custom protocols and proprietary messaging formats between trading partners created a deterrent to the widespread adoption of EDI. ebXML, on the other hand, provides an open and flexible alternative, allowing enterprises anywhere, anyplace, and anytime to engage in meaningful collaborations.

OASIS Members to Vote on Four XML Measures

April 21, 2005 By XMLJ Newsdesk

The ebXML Registry Information Model (RIM) v3.0 and ebXML Registry Services and Protocols (RS) v3.0 offer a method for defining and managing interoperable registries and repositories. OpenDocument provides an XML-based file format specification for office applications. The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) provides an end-to-end architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering readable information as discrete, typed topics.

WorldVistA makes plans to support open-source application

Fred Bazzoli, Senior editor, Healthcare IT News

BOSTON — WorldVistA is gearing up for growing demand for the open-source healthcare application it champions.

The not-for-profit organization sees mounting interest in OpenVistA, the version of clinical software that’s in the public domain. OpenVistA is a derivative of VistA, the clinical software developed by the Veterans Administration for its healthcare system.

While domestic non-government interest in OpenVistA is limited now, there’s surging interest overseas, said Rick Marshall, president of WorldVistA, a not-for-profit organization. Marshall says all of Mexico’s facilities will run OpenVistA in the near future.

As open-source software, OpenVistA can be acquired for virtually no charge. However, many organizations are