Driving Open Standards Adoption in Hong Kong Thomas Lee 李猷達 香港大學 電子商貿基建研究中心 Center for E-Commerce Infrastructure Development The University of Hong Kong Forum on eBusiness Interoperability and Standardization 14 May 2004 Hong Kong

14 May 2004Forum on eBusiness Interoperability and Standardization2 Who We Are Center for E-Commerce Infrastructure Development (CECID) An e-commerce R&D center in University of HK ~20 full time staffs Primarily funded by grants from HKSARG Innovation and Technology Commission (~HK$24M or US$3M in total) Project Phoenix Establishment of ebXML Software Infrastructure in HK HK$9.5M (US$1.2M), Jan 2002 – Mar 2004 Project Pyxis eBusiness Interoperability Software Platform based on Open Standards HK$14M (US$1.8M), Nov 2003 – May 2006 Also received industry sponsorship through R&D outsourcing and consulting

14 May 2004Forum on eBusiness Interoperability and Standardization3 Our Role We bridge the gap between international technology development and local technology adoption Participate in international e-commerce standardization activities Bring pioneer standards technology to HK for R&D Develop open source software to catalyze standards adoption Collaborate with industry and government for technology transfer R&D focus: Business process and data integration Web Services and ebXML EPC/RFID

14 May 2004Forum on eBusiness Interoperability and Standardization4 Core R&D Products Hermes B2B Messaging Server Implements ebXML Messaging Service (ebMS) V2 and Web Services Passed ebXML Asia Committee Interoperability Test Many production cases in HK and overseas Sony Music and HMV use Hermes for procurement of music and video CDs HK Govt uses Hermes to receive dangerous goods manifest submitted by shipping companies Spherion Australia uses Hermes to transact education services with Telstra ebMail ebXML-based e-business mailer for small companies Graphical user interface for composing and exchanging XML documents Data import and export for office applications, e.g. spreadsheet Under deployment to Malaysia Customs Vessel Info System Universal Business Language (UBL) support in next version

14 May 2004Forum on eBusiness Interoperability and Standardization5

14 May 2004Forum on eBusiness Interoperability and Standardization6 Open Source Software Core R&D products adopt open source licenses Free to use and distribute software, and modify source code Released on FreebXML.org website Some overseas developers also contribute source code Widely adopted in HK and internationally Known local users: MTRC, OOCL, APL, Sony Music, HMV, Saggio, HK Govt (ITSD, Marine Dept, Health Dept), iASPEC, NMT, ICO, ASL, HP… Recorded downloads from 60+ countries Software being productized by several commercial vendors

14 May 2004Forum on eBusiness Interoperability and Standardization7

14 May 2004Forum on eBusiness Interoperability and Standardization8 XML Schema Design and Management Guide for HK Govt XML schema modeling methodology for developing e-govt applications Based on ebXML Core Components & UBL approach Standardized Common Schemas person’s name, HKID#, address, etc. Central Data Registry Already applied in real cases Center for Health Protection Dangerous goods declaration Weather info publishing One of OASIS eGovernment best practices

14 May 2004Forum on eBusiness Interoperability and Standardization9 B2B Connector (Project Elf) Standalone device for B2B exchange Plug-and-play, Internet- based, low-cost Support conversion between different e-doc standards Extensible through plug-in modules Core technology: ebXML + UBL eBusiness Router

14 May 2004Forum on eBusiness Interoperability and Standardization10 Technology Adoption Life Cycle Visionaries PragmatistsConservativesSkeptics Early MarketMainstream Market ad hoc / proprietary solutions open standards dev. OSS dev. OSS avail. OSS productization software product avail. hardware product avail. hardware product dev. open standards adoption Chasm very simple software avail.

Thank you