1. Dave Sommer VP E-Commerce, CompTIA Vice-Chair CEN/ISSS eBIF

2. Topics eBIF What is Interoperability?
Vision, Mission, Objectives
Scope of work
Membership
What is Interoperability?
‘Who is Who’ in eBusiness Standardization

3. Vision The market is confused
Solving interoperability issues is the single most important step to the fulfilment of the potential of electronic business.
The market is confused
Disappointments after the Hype
A jungle of standards initiatives (XML) in different directions
Technology vendors are pushing
End-users are bewildered

4. Mission Defining the landscape Set the direction Recommend actions
eBIF should serve as the European platform for the consideration of interoperability solutions relating to eBusiness, and make strategic recommendations concerning standardization activities required to achieve this.
Defining the landscape
Set the direction
Recommend actions
Spread the word

5. Objectives Improve awareness of interoperability issues
Broadly-based vision
Open Standards for eBusiness
Overview of eBusiness standards
Roadmap
Recommendations on future standards
Overview of CEN/ISSS activities
Liaison with European research projects
- Promote awareness of interoperability issues, and of its own activities, through promotion and dissemination actions;
- provide a broadly-based vision of future requirements for open standards initiatives for eBusiness;
- make appropriate recommendations concerning eBusiness standardization matters at a strategic level;
- consider the acceptance and implementations of current standards, major work underway on new standards, and market requirements for eBusiness standardization activities, (taking into due account existing work as described in the "Roadmap"), both in Europe and globally;
- maintain an overview of current and proposed CEN/ISSS consensus activities in the field of eBusiness standardization, and to advise or propose on the development of additional ones, as required, and ensure effective co-ordination and a consistent approach;
- liaise with relevant European research projects, with the objectives of bringing their results into the appropriate standards arena, and ensuring that their solutions are compatible with standardised solutions;
- Develop a methodology for tracking progress in eBusiness standardization.

6. Scope of Work Strategic, global, high level
No actual standardization work
Focus on the commonalities
Provide a consistent message
To the user community
Supported by a wide range of organizations
eEurope Action Plan
Provide input on interoperability
eBIF will enable exchanges of views on all aspects of eBusiness interoperability from the perspective of standardization, and seek to reach a common approach. eBIF should be a place where different organizations and initiatives should come together to discuss their commonalities, and send a coherent consistent message to user communities that is supported by a wide range of organizations across Europe and beyond. It should provide material that could assist the European Commission in the further implementation of the eEurope Action Plan with respect to relevant interoperability issues.

7. Membership Open to all interested parties De facto Members
CEN Members
Chairs of CEN/ISSS Workshops & Committees
European Commission
Standards-developing organizations
Vendors & Users
Membership of eBIF shall be open to any interested party with the necessary interests and commitment. CEN Members, Affiliates and Associates shall be de facto members, as shall the Chairs of CEN/ISSS Technical Groups (Technical Committees, Workshops, or short-term Focus Groups), or their representatives.
An annual membership fee of €600 shall be payable by registered interested parties other than de facto members, representatives of the European Commission and EFTA, and accredited representatives from other standards-developing organizations (formal bodies and consortia). However, this fee shall be waived in respect of companies/organizations that are already fee-paying members of CEN/ISSS WS/eBES or CEN/ISSS WS/eInvoicing. In special cases with eBIF agreement, additional participants may join as observers without charge, but these shall not be part of the formal eBIF consensus process.
Representatives of key stakeholders in eBusiness standardization will be specifically invited to join. eBIF should aim to be inclusive, representative and be able to attract a critical mass of eBusiness stakeholders in order to garner buy-in to its activities from a broad spectrum of interests. eBIF will aim to create a business impact by attracting the participation and commitment of market actors including both suppliers and users.

8. Adobe systems
Afnet (WS/ePRO)
AIDIMA
ANEC
Bolero Association Limited
British Standards Institution
CEN/ISSS
Centrale für Coorganisation mbH
CCI of Romania
CIDX/SOLVAY
CompTIA
Danish Standards
DIN
Dr. Otto Mueller Consulting
EAN International
eBES
ECBS
ECP.NL
ISO/IEC-JTC1 SC32/WG1
EICTA
ENEA (WS/Textile)
Estonian Informatics Centre
EUROFER
European Commission - DG INFSO
European Commission DG ENTR
Fraunhofer IAO
IC Focus
Icelandic Consortium, ETeB
Icelandic Standards (IST)
Infoterm (WS/eCAT)
Interpay Nederland BV
IQ-Data GmbH
LAWFIRM (WS/eInvoice)
LISI/ENSMA
Microsoft
MKEnterprise
NEN
NORMAPME
NorStella
OASIS
Platte Consult
RosettaNet
Saphor GmbH (CDSG)
SeemSeed
SINTEF
Société AKELA S.A.
STMicroelectronics
Technical University of Aachen
Technical University of Opole
TIEKE
Uninova
Union Intl des Chemins de Fer
US Mission to the European Union
WIRILE

9. What is Interoperability?
Business Interoperability
Business-to-Business
Semantics
EDI
Technical Interoperability
Application-to-Application
Architecture
XML

10. Interoperability Requires
Synchronised business processes
Compatible technical standards
Common framework
Trusted, secure environment
Data alignment
Classification

11. Who is Who in eBizz That is the $1.000.000 question!
MoU ISO/IEC/UN-ECE/ITU
Co-signed by many organizations
Results unclear
UN/CEFACT
New structure
Focus on ebXML
OASIS partnership restored

12. Conclusions Interoperability is a complex issue
A lot of work is ahead to provide clarity
Describing the landscape
Provide direction in the Roadmap
Focus is on the commonalities
Promotion & Awareness are key
eBIF is off to a good start
Join eBIF – we need your support!

13. Contact Info
CEN/ISSS eBIF Secretariat:
Chairman:
Vice-Chairs:
eBIF web site: