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XML: Catalog Manager

FEBRUARY 1999

Group proposes cXML as standard

group of 40 end-user organizations and software and vendors engaged in electronic commerce is proposing to customize the Extensible Markup Language to facilitate the procurement of non-production supplies by businesses.

Ariba Technologies Inc., one of the leaders of the group, unveiled support last week for Commerce XML. Ariba says cXML will help facilitate multiple catalog-management paradigms, real-time information exchange, and end-to-end transaction integration over the Internet. cXML is also inexpensive to implement because of its XML base and the ability to leverage existing HTML E-commerce infrastructure and software, the company says.

XML is a metalanguage that describes how data is organized and exchanged over an IP network. Ariba and the other companies have applied XML to create tags that per- tain specifically to the type of information exchanged while requisitioning business supplies. Ariba and four other companies involved in corporate procurement will initiate a cXML pilot in March using Ariba's procurement software, Ariba Operating Resource Management System.

CAP, a division of McGraw-Hill that publishes catalogs for furniture manufacturers, will incorporate cXML in its Offices Online software product that will connect furniture makers and business customers when it's released in April. CAP, in Grand Rapids, Mich., plans to use cXML to aggregate catalogs from manufacturers such as Steelcase and Hon and present their products in a unified fashion to Ariba customers such as Chevron. "We'll be able to connect 140 Chevron offices with many furniture dealerships and allow them to buy from the custom catalogs we've made," says Charles Origer, CAP national sales manager.

Ariba claims that cXML doesn't compete with XML but is complementary to the Internet standard championed by E-commerce organizations such as Open Buying on the Internet, RosettaNet, and CommerceNet.

At least one user applauds the effort at standards, with reservations. Says Chris Long, electronic commerce manager at Staples Inc., which is modifying its Web catalogs to interoperate with Ariba, "Everybody has a slightly different idea of how this ought to be done."

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