An Architecture for Information Commerce Systems

The increasing use of the Internet in business and commerce has created a number of new business opportunities and the need for supporting models and platforms. One of these opportunities is information commerce (i-commerce), a special case of ecommerce focused on the purchase and sale of information as a commodity. In this paper we present an architecture for i-commerce systems using OPELIX (Open Personalized Electronic Information Commerce System) [11] as an example. OPELIX provides an open information commerce platform that enables enterprises to produce, sell, deliver, and manage information products and related services over the Internet. We focus on the notion of information marketplace, a virtual location that enables i-commerce, describe the business and domain model for an information marketplace, and discuss the role of intermediaries in this environment. The domain model is used as the basis for the software architecture of the OPELIX system. We discuss the characteristics of the OPELIX architecture and compare our approach to related work in the field

A Configurable Matchmaking Framework for Electronic Marketplaces

E-marketplaces constitute a major enabler of B2B and B2C e-commerce activities. This paper proposes a framework for one of the central activities of e-marketplaces: matchmaking of trading intentions lodged by market participants. The framework identifies a core set of concepts and functions that are common to all types of marketplaces and can serve as the basis for describing the distinct styles of matchmaking employed within various market mechanisms. A prototype implementation of the framework based on Web services technology is presented, illustrating its ability to be dynamically configured to meet specific market needs and its potential to serve as a foundation for more fully fledged e-marketplace frameworks

Improving the Authentication Mechanism of Business to Consumer (B2C) Platform in a Cloud Computing Environment: Preliminary Findings

The reliance of e-commerce infrastructure on cloud computing environment has undoubtedly increased the security challenges in web-based e-commerce portals. This has necessitated the need for a built-in security feature, essentially to improve the authentication mechanism, during the execution of its dependent transactions. Comparative analysis of the existing works and studies on XML-based authentication and non-XML signaturebased security mechanisms for authentication in Business to Consumer (B2C) e-commerce showed the advantage of using XML-based authentication, and its inherent weaknesses and limitations. It is against this background that this study, based on review and meta-analysis of previous works, proposes an improved XML digital signature with RSA algorithm, as a novel algorithmic framework that improves the authentication strength of XML digital signature in the B2C e-commerce in a cloud-based environment. Our future works include testing and validation, and simulation, of the proposed authentication framework in Cisco’s XML Management Interface with inbuilt feature of NETCONF. The evaluation will be done in conformity to international standard and guideline –such as W3C and NIST

Challenges to describe QoS requirements for web services quality prediction to support web services interoperability in electronic commerce

Quality of service (QoS) is significant and necessary for web service applications quality assurance. Furthermore, web services quality has contributed to the successful implementation of Electronic Commerce (EC) applications. However, QoS is still the big issue for web services research and remains one of the main research questions that need to be explored. We believe that QoS should not only be measured but should also be predicted during the development and implementation stages. However, there are challenges and constraints to determine and choose QoS requirements for high quality web services. Therefore, this paper highlights the challenges for the QoS requirements prediction as they are not easy to identify. Moreover, there are many different perspectives and purposes of web services, and various prediction techniques to describe QoS requirements. Additionally, the paper introduces a metamodel as a concept of what makes a good web service

Twelve Theses on Reactive Rules for the Web

Reactivity, the ability to detect and react to events, is an essential functionality in many information systems. In particular, Web systems such as online marketplaces, adaptive (e.g., recommender) systems, and Web services, react to events such as Web page updates or data posted to a server. This article investigates issues of relevance in designing high-level programming languages dedicated to reactivity on the Web. It presents twelve theses on features desirable for a language of reactive rules tuned to programming Web and Semantic Web applications

ebXML: Global Standard for Electronic Business

Business-to-business integration is transforming the market and has already begun to increase the efficiency of those companies involved. EDI (Electronic Document Interchange) became very popular during 1970’s; Today EDI transactions total about $750 billion year. EDI is being used by 90% of Fortune 1000 companies. It has indeed become a dominant technology for the largest companies, on the other hand it has been adopted by less than 5% of small and medium sized companies in general and, of these, many use EDI only because their larger customers require it. The reason behind is that EDI is a difficult, complex technology to implement usually comes with high transactional cost. Hence it is suitable for large companies with large volume of transactions. EDI uses fixed, rigid and compressed data format that is difficult to decipher and debug. The data exchange in EDI happens in proprietary VAN (value added network) which is an expensive solution. EbXML (Electronic Business XML) envisioned creating a single global electronic marketplace where enterprises of any size and in any geographic location can meet and conduct business with each other through exchange of xml based messages. The XML (the Extensible Markup Language) has rapidly imposed itself as a popular format for exchange of information on the web. The very nature of XML is that it is a structured document format, in that it represents not only the information to be exchanged, but the metadata encapsulating its meaning. XML technology has potential to solve the existing problems in current EDI systems. Using ebXML, companies have a standard method to exchange business messages, conduct trading relationships, communicate data in common terms and define and register business processes. EbXML is designed to provide a simple way for companies to find one another and conduct business over the Web, allowing those with different platforms to speak a common language. EbXML targets to provide low cost solutions for small and medium enterprises as well as complex solution for large enterprises. This project attempts to implement a prototype of ebXML messaging service as per ebXML specification to obtain the insight look of feasibility and suitability of XML solution for EDI

XMPP and iDTV or how to make television a social medium

Instant Messaging (IM) has the potential to become one of the killer applications for interactive Digital Television (iDTV) [12]. However, several factors make it difficult to provide a good implementation of IM services, among which the limited resources of a set-top box and the different user experience compared to computer environments. This paper proposes the XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) standard as a solution for implementing IM. When we compare XMPP with other technologies, it reveals itself to be very well adapted to the specific needs of iDTV middleware platforms like the Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) [5]. Moreover, the use of XMPP doesn't limit itself to IM The flexible architecture of XMPP opens a window of opportunities like the ease of adding new interactive services. To demonstrate the possibilities of XMPP on MHP, an IM client -IM4MHP- is presented in this paper