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ebMail Source Code Donated to ebXML Development Community
Hong Kong, Peoples Republic of China - June 12, 2003 -
Center for E-Commerce Infrastructure Development (CECID),
Department of Computer Science and Information
Systems (CSIS), The University of Hong Kong (HKU)
is pleased to announce its code
base donation of ebMail to the ebXML development community. This open-source project
is released under the Academic Free License (
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/academic/hph)
that permits royalty free use of the source and binaries. Developers are encouraged
to download ebMail at www.freebxml.org and subscribe to the mailing lists set up
at sourceforge (http://sourceforge.net/projects/ebmail)
for enquiries.
ebMail is a desktop e-mail client which helps organizations,
small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SME) in particular, to engage in B2B e-commerce
activities. This lightweight toolkit enables trading partners to exchange business
documents cost-effectively through email, or ebXML Message Service (ebMS)
over Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP). ebMail is a
trimmed-down ebMS handler which does not require any
application server software and dedicated Internet connection to use ebXML.
It allows a user to compose electronic documents offline through graphical user
interface (GUI), and send and receive documents when the user is connected to the Internet.
ebMail employs plug-in modules to provide different
graphical user interface (GUI) forms for capturing business data into different
schemas of XML documents (e.g. price quotation, purchase order, invoice, etc.)
and binary file attachments (e.g. PDF, graphics, etc.). These plug-ins can load,
save, and manipulate business data in the local file system, as well as import
documents from office applications to the GUI for efficient document handling.
ebMail plug-ins can also handle simple business processes
that define choreographies of document exchanges.
A Java-based and platform-neutral application, ebMail
provides a Java API for third-party developers to create plug-ins. The plug-in
API allows developers to program GUI handlers, convert input data into XML
documents of a specific schema, and develop advanced features, such as document
management in the local file system.
XML documents composed by ebMail plug-ins are packaged
into ebMS messages and send and receive messages in ebMS/SMTP
through central mechanisms. Furthermore, ebMail can digitally
sign and encrypt outgoing documents, and decrypt and authenticate incoming documents
using digital certificates, and it makes use of ebMS code from another open-source
project, Hermes (http://www.freebxml.org).
ebMail was developed by CECID under the auspices of Project
Phoenix. Project Phoenix is primarily sponsored by the Innovation and Technology
Commission of the Hong Kong Government. Two of the pilot project partners using
ebMail are Department of Health of the Hong Kong Government
and Hong Kong Observatory. CECID has developed a prototype based on ebMail
for the Department of Health to streamline its pharmaceutical products import and
export licensing application procedure. The Center is starting the development of
a new ebMail plug-in for Hong Kong Observatory, which
has been designated by the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
to collect world weather information for the WMO's Website.
About CECID (http://www.cecid.hku.hk):
Established in January 2002, the Center for
E-Commerce Infrastructure Development (CECID)
at the University of Hong Kong conducts e-commerce
research and development with the vision of
helping Hong Kong increase its competitiveness
in the international arena. CECID has the missions
to develop e-commerce enabling technologies,
to join important international e-commerce initiatives,
to support e-commerce standardization for Hong
Kong and the Asia Pacific Region, and to transfer
e-commerce technology and skills to the community.
As an OASIS member, CECID is participating in
the standardization projects, such as ebXML
and Universal
Business Language (UBL). CECID also
collaborates with a number of lead technology
users in the Asia Pacific Region on the application
of advanced e-commerce technologies.
About ebXML (http://www.ebxml.org):
The mission of ebXML is to provide an open XML-based
infrastructure enabling the global use of electronic
business information in an interoperable, secure
and consistent manner by all parties. ebXML
(Electronic Business using Extensible Markup
Language), sponsored by UN/CEFACT
and OASIS,
is a modular suite of specifications that enables
enterprises of any size and in any geographical
location to conduct business over the Internet.
Using ebXML, companies now have a standard method
to exchange business messages, conduct trading
relationships, communicate data in common terms
and define and register business processes.
About OASIS (http://www.oasis-open.org):
OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured
Information Standards) is a not-for-profit,
global 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. OASIS produces worldwide
standards for security, Web services, XML conformance,
business transactions, electronic publishing,
topic maps and interoperability within and between
marketplaces.
PR Contacts for Press and
Analysts:
Dorris Tai (cwtai@cecid.hku.hk)
Business Manager
Center for E-Commerce Infrastructure Development
(CECID)
Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems
The University of Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2859 2818
Fax: +852 2547 4611
URL: http://www.cecid.hku.hk
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