Facilitating e-Business
The Internet is no longer just a medium for personal communication and entertainment. Over the last decade it has emerged as a new business arena. The conduction of business over the Internet, known as e-business, is becoming increasingly common. Transactions can be carried out between businesses (B2B) as well as between a business and its customers (B2C). However, exploitation of the Internet for business purposes requires new tools and methods. In addition, online businesses require a common method of exchanging product information. With this in hand, businesses will be able to expand their realm of operations at a relatively low cost. A French polytechnic university developed a set of common tools to help businesses worldwide more easily exploit this opportunity. Several academic institutions and industrial partners collaborated in this effort. The result is a toolbox that allows the complete manipulation of product information according to the Product Library (PLIB) standard (ISO 13584). The first tool, the PLIB Java-based API, governs the reading, writing, verification and storage of PLIB data. In addition, there is a Java-based editor for describing product dictionaries and catalogues, which extracts the information to the API as PLIB data. The third tool in the toolbox is a PLIB browser. It reads in the PLIB data and provides a user-friendly interface for viewing the product dictionaries and catalogues. It is also possible to export the PLIB data in a format suitable for exchange via the Internet (through a Web site) or a CD. The main advantage of the toolbox is that it is based on internationally accepted standards. This makes the system completely interoperable, allowing the exchange of product information between businesses worldwide. Companies can use the toolbox to enter their product information and then automatically generate an online product catalogue or an e-business ready Web site. Any business in any industry can use the toolbox and its use will facilitate the growing number of companies taking their business online. The French polytechnic university and its partners are looking to market this highly valuable toolbox.
