ebXML RegRep v4.0 approved

Earlier this week OASIS announced that version 4.0 of the ebXML Registry and Repository (RegRep) specification has been approved as a standard.

We are pleased to announce that OASIS ebXML RegRep Version 4.0 has been approved by the membership as an OASIS Standard [1].

The call to vote was announced on 11 January 2012 [2] and closed 25 January 2012. A minimum of 45 affirmative votes were needed in order to win approval. The finally vote tally was 61.

OASIS ebXML RegRep V4.0 [3] defines the service interfaces, protocols and information model for an integrated registry and repository. The repository stores digital content while the registry stores metadata that describes the content in the repository. RegRep is an open specification for software that manages diverse content such as documents, images, services, devices, assets, schemas, WSDL, ontologies, records. Statements of Use for RegRep V4.0 were received from MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, Wellfleet Software and NOAA. More information on OASIS ebXML RegRep v4.0 and the TC generally can be found on the TCs web page at http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/regrep/.

Though with less than 21% of members voting to approve and with the future of other registry standard, UDDI, in doubt, it remains to be seen as to whether or not this will see much uptake beyond the initial adopters. There was a time when ebXML had the active support from the likes of IBM and HP, and other standards efforts such as those around Web Services often looked to show relevance with it. But does ebXML have relevance today in the new Cloud world where Web Services appear to be on the wane and REST is a standard part of developer's vernacular? Certainly the existing ebXML users and developers are continuing to find use cases for it beyond those that were thought about when it was started in 1999 and specifically in the Cloud domain:

AS4, an OASIS B2B messaging standard, was finalized by the OASIS ebXML Messaging Services (ebMS) Technical Committee. The intent and purpose of the development of AS4 was to define a simplified Conformance Profile of the ebMS v3.0 specification that would serve as a B2B on-ramp for Web Services document exchange. [...] In addition to enabling interoperability for technologies such as cloud computing, AS4 is an emerging Internet messaging protocol that provides a standardized method for the secure and document-agnostic exchange of B2B payloads using Web Services from any location, anywhere in the world.

And the standards committee has embraced REST within the work that they have been doing. For instance the ebXML Registry REST Steering Committee:

[...] the REST sub-committee will develop a specification document to allow implementers to develop a complimentary optional REST-based interface for Registry (the REST support will follow the REST principles). This will not replace the existing interface - but augment the access methods that Registry can support based on the existing RIM and APIs. The SC will first formalize the scope and use cases to be addressed using REST-based interfacing and then develop formal mechanisms and specification details to implement that.

In some ways ebXML is the Mark Twain of the industry, with reports of its death happening time and time again. Although not necessarily a good way to judge relevance, as shown in 2009 Google Trends indicated a significant drop:

ebXML has been in a long downward spiral for the last 4 years, and through that time its relevance seems to have diminished by a factor of 25.

Even in 2005 people were praising its approach but casting doubt over its relevance and adoption:

 This is a good standard, with growing interest from those doing B2B automation. ebXML provides just enough good technology to make it useful in the real world, without over-hyping its capabilities, thus disappointing its implementers.

Now we know what ebXML is, and it's power. It's also surprising to me to see how slow ebXML is finding it's way into larger organizations, even those looking to replace EDI with something much more dynamic and process-oriented. It may be another case where the best technology, or standard, does not always win.

Yet ebXML work continues today and as can be seen by the current vote to adopt the latest RegRep there are definitely those companies and organisations that are using it, such as MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, Wellfleet Software and NOAA. But the question remains: is ebXML as relevant today as it was over 20 years ago and does it have a role in the latest wave ... Cloud?