Aerospace group backs new EDI-to-XML bridge

As technical standards bodies attempt to harmonize data sharing specifications in the Balkanized world of XML, an aerospace industry group is adopting a new approach that converts existing electronic data interchange (EDI) data formats and definitions into XML.

Announced this week by Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Vitria Technology Inc., the Value Chain Markup Language (VCML) retains the structure, business terms and industry specifications of the x12 and Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport (EDIFACT) standards and translates them into formats that can be understood by XML-based systems.

The Washington-based Aerospace Industries Association of America Inc. (AIA) said it plans next month to publish business-to-business collaboration specifications based on VCML for use by its members in exchanging documents such as purchase orders and invoices.

"Basically, it means we don't have to throw out 30 years of development on the EDI side," said Bob Moore, co-chairman of the AIA's Electronic Enterprise Working Group and an e-commerce executive at Goodrich Corp. in Charlotte, N.C.

XML resolved the problem of the value-added network and connectivity charges associated with EDI, but it "didn't solve the problems of back-end integration," Moore added. "In fact, it exacerbated the problem because there's so many XML dialects out there."

Tom Warner, a member of Moore's working group who is also an e-commerce initiatives manager at The Boeing Co. in Chicago, said standards bodies need to better leverage what users have in place, which is what he likes about VCML.

"The standards guys are building the future, and I'm always looking for the ability to get from where I'm at to where they're going," he said. "I'm not after the perfect XML solution. I want a business solution."

Vitria executive Daryn Walters said the application integration software vendor has developed iterations of VCML for 11 different vertical industries. It also plans to make VCML available to all XML standards bodies, he said.

During the past two weeks, the major standards groups that support x12, EDIFACT and electronic business XML (ebXML) have been trying to define a common set of core technology components. And VCML last week was accepted by a joint ebXML/EDIFACT committee for use in creating transitional XML standards.

"We all agree a final state is not here now, and we have to do something transitional," said Ralph Berwanger, a member of the joint standards committee and an executive at e-commerce network provider bTrade Inc. in Irving, Texas. "We need to give users something in the next months that they can actually use."

The joint committee also accepted submissions from the Open Applications Group Inc., a nonprofit consortium in Marietta, Ga., and from ebXML's own core components committee. Berwanger said VCML has been criticized for "perpetuating some of the problems we know exist in [EDI]," such as variations between the specifications for different industries.

But companies that use VCML "might find out it works, and that might be what counts most at the end of the day," he added.

Joanne Friedman, an analyst at Meta Group Inc. in Stamford, Conn., said VCML-based systems should be relatively inexpensive and uncomplicated to implement and maintain.

"It's something people can get their heads around," she said. "XML remains esoteric to many [users]."