Included in the standard will be protocols to handle transport routing, trading partner agreements, security, document construction, naming conventions and business process integration - the soup-to-nuts menu for online commerce.

More than 2,000 people from 30-plus countries have helped develop the ebXML specifications, which are set for final approval in Vienna in May. Behind the 18-month effort are a United Nations e-business trade bureau called UN/CEFACT and a consortium called the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, or OASIS.

The standards group was led by executives from IBM, Sun Microsystems Inc. and Microsoft Corp., which contributed some late but important input. The ebXML organizing body last month agreed to incorporate the transport sequence for the Microsoft-backed Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), making it far easier for businesses to swap information. SOAP is Microsoft's sole contribution to date (see story).

The addition of SOAP is "a tremendous plus for us," said Neal Smith, an IT architect at Chevron Corp. in San Francisco. "We have a lot of Microsoft technology, and we like anything that makes it easier for us to use the stuff we have." He said he hopes ebXML will set basic standards that oil industry exchanges can then build upon.

"Ideally, you can just take the parts you need and leave out the ones you don't, without disrupting anything," he said.

T. Kyle Quinn, director of e-business information systems at The Boeing Co. in Seattle, has also been involved in the ebXML standard. He argued that users must steer the standard's development.

"The Unix/Windows debate is still alive, and one of the things we want to do is drive the standards discussion to make it go away," he said. "The point of e-commerce is we're all supposed to be working together, and it's crucial to keep the standards open."

Most of the work is now done. What remains to be seen is how the public will react.

"The nut of it is, will they be able to communicate with all types of legacy systems?" said Peter Urban, an analyst at Boston-based AMR Research Inc. "They can't redefine the whole world, and companies increasingly hate to be caged by new technology."

Smith also underscored the need to reach the market soon, as companies are already racing into the business-to-business space.

"Businesses aren't going to wait," Smith said. "They're going to find a vendor with a product they like, or they'll build something themselves."

Quinn said a solid trading standard could spur online transactions.

"What we haven't had is a solid road map for how to do this, and a lot of companies want to see that before they change the way they do business," he said.

Related stories:

• Consortium releases new business process language, March 9, 2001
• Corporate users cool toward XML for supply chains, Feb. 21, 2001
• EbXML moves closer to completion, Feb. 13, 2001