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Implementing secure messaging and facilitating transactions
across a distributed system continues to be an integral
challenge in creating an eCommerce site. Overcoming
security and reliability concerns remains essential
to fully leveraging the value that a successful eCommerce
site can provide.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and other organizations
sponsoring eCommerce sites are succeeding in meeting
a number of these challenges through the use of an
emerging standard of Electronic Business using eXtensible
Markup Language (ebXML). This specification defines
the conversational semantics for messaging between
systems to address the security and reliability issues.
For security, ebXML supports digital signatures, allowing
for message authentication and ensuring message integrity.
In using ebXML to send data to trading partners, the
sender is guaranteed that the intended recipient receives
the data and that the data cannot be modified en route.
Orders can be transmitted over the public Internet at
a low cost—open Internet lines are used as opposed
to a closed, often expensive, private network. ebXML
also specifies the level of reliability of its messages.
For example, messages are delivered only once and are
not subject to potential electronic errors resulting
from power surges or processing glitches. Messages not
acknowledged by a trading partner within a pre-determined
time can be resent without fear of duplication.
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This article was published in the Fall
2004 issue
of Perspectives.
Please refer to our Terms
of Use policy regarding acceptable use of
content on the ICF International Web site.
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As part of ongoing application development support for the
Defense Department’s main eCommerce site, DOD EMALL,
ICF International identified a number of potential weaknesses,
including orders that could be duplicated or lost between
systems, as well as a number of potential security vulnerabilities
inherent in the open nature of the Internet. Among the key
enhancements to the new DOD EMALL structure is the use of
ebXML.
Security and reliability between Web services became a key
concern for DOD EMALL as transaction volume grew from $13.7
million in 2002 to $188 million in 2003. Coupled with the
increasing number of transactions, the government system
also remains an attractive target for hackers. ebXML helps
to protect against hackers by using a digital signature.
Orders through DOD EMALL, one of the largest online operations
to adopt ebXML, are expected to approach $300 million in
2005, processing transactions for more than 500 vendors and
16.5 million diverse items. Among the wide variety of items
that can be ordered (each with a different security level
required for approval) are office supplies, computers, custom
manufactured parts, generators, software, clothing, chemical
suits, and music. The system orchestrates Web services in
three different geographic locations that work together as
a single application to verify and complete a shopper’s
order. ebXML provides a secure and reliable environment for
the transactions.
DOD EMALL has evolved into much more than
the standard “shopping cart” for electronic commerce.
It now has the ability to adapt as the needs of the user
community evolve, providing custom procurement workflows
for each agency based on their existing processes and contractual
requirements. Most importantly, it performs these enhanced
functions in a secure and reliable environment.
Learn more about ICF International’s architecture
development capabilities.
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