HANDBOOK OF RESEARCH ON E-BUSINESS STANDARDS AND PROTOCOLS: DOCUMENTS, DATA AND ADVANCED WEB TECHNOLOGIES

Electronic business is a major force shaping the digital world. Yet, despite of years of research and standardization efforts, many problems persist that prevent e-business from achieving its full potential. Problems arise from different data vocabularies, classification schemas, document names, structures, exchange formats and their varying roles in business processes. Non-standardized business terminology, lack of common acceptable and understandable processes (grammar), and lack of common dialog rules (protocols) create barriers to improving electronic business processes. Handbook of Research on E-Business Standards and Protocols: Documents, Data and Advanced Web Technologies contains an overview of new achievements in the field of e-business standards and protocols, offers in-depth analysis of and research on the development and deployment of cutting-edge applications, and provides insight into future trends. This book unites new research that promotes harmony and agreement in business processes and attempts to choreograph business protocols and orchestrate semantic alignment between their vocabularies and grammar. Additionally, this Handbook of Research discusses new approaches to improving standards and protocols, which include the use of intelligent agents and Semantic Web technology.

Ejub Kajan teaches at the State University of Novi Pazar and at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering in Nis, Serbia. He holds a PhD and MSc in Computer Science from University of Nis, Serbia, and diploma degree in Electronic Engineering from University of Split, Croatia. His current research focuses on e-commerce in general, e-commerce architectures, semantic interoperability, computer networks, and open systems. He has authored over seventy papers, four research books, three chapters in edited books, and four textbooks. He has published in various outlets, including CACM, JGITM, IGI Global books, ACM SIGEcom Exchanges, International Review on Computers and Software, Automatika, etc. He is a Senior Member of the ACM, and a member of IEEE, IADIS, and ISOC. Dr. Kajan is involved in a series of international conferences as a program committee member including, but not limited to prestigious DEXA, WSKS, and IADIS conferences. He also serves on the editorial boards of International Journal of Distributed Systems and Technologies (IJDST) and Journal of Information, Information Technology and Organization (JIITO). In the past, he worked as a software engineer and general manager in the computer industry.

Frank-Dieter Dorloff studied Electronics and Industrial Engineering, and holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. He had professorships in fields like "Production and Accounting," "Production and Logistics" and actually teaches in the field of "Purchasing, Logistics and Information Management" and manages the Master course "Public Transport Management" (PTM). His mostly interdisciplinary aligned research focuses on concepts, methods, and solutions to enhance interoperability in general and in e-business. He was and is engaged in different European CEN workshops dealing with e-business standards and interoperability problems in Europe, especially in developing and harmonizing standards in e-government and e-purchasing. He and his team developed in cooperation with Fraunhofer research organization IAO and the "Association Materials Management, Purchasing and Logistics" (AMMPLA/BME), the widely used German business standards "BMEcat" and "openTRANS," as well as the ontology based "Amt@Direkt" solution, the predecessor of the knowledge network within the German public call center network 115. Prof. Dorloff is member of the Scientific Advisory Board of eCl@ss, member of the board of the Institute for Computer Science and Business-Information Systems at the University Duisburg-Essen, and member of the reviewer board of IBIS, International Journal of Interoperability in Business Information Systems. Current research and consulting interests include more general interoperability concepts, harmonizing existing and upcoming e-business standards, as well as closing the gap between theory and practice in the field of interoperability in e-business. He is Managing Director of the IMIOS GmbH, which supports researchers and companies in solving interoperability problems.

Ivan Bedini is a Member of the Technical Staff at Bell Labs Research in Ireland. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Versailles. Before Bell Labs he has been Research Engineer at Orange Labs in France, where he has held various research, standardization, and technical project management roles. Since 2000 he has contributed to several projects related to Workflow and BPM (Business Process Management) as developer, consultant, and technical project manager. In 2004 he specialized in e-business and became member of the UN/CEFACT Information Content Management Group and member of OASIS an ebXML Registry/Repository Committee, where he contributed to the development of the ebXML RegistryRepository standard specification.