Vertical Web Services Standards

The agreement on horizontal Web service standards, such as XML, SOAP, and the WS-* architecture created the foundation for the emergence of vertical Web services standards. Microsoft has played an active role in the creation of these standards, driving over a dozen vertical standards in the education, health care, finance, automotive, and telecommunication industries through working relationships with the following standards bodies:
Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD)
Association for Retail Industry Standards (ARTS)
Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG)
Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC)
Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA)
Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF)
EAN International and the Unified Code Council (EAN.UCC)
EPCglobal
European Forum for Electronic Business (EEMA)
Financial Information eXchange (FIX/FPL)
Health Level Seven (HL7)
Human Resources XML (HR-XML)
IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS)
Interactive Financial eXchange Forum (IFX)
OPC Foundation (OPC)
Open Financial Exchange Consortium (OFX Consortium)
Open Travel Alliance (OTA)
RosettaNet
Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF)
Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT)
TeleManagement Forum (TM Forum)

Highlights of Microsoft's current working relationships with vertical standards bodies include:

Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG)—AIAG is an association of companies involved in the automotive industry charged with developing standards for the automotive supply chain. Microsoft is a sponsoring board member. It co-sponsored a project to define the functional requirements and recommended guidance needed to drive service-oriented architectures (SOA) for next-generation automotive supply chain scenarios leveraging Web services.
Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF)—DMTF is an industry organization leading the development of management standards such as WS-Management. Microsoft co-founded this organization and is currently a board member.

EPCglobal—EPCglobal leads the development of industry-driven standards for the Electronic Product Code (EPC) to support the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in trading networks. Microsoft is participating in the Reader Protocol and Reader Management working groups of EPC Global Software Action Group. Microsoft has also submitted XML message formats for the Reader Protocol specification and recently made contributions to the Reader Management specification.

Health Level Seven (HL7)—HL7 is one of several American National Standards Institute (ANSI)–accredited Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) operating in the healthcare arena. Microsoft has been driving the submission of three Web services specifications (WS-Addressing, WS-Security and WS-ReliableMessaging) as an update of the HL7 Web Services Basic Profile.

IMS Global Learning Consortium—The IMS Global Learning Consortium develops standards for learning technology and several IMS specifications have become worldwide de facto standards for delivering learning products and services. Microsoft is a member of the Technical Board, helping IMS define and deliver e-Learning standards with prescriptive guidance for WS-Security, Addressing and MTOM-based attachments.

Open Financial Exchange Consortium—The OFX Consortium leads the development of standards for the electronic exchange of financial data. Over 2000 banks and brokerage firms as well as major payroll processing companies use OFX. Microsoft is co-founder of the OFX Consortium and is currently working on OFX 2.0 extensions.

RosettaNet—RosettaNet is a global standards organization that promotes collaborative commerce. Billions of dollars are transacted each year using RosettaNet standards. Microsoft currently hold seats on the Executive and Architectural Advisory Councils, driving RosettaNet's next-generation architectural specifications and integration framework based on Web services.

TeleManagement Forum—The TM Forum is a global standards body for communications services, contributing to the Information and Communications Services (ICS) industry for over 15 years. Microsoft has been driving the creation of a specification for enabling Operations/Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS) functions to be exposed as Web services.