DIP: Data, Information and Process Integration with Semantic Web Services

1. DIP: Data, Information and Process Integration with Semantic Web Services Alexander Wahler, NIWA WEB Solutions Frankfurt 17.1.2003

2. Content • NIWA WEB Solutions • Tiscali Österreich GmbH • Case Study ISP • NIWA, Tiscali objectives and expectations to DIP

3. NIWA WEB Solutions • NIWA founded in 1998 by Alexander Wahler & Klaus Niederacher • Background: Research in Internet based Information Systems at University of Technology, Vienna. Experience in EU founded projects • IT-Service Provider • Success Stories: Sony Austria, Porsche Austria, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanova Pharma, T-Systems, ...

4. NIWA WEB Solutions • IT-Consulting • Innovation and Product Development • Knowledge Transfer • Focus on “Semantic Web Services” • Current Research and Development • MIKSI – Web-Services for Marketing, Information and Communication for Cultural Institutions • CFA – Contemporary Fashion Archive • Site Management & IT-Services

5. Tiscali Österreich GmbH • Subsidiary of Tiscali S.p.A. • Tiscali S.p.A. – leading pan-European Internet Communication Company • Local Operations in 15 European countries • Providing: Access, content, applications, innovative communication services • 20,5 registered subscribers; 7 million active users (06/2002) • Strong position on the Austrian B2B market • NIWA consultant of Tiscali Österreich

6. Tiscali Österreich GmbH • Leading Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Austria • Focus on Business Customers • Expansion by acquisition of Nacamar/World Online, SurfEU, Vianet,... • Product power spectrum: connectivity, VPN solutions, hosting, housing, security • Expansion to Eastern European Countries planned • CEO Dieter Haacker

7. Semantic Web Services – Impact on ISP BusinessCase Study

8. Content • Motivation • Measures • Model • Solutions • Methods of E-Commerce • Examples of E-Commerce • Conclusion

9. Motivation • Strong displacement competition • Low turnover and cost effectiveness • Saturation of the market for standard services

10. Economic Measures • Set new measures to rise turnover and cost effectiveness • Automation of product selling • Enhancements and improvements in provisioning • Expansion of sales channels • Optimisation of offered product portfolio • Creative configuration of existing basic services into new bundles of products and services

11. Technical Measures • Achieving these measures implies: • Flexible and dynamic set-up and organisation of product portfolio • Possibility of permanent adaptation to market needs • Cross linking, communication and data-exchange of all involved applications (e.g. billing, accounting, provisioning, CRM, ...)

12. Model

13. Solutions • Semantic Web Services – problems to solve (selection): • Determination of applications exposing as web service -> definition of criteria • Bridging semantic differences in web-service description • Easy to use and invocation of semantic web services • Flexibility in building new semantic web-services

14. Methods of E-Commerce • Business Model: • Virtual Internet Service Provider (VISP) • B2B Services • ISP offers new portal services

15. E-Commerce - VISP • Virtual Internet Service Provider • Classical reseller principle • Third Party Companies sell Tiscali services under their own label • VISP offer their customers individual products based on Tiscali services according to their business policy • High automation level of trading • Examples of VISP: portal operators, electricity supplier,expansion to other countries

16. E-Commerce - VISP • Critical success factors: • Processing of the product catalogue (current > 4000) • Heterogeneity in the product catalogue • Promote the product catalogue to VISP • Flexibility and dynamic in handling of different trading modes with each customer (e.g. pricing, product bundles, level of data-exchange) • Automation of accounting, billing

17. E-Commerce – B2B services • Services for business customers: • ISP-Portal as gateway for new business services • Customers may invoke related services according to their business needs • Customers composite and configure their individual business services consisting of other services, which are provided by the ISP or other suppliers over the Web • Automated billing and accounting

18. Examples of E-Commerce • Marketing manager of a pharma company introduces new product. The following process has to be modelled and should be executed automated by one Web Service • Check of available internet domains for product name (.at, .com, ...) • Check of available patent for product name • If check=true, then ... • Register domains • Register patent (external service) • Order webspace (vhost)

19. Examples of E-Commerce • Web Services for monitoring data-sources from the web and alert, when special events occur: • E.g. send me an SMS, when YEN declines under x.x Euro and company X in Singapore announces insolvency

20. Conclusion • Success in E-Commerce depends on successful EAI process of heterogeneous information systems • Billing and accounting of invoked services is a driving force • Easy to use and reusable • Easy definition of new temporary Web Services according to my business needs, which discover and invoke existing Web Services

21. Objectives in DIP • Analysis and development of new e-commerce methods for ISP based on semantic web-services • Development of ISP product descriptions and catalogues (ontology) • Development and implementation of „real world“ Semantic Web Services • Participation in training activities

22. Tiscali in DIP • Implementation of DIP methods and models of Semantic Web Services • Case studies and applications in: • Enterprise Application Integration • E–Commerce • Exploitation

23. NIWA in DIP • Knowledge transfer university –industry • Case studies and applications in: • Knowledge Management • E–Commerce • Dissemination