Implementing a RosettaNet business-to-business integration platform using J2EE and Web services

E-business frameworks provide standards and specifications for integrating enterprise applications of business partners with less effort. We report experiences from developing a prototype implementing the messaging part of the RosettaNet e-business framework using commonly available open source tools. The requirements, design and implementation of the prototype are presented. The tools turned out to be suitable for the task, but some problems exist that e.g. limit the maximum message size. In addition, interoperability problems between different implementations of RosettaNet messaging arose due to RosettaNet using low expressive power message specification languages, thus leaving room for interpretation regarding message validation.