Towards XML-enabling e-commerce infomediary: a case study in cargo tracking

In e-commerce, the infomediary is rapidly becoming an important business model on the Web. It helps customers deal more efficiently and effectively with online vendors, and it also provides vendors with consumer information to help them focus on products and services customers want. The authors propose a three-tier paradigm for developing a logistics infomediary. This paradigm integrates emerging technologies of the next-generation Web based systems: XML, Java Servlet, and wireless computing, to address the three issues for the development: data acquisition, data analysis and extraction, and unified message exchange. It is capable of accepting requests from general browsers and retrieving data from different platforms of intended information sources, and presents them in a consistent and personalized format. An application was made to the air cargo tracking function to facilitate the operation of a customs clearance company.