What is the relationship of UBL to ebXML?
The impetus to begin the UBL TC came from the desire of a number of ebXML participants to define a standard XML payload format for ebXML — that is, an XML counterpart to traditional EDI standards such as X12 and EDIFACT. As described further at ebxml.org, the ebXML suite of specifications, many of them now standardized as ISO 15000, provides a complete, next-generation XML-based infrastructure that enables EDI functionality over the free Internet. UBL provides a standard data format for the messages to be exchanged in such an infrastructure. However, UBL is designed to be “agnostic” with respect to the infrastructure, and UBL messages can be used in a very wide range of functional contexts, from complex service-oriented architectures (SOAs) to the simple exchange of documents via email.
