BPMI.org Press Release

ENTRICOM JOINS BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE - BPMI

Entricom to assist in the development of XML-based standard for the management of mission-critical business processes.

SEATTLE, WA - August 08, 2000 - Entricom, developer of the first XML-based Operation Support System (OSS) for next-generation Communication Service Providers, today announced they would be an active participant in the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI.org). BPMI intends to define standards for managing mission-critical business processes that span multiple applications, corporate departments, and business partners. The standards generated from the initiative will support and complement existing business-to-business collaboration protocols such as RosettaNet, BizTalk, and ebXML, as well as technology integration standards including J2EE and SOAP.

The first deliverable of BPMI will be the specification of the Business Process Modeling Language (BPML). BPML is an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) Schema that provides a standard way to model mission-critical business processes. XML is the new Internet standard for marking up data to facilitate exchanges of information between businesses, independently of applications and platforms.

By covering many dimensions of business process modeling that are specific to processes deployed internally to the enterprise, including business rules, security roles, distributed transactions, compensating transactions, and exception handling, BPML will bridge the gap between legacy IT infrastructures and emerging business-to-business collaboration protocols.

"XML is rapidly becoming the key in exchanging data and the BPMI will model the business processes used to control this flow of information", said LaVar Edwards, CTO at Entricom. "By participating in BPMI, we will assist in defining an open standard that enables business processes to span multiple applications. The telecommunications industry has complex interdependent business processes and non-integrated applications that will benefit from the creation of an open standard. We intend to use BPML in our framework to keep multiple applications in sync and provide the building blocks for business process automation and end-to-end integration."

The Business Process Modeling Language will enable the enterprise to model, deploy, and manage business processes such as order management, customer care, demand planning, product development, and strategic sourcing. This will allow the IT infrastructure to provide greater adaptability to the business of the enterprise and easier manageability of constantly evolving business processes, eventually leading to higher levels of profitability.

BPMI founding members include Aventail, Black Pearl, Blaze Software, Bowstreet, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Computer Sciences Corporation, Cyclone Commerce, DataChannel, Entricom, Intalio, Ontology.Org, S1 Corporation, Versata, VerticalNet, Verve, and the XMLFund.

ABOUT ENTRICOM
Entricom has developed the first XML-based Operations Support System (OSS) that enables business process automation and end-to-end integration for next-generation Communication Service Providers (CSPs). Entricom has built a flexible, scalable, and open XML framework and suite of software applications that answer next-generation CSPs need for fast service launch, flow-through provisioning, secure access, and agile response to market growth. Entricom's XML framework supports the integration of Entricom's software applications and other best-in-class OSS applications including those offered by companies such as Lucent, Nortel Networks, Architel, Cisco Systems, ADC Saville, Portal, Telecom Software, SCC, and Siebel Systems. Entricom's framework and software applications capture, manage, share, and distribute all the OSS data these multiple applications need for flow-through provisioning. The combination of Entricom's telecommunications expertise, XML-based framework, robust suite of OSS software applications, and enterprise-wide integration provides the next-generation CSP with a comprehensive OSS solution, competitive advantage, and higher customer satisfaction. Entricom is a privately held company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. For more information about Entricom and its products and services, please visit the Entricom website at www.entricom.com.

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