ICE Version 1.1 Hits the Street
Breakthrough enhancements
to standard for digital asset exchange
released at XML Europe 2000
PARIS (XML Europe, 13 June 2000) - The
Information and Content Exchange (ICE) Working
Group has released ICE Version 1.1, adding tremendous
capabilities to this already powerful digital
asset exchange standard. Version 1.1 is now available
on the ICE web site, www.icestandard.org.
The ICE standard, an initiative hosted by IDEAlliance,
reduces the cost of doing business online and
increases the value of B2B relationships. ICE
facilitates the controlled exchange and management
of electronic assets between networked partners
and affiliates. Applications based on ICE allow
companies to easily construct syndicated publishing
networks, Web superstores, and online reseller
channels by establishing Web site-to-Web site
information networks.
"Thousands of companies are using ICE-based
products from vendors such as Arcadia, Intershop,
Kinecta, Macromedia, Quark, Vignette and Xenosys,"
commented ICE Working Group chair Laird Popkin
of Sotheby’s. "The work we’ve done
to improve the standard will make it easier to
automate even more tasks and will help knit the
digital economy more tightly together."
The new version has the following added capabilities:
1. Controlled Extensibility: This defined mechanism
extends ICE at both the subscription and protocol
levels. For example, companies can extend ICE
to seamlessly insert encryption at any level in
the protocol. ICE automatically assures that both
parties agree prior to operating with any new
extension. Companies can also add additional application
or industry-specific extensions to support content
delivery dialects.
2. Generalized Parameter Negotiation: Business
partners can negotiate any set of parameters using
the newly updated negotiation mechanism in ICE1.1.
This new mechanism is simple and extremely powerful.
A syndicator can construct a catalog of offers
that exclusively reflect capabilities it offers.
Each offer can contain not only ICE operational
parameters (delivery times, delivery frequencies,
number of deliveries, etc.) but also any other
set of important parameters available for negotiation
(price, summarization, special content issues,
partial content issues, image resolution, view
window size, type of graphics, etc.).
3. Delivery Policy Controls on Referenced ICE
Items: Allows a syndicator to explicitly control
both the times and the authorization for a subscriber
to access content. It is now possible to tell
subscribers that they have access to streaming
content for a specific time period on specific
days.
4. Carefully Specified Inter-Operability Semantics:
Rules to ensure that ICE implementations can speak
to each other as the protocol gets upgraded over
time.
What this all means is that the processes used
in setting up B2B digital asset exchanges can
now be almost entirely automated. This solves
a major problem most companies face – the
shortage of technical talent necessary to set
up the partnerships that senior management spearheads.
The ICE standard was designed specifically to
streamline these processes and allow scarce technical
resources to focus on their other critical tasks.
The ICE specification provides businesses with
an XML-based common language and architecture
that facilitates automatic exchanging, updating,
supplying and controlling of assets in a controlled
fashion without manual packaging or knowledge
of remote Web site structures. For consumer Web
sites, end users benefit from more complete, easier-to-use
Web destinations that reduce the frustration of
having to surf through many inadequate, narrowly
focused Web sites to find what they need.
In short, ICE makes it possible to create new
classes of commercial Web applications across
industries such as financial services, publishing,
high technology and travel. As with most successful
standards initiatives, ICE is based not only on
the contributions of technology companies, but
also on a unique combination of sources of and
destinations for online assets. The ICE Authoring
Group includes Active Data Exchange, Adobe Systems
Corp., Fresher Information Systems, Herrick-Douglas,
Kinecta Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, National
Semiconductor, Plumtree Software, Seagate, Sotheby’s,
Sun Microsystems, Tribune Media Services, Vignette
Corporation, Wavo Corporation and What U Want,
Inc.
IDEAlliance is a vendor-neutral organization
supporting the development of industry information
standards. The formation of IDEAlliance is the
latest step in Graphic Communications Association’s
(GCA) more than 30-year history of fostering the
development of various structured information
standards. For more information on IDEAlliance
or ICE, visit our booth at XML Europe 2000, our
web site at www.idealliance.org, or contact IDEAlliance
Public Information Officer Pete Janhunen at 703/519-8190
or pjanhunen@idealliance.org.
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