Distributed and Parallel Systems
Description
DAPSY (Austrian-Hungarian Workshop on Distributed and Parallel Systems) is an international conference series with biannual events dedicated to all aspects of distributed and parallel computing. DAPSY started under a different name in 1992 (Sopron, Hungary) as regional meeting of Austrian and Hungarian researchers focusing on transputer-related parallel computing; a hot research topic of that time. A second workshop followed in 1994 (Budapest, Hungary). As transputers became history, the scope of the workshop widened to include parallel and distributed systems in general and the 1st DAPSYS in 1996 (Miskolc, Hungary) reflected the results of these changes.
Distributed and Parallel Systems: Cluster and Grid Computing is an edited volume based on DAPSYS, 2004, the 5th Austrian-Hungarian Workshop on Distributed and Parallel Systems. The workshop was held in conjunction with EuroPVM/MPI-2004, Budapest, Hungary September 19-22, 2004.
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GRID SOLUTION FOR E-MARKETPLACES INTEGRATED WITH LOGISTICS (p. 155-156)
Abstract: Electronic marketplaces are important facilitators of today’s e-business activities. Besides substantial advantages offered by these exchange sites, e-marketplaces do not work up to their full potential at the moment. This paper describes both a new business model and its technical implementation using Grid technology. A new, three-sided e-commerce model is suggested that integrates buyers, sellers and logistics service providers who all participate in the same negotiation process. To solve computation intensive optimisation tasks and to integrate back-office and marketplace applications, a Grid services based marketplace implementation model is outlined.
Key words: e-business, logistics, e-marketplace, Grid service, legacy code
1. INTRODUCTION
The evolution of business models and technological solutions advance together like intertwining spirals motivating and supporting each other. Business requirements drive information technology (IT) to find new tools and techniques that make businesses develop new needs again. Early electronic commerce – Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) - was started because telecommunication between computers facilitated a new relationship between businesses.
The rise of new business needs resulted in new communication standards and protocols. Real ecommerce was born out of the opportunity offered by the World Wide Web and triggered new IT researches again. After the unrealistic hype of the 90’s and the crises around 2000 e-commerce by now has entered the reality phase where efficiency drives the businesses, Internet usage adds value and increases the profitability of the companies. (Plankett Research 2004) A main target area of seeking business efficiency is supply chain management (SCM). Today a substantial part of supply chains are managed across the Internet still they contain a surprisingly high amount of inefficiencies. (Oliver at al. 2002) Both business and technology sides should be revised to find ways of improvement.
New e-commerce models might be considered and the latest information technology tools searched for to support them. The Grid concept has been created for solving computation intensive scientific problems, but the possibility of business applications was soon discovered. The convergence between Web services and Grid computing, that was triggered by the specification of OGSA (Open Grid Services Architecture) (Foster et al., 2002), resulted in even more intensive interest from large industry players towards Grid-based solutions. OGSA defines a Grid architecture that is based on Web service standards and protocols. As Web services are becoming more and more common in business applications, a Grid architecture based on SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) communication and WSDL (Web Services Description Language) service descriptions is the natural model to adopt in a business environment.
This paper would like to provide a step forward both in the fields of business and technology. As an answer to SCM problems a new, threesided e-commerce model is suggested that integrates buyers, sellers and logistics service providers in the same negotiation process. This marketplace helps trading partners to minimise their costs and increase their profit. The online optimisation requires large amounts of computation without any delay, which has focused attention on Grid technology. Following the direction set by Kacsukné (2004) and using the Grid-based e-marketplace architecture introduced by Kiss at al. (2004) this article gives a complex picture of the new e-marketplace model and its planned implementation.
