Framework of Electronic Commerce

Technical Standards And Network Protocols	Electronic Commerce Applications (Online shopping, Internet Banking)	Policies, Privacy And Legal Issues
	Business Services (Security, Authentication, Electronic Payment)
	Messaging and Information Distribution Infrastructure (email, HTTP)
	Content and Publishing Infrastructure (Java, HTML)
	Transmission Infrastructure (Internet, Wireless, TV)

The above framework for Electronic commerce defines the different components that need to be in place to ensure the success of electronic commerce. These components may represent different market opportunities that would enable new players to step in, creating a whole new set of market dynamics. By understanding the different industries and market supporting electronic commerce, effective business strategies can be developed.

The Transmission Infrastructure deals primarily with the bandwidth requirements as well as the different forms of high-speed network transport whether it is land-based telephone, air-based wireless, modem-based PC or satellite based. Research is continually conducted in these areas to essentially increase the availability of bandwidth as well as connectivity to different medium of delivery e.g. cable TV, handphones and etc). The increase bandwidth as well as easy accessibility to information via different medium will increase the potential of electronic commerce. One significant advancement in this area is the development of new transport protocols e.g. ADSL (Asymmetic Digital Subscriber Line) which enables the transmission of over 2 Mb of data over common copper telephone lines.

In areas of content and publishing, currently the most prevalent architecture that enables network publishing is the World Wide Web which allows small business and individuals to develop content in the form of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and publish it on a Web server. Significant improvement has also been made in the areas of content management with the development of Java which allows the publishing of information over various computing platform. New development e.g. Jini would eventually allow information to be distributed over intelligent devices.

Messaging and information distribution deals with the process of carrying content which have been developed and stored in web servers across a network. Messaging provide ways for communication unstructured (e.g. fax, email) as well as structured data which consist of automated interchange of standardised and approved messages between computer applications via telecommunications lines. Examples of structured document messaging are purchase orders, shipping notices and invoices.

For the purpose of electronic commerce, existing messaging mechanism must be extended to incorporate reliable, unalterable message delivery that is not subject to repudiation, to be able to acknowledge and give proof of delivery when required. The challenge in the development of messaging software is to make it work across a variety of communication devices (PC, set-top boxes and wireless devices), interfaces (characters, graphics and virtual reality) and networks (satellite, cable, fiber optics and wireless).

Business services infrastructure deals with the different methods for facilitating online buying and selling processes. To ensure the success of electronic commerce, online payment services need to ensure encryption (making contents unreadable except to the recipient) and authentication (making sure the customers are who they say they are). In addition to generic payment services, electronic commerce will need to accommodate other desirable payment-related services such as currency exchange, cash management and etc. Development of secure transactions and secure online payment instruments (such as digital cash and electronic cheques) is currently one of the most active areas of electronic commerce. Security issues e.g. firewalls and etc continues to be develop to ensure security of online transactions.

Electronic commerce applications are emerging and new applications which takes advantages of the World Wide Web are being developed and implemented. These applications ranges from Internet banking which provides customers with the ability to better manage their funds to online stock trading, electronic travel agents and online shopping.

Policies and issues as well as technical standards are the two supporting pillars for all electronic commerce applications and infrastructure.

Policies, privacy and legal issues related to areas such as access, copyright, regulations to protect consumers from fraud, protection of consumer's rights to privacy and the policing of global information traffic to detect information privacy or pornography. Other policy matters could relate to international taxation due to globalisation, intellectual properties and etc.

Technical standards are important in the World Wide Web and for electronic commerce as a whole as it ensures the compatibility of information access across many networks. As an example, one of the standards being established is in the areas of financial messaging where the Open Financial Exchange (OFX), a standard established by Microsoft, Intuit and Checkfree is developed to enable the transfer of financial information across many disparate networks. In future, with an OFX compatible browser, customers are able to access many different banking host to enable bank-to-bank transfer as long as these banks subscribe to the OFX standards.