PLIB ontology for B2B electronic commerce

Currently computers are changing from single isolated devices to entry points into a world wide network of information exchange and business transactions called the World Wide Web (WWW). Therefore support in the exchange of data, information, and knowledge is becoming the key issue in current computer technology. Ontologies provide a shared and common understanding of a domain that can be communicated between partners (which are two companies for example) and application systems. Therefore, they may play a major role in supporting information exchange processes in various areas especially in B2B ecommerce. This paper discusses the role ontologies will play in electronic commerce and the need for having a common ontology for defining products and components involved in business processes and data exchange. In addition, we show that business protocols and product ontologies may be orthogonal.