RosettaNet: A Forecast by Paul Tearnen
Source: Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore [IDA], March 2004
Article was contributed by Sharon Chua

RosettaNet has certainly established a reputation in the global high-technology industry for bringing businesses closer together. As a global consortium of more than 500 of the world's leading Electronics Components, Information Technology, Logistics, Semiconductor Manufacturing and Telecommunications companies, RosettaNet has succeeded in creating and implementing an ideal and open framework for e-business standards.
 
Beginning in 1998, RosettaNet has developed and delivered e-business process solutions for global supply chains in the United States, Asia and Europe.
 
Closer to home, RosettaNet Singapore continues to emphasize the benefits of RosettaNet standards implementation by teaming up with IDA and the XMLOne User Group to host a two-day conference on 30 and 31 March 2004.
 
E-Business Connections 2004 will encompass two events, the RosettaNet Global Partner Conference Asia and the XMLAsia Conference. Attendees can expect to gain insights into trends and issues in RosettaNet global adoption and learn from successful implementations of RosettaNet process standards by leading high-technology, logistics and telecommunications companies.
 
Before the conference kicks off, we offer a prelude as we speak to Mr Paul Tearnen. The Vice President of Standards Management at RosettaNet, who was in the region last month for RosettaNet's Opening of the Asia Engineering Centre. We found out more about the organization's global progress and updates in Asia, including what are the next challenges.
 
"In previous years, RosettaNet has built a functional kind of raw material, one that can be assembled to do work and provide value to companies at acceptable costs. Now we're looking at how to take what we've done to explore how to implement it to solve different and more complex business problems", he said.
 
"We had previously just been going up the complexity scale but in the last year, we've started seeing more companies wanting to extend out (to reach more trading partners). A typical manufacturing company has around 200 partners. It gets into the thousands when you go into resale distribution. So you need to get much closer to the companies."
 
"However, many companies are feeling that they just don't have enough arms and legs and that's where RosettaNet comes in to reduce that burden. We're still working on the increasing complexity issues, but we're moving more aggressively towards addressing 'scale', with regard to growing implementations.
 
There are requirements for growth in scale but how does RosettaNet intend to rise up to those challenges?
 
"We have to do it in a way that is economically feasible to the hub. At some point, the hub becomes overwhelmed at how to teach its partners to be good 'network citizens'. That becomes challenging just in terms of the amount of technical education during that business provisioning process. This is an area where RosettaNet can provide a lot of help", exclaimed Mr Tearnen.
 
"Although each hub is different, if you look at all of them together, there are patterns in all these differences. The trick is to describe the subtle differences between interpretations, but do that in a standardised way. What we'll see in late 2004 and 2005 are much more economical ways to connect and manage these larger networks and more feasible ways to describe more complex processes."
 
"That said, although a lot of RosettaNet's initiatives this year may indicate we're much more weighted towards gaining breadth, we're actually more balanced in both growing upwards and outwards", he added.
 
So what is Asia's outlook in the adoption of RosettaNet standards, especially in Singapore?
 
"Over the past several years, Asia has seen increasing activities around high-tech manufacturing. Because of the importance placed on world economies and global supply chains, many Asia-based governments are interested in creating a more attractive climate for businesses. On many levels, countries are competing to keep manufacturing in their home ground. High-tech companies are asking their suppliers to communicate through RosettaNet."
 
"Singapore and IDA have always been very supportive of RosettaNet and moreover, its pro-business infrastructure and vast pool of potential partners are advantageous. It's a great choice for Singapore to focus on developing an integrated global logistics hub as it is a core competency," said Mr Tearnen.
 
Mr Tearnen cited a typical RosettaNet success story in Singapore, among others.
 
One of these success cases is Seagate Technology. There were implementations that were of significant scale and most importantly integrated with the local SMEs. These are things that have been challenging for other RosettaNet implementers.
 
What is RosettaNet's agenda at the upcoming E-Business Connections 2004?
 
"The conference sessions will be focused on communicating the business benefits of RosettaNet implementations. In addition, we'll be doing a presentation on e-Customs and related industry initiatives. The programme is also heavily weighted towards case studies. There will certainly be many good industry speakers to give different perspectives."
 
Mr Tearnen and his team from RosettaNet Global will be in town next week to preach the standards. And Singapore businesses will benefit from what they're going to share on.
 
For more information on RosettaNet, visit www.rosettanet.org. If you are interested to find out more about E-Business Connections 2004, please visit www.ebizconnect.com.sg or call 65-6225-9466. RosettaNet Global Partner Conference will be held on March 30 and 31 at the Raffles City Convention Centre.

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