S. Boll et al., EMP - A database-driven electronic market place for business-to-business commerce on the Internet, DIST PARALL, 7(2), 1999, pp. 149-177
Electronic commerce systems for business-to-business commerce on the Intern
et are still in their infancy. The realization of Internet electronic marke
ts for business-to-business following a n-suppliers : m-customers scenario
is still unattainable with todays solutions. Comprehensive Internet electro
nic commerce systems should provide for easy access to and handling of the
system, help to overcome differences in time of business, location, languag
e between suppliers and customers, and at the same time should support the
entire process of trading for business-to-business commerce. In this paper,
we present a DBMS-based electronic commerce architecture and its prototypi
cal implementation for business-to-business commerce according to a n-suppl
iers : m-customers scenario. Business transactions within the electronic ma
rket are realized by a set of modular market services. Multiple physically
distributed markets can be interconnected transparently to the users and fo
rm one virtually central market place. The modeling and management of all m
arket data in a DBMS gives the system a solid basis for reliable, consisten
t, and secure trading on the market. The generic and modular system archite
cture can be applied to arbitrary application domains. The system is scalab
le and can cope with an increasing number of single markets, participants,
and market data due to the possibility to replicate and distribute services
and data and herewith to distribute data, system, and network load.