Distributed Systems Technology for Electronic Commerce Applications

Based on the specific characteristics of electronic commerce (ECommerce) requirements for an adequate system support, this contribution gives an overview of the respective distributed systems technology which is (or will be shortly) available for open and heterogeneous electronic commerce applications. Starting from basic communication mechanisms this includes (transactionally secure) remote procedure call and database access mechanisms, service trading and brokerage functions as well as security aspects including such as notary and non-repudiation functions. Further important elements of a system infrastructure for E-Commerce applications are: common middleware infrastructures, componentware techniques, distributed and mobile agent technologies etc. Increasingly new and important topics in this area are currently: workflow management support for compound and distributed E-Commerce services as well as negotiation protocols to support both the settlement and the fulfillment of electronic contracts in E-Commerce applications. In addition to an overview of the state of the art of the respective technology, the paper also presents briefly some aspects of related projects conducted by the authors jointly with international partners (sponsored by EU/ACTS, EU/ESPRIT, DFG) in order to realize some of the important new functions of a systems infrastructure for open distributed E-Commerce applications.