CEF eDelivery: Component Offering Document for SML, SMP and Access Points available now
European Commission, 2018
The European Commission is happy to announce the publication of Component Offering Description (COD) documents for key components of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) eDelivery Building Block.
CEF is the EU’s main financing instrument for trans-European digital infrastructure. CEF Building Blocks, such as eDelivery, are fundamental components of a Digital Single Market. Their reuse saves organisations:
- Costs: common services and proven technology
- Time: customisable solutions built on common standards
- Resources: via the allocation and mobility of human resources (expertise pools)
CEF eDelivery is a network of nodes for digital communications, based on a distributed model where every participant becomes a node using standard transport protocols and security policies. CEF eDelivery is based on the AS4 messaging protocol.
The CEF eDelivery Access Point (AP) implements a standardised message exchange protocol that ensures interoperable, secure and reliable data exchange.
The CEF eDelivery Service Metadata Publisher (SMP) enables the participants of an eDelivery Messaging Infrastructure to dynamically discover each other's capabilities (legal, organisational, and technical). For this to happen, each participant must publish its capabilities and settings in a Service Metadata Processor (SMP).
The CEF eDelivery Service Metadata Locator (SML) enables Access Points to dynamically discover the IP address of the destination Access Point. Instead of looking at a static list of IP addresses, the Access Point consults a Service Metadata Publisher (SMP) where information about every participant in the document/ data exchange network is kept up to date, including the IP addresses of their Access Point.
The Component Offering Documents describe the CEF eDelivery messaging infrastructure and its dynamic discovery model, the functional and technical specifications of the AP, SML and SMP components and their usage.
CEF grant funding is also available to support the adoption of eDelivery in your organisation. CEF provides € 0.5 million and funding covers up to 75% of the costs of implementation. The deadline for applications is 18 September 2018.