 the site and integrate its functions, such as product availability and ordering, into its backend OSS using one of several integration methods to be discussed. Often these B2B portals will be personalized and branded to the needs of the individual business partner. A good example of this would be a cable provider that has partnered with a retail electronics company to distribute cable modems and high-speed Internet access services. Personnel in the electronics store would access a customized portal via a standard Web browser to "sign-up" up a customer for service. From an integration perspective, there is nothing uniquely challenging in this approach. The portal is simply another OSS application that requires careful integration into the overall OSS fabric and faces the same issues as would, say, the integration of a CRM system. The electronic interchange of messages between business partners brings some unique considerations. The concept of electronic communication between communications providers has existed for many years. In the earliest incarnations, the messages consisted of files that were created in one company and transferred or shipped to the other. A good example of this Chapter 6 - Integrating the OSS Platform would be the Access Service Request (ASR) process, still widely in use today. Later, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) was used to format messages and transfer them to partners, typically over some form of VAN. The Local Service Request (LSR) process exemplifies this approach. In recent years we have seen the Internet become the backbone for message transport, while XML is the message formatting technique. What has challenged not only the communication industry, but also many other industries, is the need for industry-wide messaging standards. While standards such as HTTP and XML provide a flexible and low cost means of message exchange, very little can be accomplished without specific definitions of the messages and the exchange protocol rules among providers. Standards are needed, but establi