Four global software companies have successfully participated in the world's first automated test and certification trial for the emerging AS4 Internet messaging protocol and one of them is South Africa's Flame Computing Enterprises.

According to Theo Kramer, Chief Technical Officer of Flame Computing, "The OASIS Open AS4 protocol is the latest incarnation of an email-free B2B and B2G messaging technology that provides a standardised method for the secure exchange of business-to-business and business to government messages. This document-agnostic technology is made possible by accessing  web-based services anywhere in the world."

The recent AS4 trial aimed to ensure that different products can work together to seamlessly exchange information and was conducted under the auspices of the Drummond Group, the world authority on interoperability software testing.

"The fact that this test event was designed to support Australia's SuperStream pension fund project is particularly exciting as the Flame Computing AS4 implementation runs on one of the 12 messaging gateways in Australia that exchange pension fund data via AS4," said Mr Kramer.

In 2012 and 2013, the Australian government adopted AS4 as the messaging standard for all business-to-government and business-to-business data exchange and SuperStream represents one of the first large-scale market uses incorporating the unique AS4 standard.

On the benefits of AS4, Mr Kramer explained that this Internet Protocol-messaging technology had the potential to radically reduce human error, and turn around time as it eliminated the human element by ensuring information was transferred directly between business systems as opposed to people. "The potential AS4 applications are practically limitless. The technology can be used by organisations to facilitate speedy invoice payments, or it can be used by medical aids to process claims more efficiently than ever before, for example. Essentially, wherever there is a need for realtime and direct business-to-business transfer of data, AS4 can fill that gap," explained Mr Kramer.

New software applications from Axway, Flame Computing Enterprises, Oban Pty Ltd and TIBCO Software Inc. participated in the Drummond Group vendor-neutral test event.

"AS4 provides the ideal secure and reliable business messaging platform for businesses, governments and other professional organisations to interoperate seamlessly across national, regional and global boundaries," said Mr Kramer.

The new AS4 standard is a significant step forward for reliable and secure business-to-business
messaging. The key driver for AS4 adoption is the simplicity of the standard for the secure and document-agnostic exchange of B2B payloads using web services. Certified interoperable AS4 software saves time, money and frustration of getting commercial products working together.

"Flame Computing is especially pleased to have done South Africa proud by successfully participating in this initial, and landmark, AS4 interoperability testing," concluded Mr Kramer.