Press Release - CECID Contributed Self-Service Hermes Messaging Gatewayv

[Patrick Yee <kcyee@cecid.hku.hk>]

*CECID Contributed Self-Service Hermes Messaging Gateway v2.0 (H2O) 
Testing Server for Free 
<http://www.cecid.hku.hk/pressrelease_20080229_H20%20Testing%20server_v2a.php>*

Hong Kong SAR, Peoples Republic of China – 29 February 2008 – Center for 
E-Commerce Infrastructure Development (CECID), The University of Hong 
Kong (HKU) is pleased to contribute Hermes Messaging Gateway v2.0 (H2O) 
testing server for free to facilitate users to conduct self-service 
testing after its installation.

Since its release at CECID open-source community website 
<http://community.cecid.hku.hk/index.php> in June 2007, H2O has been 
downloaded and adopted by developers and users from over 60 economies 
around the world. Overwhelming responses and valuable feedback are 
received daily via the mailing list cecid-hermes2@googlegroups.com 
<mailto:cecid-hermes2@googlegroups.com> and the community website, in 
which some users reported that they experienced difficulties in setting 
up the appropriate configuration during installation, and finding 
partners for testing. In response to these comments related to H2O 
installation, a testing server which serves as a virtual testing machine 
is being setup at the community website to facilitate users to 
troubleshoot installation problems and conduct self-service testing on 
network connectivity to the Internet and message exchange functions.

The H2O testing server (a.k.a. Swallow) is a web-based platform for 
testing messaging functionality of any client installed with H2O. It 
acts as a standardized, user-friendly, and comprehensive testing suite 
for users to test and learn how to use H2O practically. At Swallow, a 
user interface is provided to create an interoperability profile. After 
setting up, users can send their testing messages from their message 
gateway to Swallow. In turn, Swallow will send responses back to the 
users' message gateway, notifying them the message status and reporting 
error messages if any. All these network data is captured and displayed 
at Swallow's web interface for ease of monitoring the message 
connectivity. In short, Swallow helps users to install H2O more 
effectively and provides an Internet-based host to test their H2O 
deployment in a holistic way. Try it out yourself at 
http://community.cecid.hku.hk/swallow/.

**

*About Hermes* (www.cecid.hku.hk/hermes.php 
<http://www.cecid.hku.hk/hermes.php>)

First version released in June 2002, Hermes has since become a popular 
and awards-winning open source solution for organizations to exchange 
information in ebXML Messaging (ebMS) or Applicability Specification 2 
(AS2) format with their business partners. The latest version, H2O 
(H-two-oh), replaces two predecessors (H2CE and H2EE) with additional 
tools and a full set of documentation to make configuration and 
administration even more easily. H2O and its source code 
(http://community.cecid.hku.hk/index.php/product/download/download_h2o/) 
are released under GNU General Public License Version 2 
<http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html>. Users and developers can get 
community support through the mailing list 
cecid-hermes2@googlegroups.com <mailto:cecid-hermes2@googlegroups.com>. 
To enhance support to H2O users, many useful information and articles 
ranging from technical issues to general usage of H2O in different 
platforms can be obtained from CECID open-source community website 
(http://community.cecid.hku.hk/index.php 
<http://community.cecid.hku.hk/index.php/>). In addition, CECID's VARs 
provide professional support to save users time. Requests can be sent to 
enquiry@cecid.hku.hk <mailto:enquiry@cecid.hku.hk>.

*About CECID* (www.cecid.hku.hk <http://www.cecid.hku.hk/index.php>)

Established in January 2002, Center for E-Commerce Infrastructure 
Development (CECID) at the University of Hong Kong conducts e-commerce 
research and development with the vision of helping organizations 
increase their competitiveness in the global economy. CECID develops 
e-commerce enabling technologies, participates in important 
international e-commerce initiatives, as well as supports e-commerce 
standardization for Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific Region. With projects 
primarily funded by the Hong Kong Government's Innovation and Technology 
Commission, CECID also takes on the mission to transfer knowledge and 
technology to the community. Besides organizing forums and seminars, the 
Center licenses its R&D results through the University of Hong Kong to 
IT industry. Its acclaimed e-commerce technology, Hermes, has penetrated 
over 80 economies and won the Best Infrastructure and Communication 
Application of the Linux Business Award 2005 as well as Certificates of 
Merit of the Asia-Pacific ICT Awards 2004 and HK Computer Society IT 
Excellence Award 2004.

*PR Contacts for Press and Analysts *
Rosanna Yip (rwyyip@cecid.hku.hk <mailto:rwyyip@cecid.hku.hk>)
Operations Manager
Center for E-Commerce Infrastructure Development (CECID)
Dept. of Computer Science
The University of Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2241 5798
Fax: +852 2547 4611
URL: www.cecid.hku.hk <http://www.cecid.hku.hk>