The ICE standard makes it easier for syndicators to deliver information in a controlled way to subscribers. It does not itself specify the format of the syndicated content data, it is just bytes inside an ICE-defined envelope. The character data inside can be structured using one of the industry-specific XML data representations like BizTalk, RosettaNet, CommerceOne, WDDX, and others.
ICE defines a publish and subscribe mechanism via simple request and response messages.
Before syndication can occur, the syndicator must configure a syndication server, specifying which offers are available to which subscribers at what time. The server holds a catalog of all the available offers, including delivery policies. Offers can be grouped hierarchically for easier navigation, and subscribers can then pick and choose subscriptions from that catalog. To fulfill subscriptions, the syndicator sends directives in a package to update a subscriber from an old to a new state. So ICE defines how documents are distributed in a controlled way, not specifying what these documents are or how they look like.