Having trouble keeping up with all the standards being launched around Web services? Join the club. In a new analysis, Jason Stamper provides a much-needed clarification on where we’re at in the standards world. He notes that there are now more than 60 Web services standards and specifications at some stage of development or approval.
Those that mean the most to SOA include Web Services Description Language (WSDL), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI), Business Process Execution Language (BPEL), and last and certainly not least, XML. Emerging specifications that also make a difference include WS-Security and WS-Policy, which is not yet a formal, recognized standard.
The good news is that vendor cooperation to support and move Web services standards forward seems to be holding. "We’re much more focused on getting industry-wide agreement than we used to be," Miko Matsumura, chairman of the Oasis Technical Adoption Committee, is quoted as saying. "The groups do work with each other instead of against each other."
"We were in danger a year ago of some sort of standards meltdown, where people could not agree on some of the higher-level semantics," Jim Rivera, VP of product management for Cape Clear, said in the article. "But I think we have got past that, and the standards are now being well supported and well adopted. There is always more work to do, but we have come a long way."
Stamper advises that while key Web services standards are ready for enterprise application development there are still issues in the areas of security, policy and management. "Users are advised to draw on the technologies offered by development and deployment tools to shore up what is available from the standards and specifications."
Joe McKendrick is an author, consultant and speaker specializing in trends and developments shaping the technology industry.
Disclosure
Joe McKendrick
Joe McKendrick is an independent consultant, editor and speaker.
Joe has performed project work (white papers, articles, blogs, research and presentations) for the following companies in the IT marketspace:
- CBS Interactive/CNET/ZDNet (this blog)
- ebizQ
- Evans Data
- Gartner
- IBM
- Informatica
- IDC
- Microsoft
- Systinet/HP
- Teradata
- Unisphere Reseach, a division of Information Today, Inc.
- WebLayers
Joe has also performed research work for the following sponsoring organizations in partnership with Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc.
- IBM
- Luminex
- Noetix
- Oracle Corp.
- Teradata
- Informatica
- International Oracle Users Group
- Oracle Applications Users Group
- Professional Association for SQL Server
- International DB2 Users Group
- International Sybase Users Group
- SHARE (IBM large systems users group)
Biography
Joe McKendrick
Joe McKendrick is an author and independent analyst who tracks the impact of information technology on management and markets. Joe is co-author, along with 16 leading industry leaders and thinkers, of the SOA Manifesto, which outlines the values and guiding principles of service orientation. He also speaks frequently on Enterprise 2.0 and SOA topics at industry events and Webcasts, and serves on the program committee for this year's SOA & Cloud Symposium in London. As an independent analyst, he has also authored numerous research reports in partnership with Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc. for user groups such as SHARE, Oracle Applications Users Group, and International DB2 Users Group. In a previous life, Joe served as director of the Administrative Management Society (AMS), an international professional association dedicated to advancing knowledge within the IT and business management fields. He is a graduate of Temple University.
