Sun's a late riser on WS-I board

By Martin LaMonica, CNET News, 26 March, 2003 18:06

NEWS

The Web Services Interoperability Organisation (WS-I) on Wednesday announced that Sun Microsystems and integration software company WebMethods have been elected on its board of directors. WS-I provides guidelines to software companies and businesses on how to conform to published Web services standards. The group, which has about 160 members, was created in February 2002 to coordinate the work of different standards bodies and ensure that Web services products adhere to the same software blueprints. The term Web services describes a series of XML-based protocols and a method for writing programs that can easily exchange information across disparate systems. Because companies can implement published standards in a somewhat different way, incompatibilities can arise between different companies' products. The WS-I's intent is to publish "profiles," or guidelines, that give companies and customers a way to ensure smooth interoperability between standards-compliant software. Particularly significant in the voting results is the election of Sun to the board of directors. In what was perceived as manoeuvring to minimise the role of Sun in the Web services standards process, the company was not invited as a founding member of the WS-I. Microsoft and IBM were among the founding members of the WS-I although Sun later joined the group. The board of the WS-I will set the agenda for the standards group over the coming year when the term starts 1 April. The group will tackle Web services standards that address security and are expected to take on reliable messaging specifications as well. The WS-I has already published a draft profile for adhering to the basic Web services protocols, including Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Web services Description Language (WSDL), Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) and XML document definitions. Sun's chief Web services strategist, Mark Hapner, will serve a two-year term on the board, and WebMethods' vice president of enterprise Web services, Andy Astor, will serve one year. Current board members Accenture, BEA Systems, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP will stay on. Starting next year, members will be elected each year to two-year terms. With Web services standards becoming increasingly important to future products, there is a lot riding on the success of the WS-I's goal of interoperable software, analysts said. The WS-I is expected to help sort out overlapping standards proposals, some of which have caused friction among companies. So far, WS-I is getting the appropriate industry and customer support for its work, said John Kiger, director of Web services strategy at BEA and a WS-I board member. "It's a dynamic process where we get a lot of divergent views," Kiger said. "With the appropriate leadership, the WS-I can corral the divergent views into a resolution that meets the initial goals."

What standards will drive the next wave of Web-based services, and how will they interact? Check out the latest developments on .Net, Java, Liberty Alliance, Passport and other technologies at ZDNet UK's Web Services News Section, including analysis, case studies and management issues. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

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