Over the past couple of years, several technology vendors have defined a
comprehensive set of specifications that, when complete, will provide an
infrastructure for enterprise-class Web services interoperability. The names
of these specifications generally begin with "WS-", so the group of them is
sometimes referred to as WS* (pronounced "WS Splat").
This article identifies the important WS* standards, briefly defines those
that have not yet achieved mass-market acceptance, and describes the current
state of development for each. At the end, we offer our view of each
specification's relative market importance.
We will use Figure 1 to structure the discussion. Note: "Composable" means
that items are independent, and can be plugged together (or not) with
relative ease. "C... (more)
This article makes the case that Web services provide a significant benefit
to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance projects, and that they will therefore be used
extensively on these projects. We begin with a very brief primer on the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act, then describe the connection between SOX and Web
services, including an outline of how most Sarbanes-Oxley projects are
conducted, and where Web s... (more)
In 1998, Michael Kunze wrote an article for c't, a biweekly German computing
magazine, hoping to demonstrate that free software could be an effective
substitute for its commercial counterparts. In the article, he coined the
acronym "LAMP" to describe an illustrative collection of available software -
the Linux operating system; the Apache Web server; the MySQL relational
database managem... (more)
This column may require a little patience on your part, but I think it will
be worth it in the end. Let's start with a simple premise: within a year,
nearly everyone reading these words will be deeply impacted by
Sarbanes-Oxley, yet many have never heard of it. The purpose of this note is
to offer you a preview of what's to come. In other words, a wake-up call.
First of all, who or what i... (more)
In many respects, Web services are nothing new. They are just a natural
evolution of an approach to building systems that dates back 40 years. On the
other hand, they hold the promise of truly transforming computing in the same
way that client/server computing did over the past 15 years. This article
tries to address the question, "What's all the excitement about?"
What is a Service?
Let'... (more)
Andy Astor is co-founder, president and CEO of EnterpriseDB. Prior to EDB, he was a vice president at webMethods, Inc., where he was responsible for technical marketing, corporate acquisition integration and standards leadership and evangelism. While at webMethods, he was elected twice to the Board of Directors of the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I), and he served as that organization's Marketing Chair. A frequent speaker at industry conferences, Andy is also on the International Advisory Board for SOA Web Services Journal.
Moe Tamani
Eric Lantz
Scot Schultz
Brian Sparks
Gilad Shainer
Clint Lee
Maria Lorna Kunnath
Bill Bauman
Melih Oztalay
Kathleen Taylor
