Web services

Microsoft and SAP cement web-services relationship

IT PROFESSIONALS can look forward to deeper integration between Microsoft’s .NET and SAP’s Netweaver platforms, after the two companies outlined plans that will help to consolidate the importance of web services in next-generation enterprise software.

The companies hope jointly developed offerings will enhance access to SAP’s Netweaver functionality for developers using Visual Studio .NET, and improve interoperability between SAP solutions and Microsoft’s Office suite. The majority of businesses using SAP tools also run Microsoft applications and operating systems.

Among those products slated for enhancement under the partnership initiative are SAP’s enterprise portal SDK solution, its .NET Connector, support for Visual Studio and advanced web services protocols, and better integration with Exchange and Windows SharePoint Services. SAP and Microsoft will also jointly staff a collaboration technology support centre and partner for sales and product marketing.
www.microsoft.com
www.sap.com

PayPal debuts web services-compatible APIs

ONLINE PAYMENT provider PayPal has made a new set of web services APIs available to developers and merchants, who could leverage the PayPal’s payment infrastructure to facilitate transactions and retrieve related information.

A beta release of the tools provides access to three main APIs:

TransactionSearch, which is based of specified search criteria such as payment date or customer name and returns basic transaction details;
GetTransactionDetails, which will return all the details related to transactions, such as the customer’s e-mail address or time of purchase;
RefundTransaction, which will reverse a given transaction and initiate a refund.

PayPal also hope to add a MassPay API, to transfer funds to multiple recipients. All PayPal web services are based on open standards such as Soap and WSDL.

Developers can download the APIs from PayPal Developer Central at:
https://developer.paypal.com/

IDC study shows web services usage is on the up

WEB-SERVICES projects are increasing in number, scale and frequency, and its key standards are finally penetrating everyday business activities, according to a study by market analysts IDC.

The research, which analysed survey results from eight global IT services companies, reveals that most services firms are offering a broad sweep of services alongside web services, particularly service-oriented architectures (SOAs) and consulting, integration, training, support and management. The survey found that around half of respondents have embedded such capabilities in existing, revised service offerings, while the other half have taken a dual approach to offer both web and SOA-specific services in tandem.

“Services firms' worldwide web services-related revenue will increase exponentially in 2004 as companies unveil robust pipelines of opportunities,” said Sophie Mayo, director of web services implementation research at IDC. “The attention does not revolve solely around web services anymore. Instead, more eyes are turning toward strategic and long-term decisions around adopting standards-based SOAs.”

Most projects in 2003 tackled web services for internal and external integration, but in 2004, SOA will become a major driver for web services standards adoption in large enterprises, with much transformational work embedded in outsourcing projects. In the US, large enterprises are most likely to make strategic investments in SOAs, while adoption in Asia and the Pacific region will be much smaller by comparison. For European companies, projects are expected to remain tactical and cutting-edge, with an emphasis on reducing costs, driving revenue and pursuing the latest technology.

Among the companies surveyed by IDC are Accenture, Capgemini, Fujitsu and HP.
www.idc.com
www.accenture.com
www.capgemini.com
www.fujitsu.com
www.hp.com

Standards group rubber-stamps emergency alert protocol

THE OASIS standards consortium has approved version one of the Common Alerting Protocol, which enables the exchange of emergency alert and public warning information over data networks and computer-controlled warning systems.

CAP is fully compatible with existing public warning systems, including those designed for special needs users, multi-lingual platforms, and XML web services applications.

"The CAP Oasis standard has been designed to allow a consistent warning message to be communicated simultaneously over different systems," explained Allen Wyke, chair of the Oasis emergency management technical committee. "By standardising on a format, technology developers and vendors in the emergency, incident, and business-continuity fields will be able to take a huge step forward in sharing this critical information."

It is hoped that the standard will reduce costs and operational complexity associated with such warning systems by simplifying the software interface and allowing it to interact with many sources. CAP has already been implemented by several US local and national agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.
www.oasis-open.org
www.dhs.gov

Browser dispute rumbles on with Eolas’ rebuttal

THE LONG-running patent dispute between Eolas and Microsoft shows no signs of abating, despite the US Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) recent decision in favour of Microsoft.

Eolas Technologies has submitted a 10-page response to the USPTO’s ruling, which upheld claims from Microsoft and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that prior art existed to invalidate Eolas’ patent claims. The patent at the centre of a $521m lawsuit relates to the way Internet Explorer operates with plug-in and applet technology like ActiveX. In the response documents, Eolas has reiterated its main arguments for patent rights and remains confident that the decision will be reversed.

In November 2003, the W3C had petitioned the USPTO to re-examine the patent, fearing irreparable damage to website functionality, and in February of this year, the patent officer agreed that there was sufficient evidence of prior art to reject Eolas’ patent claims. However, Eolas now has the opportunity to appeal this latest decision, setting up a back-and-forth appeals cycle between itself and Microsoft that could continue for years.
www.eolas.com
www.microsoft.com
www.uspto.gov
www.w3c.org

Huge growth predicted for web-services-management tools market

THE WEB-services-management tools market is expected to be worth $30.4bn by 2010 compared with just $194m today, according to research from ZapThink, the web-services analysts.

In a report entitled Web services management: the maturation of a transitional market, ZapThink believe vendors will expand their product lines to assist companies in the building of service-oriented architectures. Established system management vendors that add SOA capabilities to existing offerings are expected to dominate the market.

"Management vendors are adding security, process vendors are adding management, and integration vendors are adding management and security," said Jason Bloomberg, an analyst with ZapThink. "Everyone is adding functionality from other areas."

ZapThink anticipate that most businesses will work with just one vendor to address their software needs, and this will see today’s fragmented market consolidate over the next 18 months. Although there will opportunities for innovative vendors to enter this space, such chances will lessen considerably with rapid consolidation. The analysts estimate the market for new web services management vendors will peak at $350m in 2006.

“Web services management is not really a separate market long term, because the big boys are going to begin adding those capabilities to their products," Bloomberg said.

Among the leading vendors identified by ZapThink are Computer Associates, HP, IBM and Microsoft.
www.zapthink.com
www.ca.com
www.hp.com
www.ibm.com
www.microsoft.com

webMethods certified approved by standards body

WEBMETHODS EDIINT AS2 has been certified as e-BusinessReady by the Uniform Code Council. e-BusinessReady is an industry-neutral software compliance and interoperability testing program, and gaining certification means software has passed interoperability testing for AS2 specification on the webMethods integration platform.

This standard enables companies to conduct electronic data interchange and communicate XML payloads over the internet.
www.webmethods.com
www.uc-council.org