More competition for FSTW in the "Web Services" framework biz ...
This is a good description of what a framework does, and who it does it for.
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Web Services: An Overview
Company: Dimension Data North America
Author: Heather Kolasch, Business Solutions
Doc
What are web services?
"Web services" is a fancy name for platform-independent EAI (enterprise application integration). They are so named because they typically use HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), the protocol made ubiquitous by the worldwide web (WWW), as their communication channel. Web services themselves function much the same way a browser and web server communicate, but whereas the WWW enables interaction between people and web sites, web services enable interaction between - and integration of -- systems.
The concept behind web services is simple: allow applications to send and receive requests and exchange data across a network in a standard way. Said this simply, the power of Web services is not apparent, nor does it seem like something truly new. But the simplicity of the concept obscures the enormous complexity of the details behind it as well as the potential for a major step forward in the evolution of architectures.
Web services are essentially about architecture. In fact, the term "Web services" is somewhat misleading. Given the prominence of the World Wide Web, "Web services" implies services related to the development and operation of the WWW or web sites. This is unfortunate - Web services have no direct relationship whatsoever to the World Wide Web. Rather, the power of Web services lies in network-accessible services; an architectural model with the potential to establish a true global web of interconnected computers. A quick look at the evolution of information systems illustrates this more clearly.
Initially, there were computer programs that linked collections of subroutines and functions, each of which performed a specific task, accepting input and delivering results in defined formats. These became known as services. With the advent of technologies such as RPC (Remote Procedure Call), DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model) and CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture), services could be invoked remotely, across a network, and independent of language.
Web services take service sharing to the next level with the implementation of three standards: SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration) and WSDL (Web Services Description Language). Think of UDDI as the directory of services available, with WSDL providing instructions for communicating with a service and SOAP providing the mechanism for the secure and reliable transport of information to and from the service.
All three are built on XML (eXtensible Markup Language), the root language for data operations over the Internet. This trio of standards enables automated discovery and use of online services, thus opening the door to trans-enterprise application integration, efficient data exchange, distributed computing (both peer-to-peer and hub-to-node), and the emergence of service bureaus that provide remotely accessible computing services.
Who uses web services?
Before considering trans-enterprise operations, let's look at the business value of distributed computing within a single enterprise.
Peer-to-Peer
Intel uses peer-to-peer computing to preserve their network performance. They discovered that heavy use of their popular computer based training program was acting as a drain on their network. They solved their problem by shifting from processing requests over the network at the central server, to a system that makes use of caching and peer-to-peer computing.
Each course request searches local computers in an organized sequence (much like concentric pond ripples), rather than burdening the network with a search of the original server. The first person to request a given course will, of course, get it from the original server (but only after the sequence of requests is completed). The second requestor, though, will get the course either from the first requestor's server or from the original server, whichever is closer. And by the time the third requestor needs the course, there are 3 copies available - potentially bringing the course ever nearer. This system is self-balancing: there are more copies of popular courses distributed throughout the network and readily available, while new or less popular courses may still be delivered from the central server.
Hub-to-Node
Boeing uses hub-to-node distributed computing to improve efficiency of their finite element analysis, a process heavy in calculations. Only the first calculations are performed by a central computer. Any request for subsequent levels of analysis is distributed to less powerful computers, even laptops or desktops, on the network. This permits machines throughout Boeing that would otherwise sit idle to be engaged in these valuable, but time-consuming, calculations.
Trans-Enterprise
As the acceptance and utilization of web services grow, similar operations are being distributed between enterprises, building efficiencies and sharing data throughout a much larger network. Web services provide real advantages to a company in creating increasingly modular and flexible IT systems and in connecting to other companies.
Web services and your business
The evolution of web services will proceed in small steps and will be driven by the need to improve the flexibility, reliability, performance, and connectivity of enterprise and trans-enterprise scale systems. The viability of the web services approach, the ability to implement a service model incrementally, coupled with the imperative rooted in the cost-driven need for efficiency in IT development and operations and the value-driven need to exploit the advantages of connectivity across organizational boundaries all make the evolution to web services as inevitable as the evolution of organisms when their environment changes. In the IT world, as in the natural world, it is change or perish.
What should your business be doing to get ready for web services? The good news is that web services architectures can be implemented incrementally without tearing out a company's entire infrastructure. While the tools are not quite there yet, the business imperative is strong enough to sustain the effort to conclusion. The best plan of attack is to start building your web services infrastructure now, and roll out viable applications and services one project or business unit at a time. Following this model, your company will build its skill set, develop a proof of concept, and ensure scalability, taking first steps towards a roll out.
Dimension Data is poised to introduce their first web services product, Web Services Framework. Unique in the marketplace, this offering is a fully installed, "plug and play" framework that supplies the necessary web services infrastructure, including registry and standards, in a single package. As well, the offering includes a sample application, which can be utilized to build out later web services adapted applications.
The emphasis of the framework is on a gradual implementation, with the user writing services and converting applications according to business priorities. The framework is sold with Surveyor, Dimension Data's IT systems assessment service, to help the customer understand where to put the box to work. Primer, our solutions delivery framework, is necessary starting with the first installation.
Web services will finally make it possible to realize the value of connectivity provided by the Internet.
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