The charm of WEB services

Services|web Web Services is today's hottest enterprise-class technology, with more and more media keen to talk about the emerging innovations and alliances in the field, and existing vendors are announcing access to the Web services market, Emerging companies have started the idea of implementing Web services from the start.

As the saying goes, no profit does not early. The heat of WEB services is also being derived from its commercial value and its implied commercial interests. Further, Web services represents a significant development of internet technology, where businesses have benefited from Internet technology, and Web services will make this more of a benefit. The Gartner group presented in 2002: WEB Services is a new way for people to think about how to acquire and deliver business services, and it brings huge benefits, including reducing costs, shortening system installation time, and improving agility and agility.

From the perspective of IT technology, the direct factor that affects the enterprise reaction speed is the flow of people, process and information inside and outside the enterprise. People, information, and processes increasingly rely on it to integrate as a whole, and Web services can consolidate in this direction, enabling enterprises to become "highly interconnected, automated". In other words, the need for the integration of people, processes and information provides a broad scope for Web services.

WEB Services makes it easier to consolidate people, processes, and information, thereby shortening business process cycles and increasing response times, while enabling enterprises to be agile and flexible by delivering critical data in real time to more applications and users.

WEB Services simplifies the Customer self-service system, allows various functional departments within the enterprise through a "window" to understand customers, but also enables customers through a "window" to contact the entire enterprise, access to the enterprise's new products and services. This helps the enterprise to establish a lasting and loyal customer relationship.

WEB services help to improve enterprise efficiency, decision-making quality and speed. For the moment, only Web services can consolidate data dispersed across systems, islands of information, and enable managers to access the data in real time, while also allowing partners, channels, and vendors to directly access relevant information and services to facilitate their optimization of design, procurement, production, Inventory management, sales and other important value chain processes.

WEB Services Technology Standard Matures

As a new technology, WEB Services is still in the process of development and improvement. As mentioned earlier, the basic function of webservices is to connect and share services between computer systems and application systems. As a result, Web services are complex in terms of technology itself. In layman's parlance, Web Services is a collection of technologies such as URIs, UDDI, XML, WSDI, SOAP, HTTP, SSL, and so on. These technologies play a different role, so people are divided into three categories according to their functions: Discovery (Discovery), description (Description), delivery (Delivery), the so-called "3D of Web Services".

As the name suggests, the main function of the Discovery class technology is to discover Web services such as URIs and UDDI; The description class technology implements self-describing Web services, such as XML and WSDI; the delivery class technology supports building web The communications infrastructure of services, including SOAP, HTTP, and SSL. For example, if the Internet is likened to a street, the streets are covered with ads, when you walk in the street, you can only look at ads, to get some information. After Web services technology is put into use, there is not only advertising on either side of the street, but also restaurants. In other words, not only can you get information, but you can get a service. In this case, UDDI will first help you "discover" an Italian restaurant; The restaurant's menu uses XML or WSDI to "describe" the various dishes, that is, "describe" the service of the hotel; Finally, soap can help you communicate with the waiter and get the services you want, thus completing the "delivery" process. (It should be noted that before the adoption of Web services, it is the interaction between people and machines.) After using Web services, it is the interaction between the computer and the computer. ）

From the perspective of development, the above technology can be divided into "core", "forming core" and "expansion" technology. The "core" technology represents a mature and stable technology, as listed above belongs to this category. They form the basis for implementing Web services today, are supported by all Web services platforms, and are driving the wider application of Web services.

"Emerging core standards" refers to the technical specifications that have been released by the vendor but have yet to be passed, including the security, reliability, and asynchrony required for enterprise applications, which will take some time to resolve the interoperability problems between different vendors. But in the same vendor environment, such as Bea WebLogic, these technologies are already available and can be used to implement secure, reliable, asynchronous Web services.

Finally, the "extended" class technology is the technology required for a particular application, and in fact, most enterprise-class Web services do not need them, and their maturity will take a long time.

Benefiting from Web Services

Due to the maturity and stability of the "core" standards, WEB services applications are becoming popular, especially in the enterprise internal integration has been a steady development. At the end of March, The Wall Street Journal published a report on the application of Web services in Virgin Mobile (USA), reflecting the practical application of Web services in the business world. Virgin Mobile owns the largest all-digital, full PCs wireless network in the United States, using the BEA WebLogic platform and Web services to create a real-time communications center that seamlessly connects its technical facilities, including the cellular network backbone, customer relationship management system, and backend systems, To provide customers with a wide range of real-time mobile services, fully embodies its faster speed, innovation, reliability, simple service features.

Not only is the telecommunications industry, the current Web services in E-government, finance, retail, energy, transportation, electronic manufacturing, software, geographic information services and other industries and fields are widely used, and there are many successful cases,

Software industry consultant Stencil Group believes that the adoption of WEB services will undergo several phases, including early application, system deployment, and new business models. Before the middle of the 2002, the first stage, more emphasis on internal integration projects, the driving factor is cost-effectiveness and the ability to tap into existing investment benefits. Early adopters were from financial services, High-tech Manufacturing, communications, automobiles and insurance. From 2002 through the second phase of 2004, the enterprise systematically and strategically develops and adopts web Services to straighten out existing processes. After the third phase, there will be a new business model driven by Web services and a truly dynamic business relationship.

In summary, Web services are not far away, especially as software vendors continue to refine technical specifications and launch new products, and more and more enterprises benefit from WEB services numbered.