Web Services in a business system: Silverstream Inc. (Web Services).

The Web Service paradigm includes standards for creating, finding, discovering, and using Services and includes:

SOAP - Simple Object Access Protocol SOAP is a protocol that describes how to encode a request for a Web Service and results of the request as XML-documents. SOAP requests may be delivered to Web Services over any Internet transport (e.g. HTTP, SMTP).

WSDL - Web Service Description Language. WSDL enhances SOAP by describing the interface and deployment details of a Web service, including the business documents and protocols supported by the Service

UDDI Registries - Universal Description, Discovery and Integration registries. Public Web-based repositories that permit enterprises to publish the details of their Web Services so that they can be discovered by prospective trading partners (similar to the Yellow Pages.) UDDI is itself exposed as a Web Service providing SOAP access to both registration and browse/search functionality.

ebXML - Electronic Business XML The ebXML Messaging Specification encompasses a set of services and protocols that allow an electronic business client to request services from electronic business servers over any application-level transport protocol, including SMTP, HTTP and others. ebXML defines a general-purpose message, with a header that supports multiple payloads, while allowing digital signatures within and among related messages. Although the header is XML, the body of the message may be XNIL, or virtually anything digital, ebXML uses the SOAP as its messaging layer.

XAML - Transaction Authority Markup Language. A proposed standard for supporting transactions.

S2NL - Security Services Markup Language. A proposed standard, managed by OASIS, to enable trusting systems to share user credentials and profile information (Shared Sign-on).

tpaML - Trading Partner Agreement Markup Language. Used to build trading partner agreements (TPAS) that express the rules for interchanging information between the parties. TPAs are used to automatically generate the necessary code at each party's site.

voiceXML - a standard that makes it possible to make internet content accessible via voice and phone.

These standards support the model of enterprises using Web Services from other organizations, and there will be more to follow. As this paradigm is used for more transactions and complex business processes, and as the selection and deployment of Web Services becomes more automated, more specs will emerge to address specific requirements.

Web Services in a Business System

Web Services make the promise of XML and the Internet a reality by providing the technology and an application paradigm for unlocking and using all available assets throughout an enterprise, and across a trading network. ebusiness applications today have only begun to tap the wealth of services that are readily available. Disparate systems and legacy applications can present such interoperability issues that they are often considered beyond the reach of the ebusiness. These problems are multiplied when trying syndicate services from partners or remote operations, as traditional interoperability solutions cannot be used across the Internet.

Web Services change that by exposing any source of information or source of functionality with a standard, Web-accessible interface. The resulting black boxes are self-describing and can be rapidly assembled to form any type of new application. Web Services solve the problems of interoperating across different languages, semantics, and transportation mechanisms, supporting a producer-consumer model for loosely coupling services. This enables the builder of a sales force automation application to access a SAP system without SAP expertise, and without interrupting the SAP team. It also enables financial institutions to offer insurance services without in-house insurance expertise and without disrupting the insurance provider's IT department.

The technology can be used to simplify some of the most expensive problems facing IT organizations today, as well as to open new business opportunities moving forward. A practical approach for achieving this includes tools for developers and business analysts, integrated with a runtime environment that provides scalability, reliability, security and manageability. SilverStream's Integrated Web Services Environment offers these features, and can be used to develop and deploy ebusiness applications using the best of Web Services and Java (J2EE) technologies

What is a Web Service

A Web Service is a unit of functionality that can be accessed over the Web. Web Services can provide information (i.e. data, such as a price quote, invoice, or inventory level) or a complete activity (i.e. code, such as a procurement utility, analytics function, or banking transaction).

Examples of business Web Services are:

* What is my bank balance and my most recent transaction?

* Do you have this part in stock?

* Sell these shares at this price or above.

Web Services are called by passing a simple XML request document, they respond by passing back an XML response document Fig1. The XML request/response documents are passed using standard Web protocols. A Web Service can deliver anything, from sources including CICS, MQ Series, 3270 screens, EJBS, relational databases, HTML Web pages, etc. The service is exposed by a SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) wrapper making it

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

* Programming language independent - service provider can use whichever language is appropriate for the job

* Transport independent - any type of application can access a Service with simple remote access code so it can interoperate across different hardware platforms and operating systems 

* Self-describing - a Web Service consumer can discover, understand and evaluate a Service independently

* Web-accessible - Services can be accessed through HM so that applications can interoperate across corporate and geographical boundaries

Because Web Services can interoperate and are self-describing, they can support the complete separation of the Service producer and the Service consumer through the use of registries. There are corporate registries for intracompany consumption and public registries (based on either UDDI or ebXML) for intercompany consumption-The technical benefits reflect the trends in the industry of increased complexity and unanticipated additions and modifications. Web Services go beyond other models to

* Repurpose existing systems - the increased interoperability makes it possible to include all assets into new applications. The XML. interface makes the task easier as well.

* Future-proof applications - Web Services are loosely coupled so users are not locked into an architecture that cannot readily accept new components (i.e. a CORBA system cannot call a COM system but existing COM and CORBA services may easily be exposed as Web Services) This flexibility allows organizations to respond rapidly to change.

* Make efficient use of resources - the clean separation of Web service producers and Web Service consumers means that valuable development resources can focus exclusively on the areas that need their expertise. A CICS expert exposes CICS through a Web Service, a Business Analyst assembles the Services into a business process, and a Web Developer creates the UI. Each task can be done independently from the others.

Web Services make use of a series of new standards such as SOAP, UDDI and others. These are described on page 3.

The Business Impact of Web Services

Web Services offer a new level of interoperability and a simplified metaphor for constructing applications. This unlocks enterprise assets and initiates B2B collaboration that can be applied to several business initiatives.

This technology gives organizations the opportunity to Deliver Richer ebusiness Applications - by lowering the barriers of entry of integrating with different systems, applications have a much broader array of assets that they can realistically draw upon.

Run Global IT Organizations - Since the interoperablity benefits of Web Services extends across the Web, IT managers can integrate globally and manage locally. Efficiently absorb Mergers and Acquisitions - Mergers and acquisitions introduce expensive integration issues that often result in sacrificing services. Different organizations that have invested in a incompatible component strategies can interoperate easily with Web Service technology.

Focus on Core Competencies - Inter-company communications and information interchange will become as efficient so virtual teams can act like a single organization. This changes the rules of corporate struct~, allowing companies to divest themselves of all business functions except their core areas of expertise, relying on partners to provide those other functions.

Create More Efficient Supply Chains - Have access to a larger range of suppliers and enact straight through processing across multiple vendors. Eliminate manual steps between participants that introduce errors, delays, and additional expenses, and automate transactions from end to end.

Syndicate new Products and Services - Companies can integrate business services in creative ways to form new products and services.

A business that manufactures and sells equipment can additionally offer financing and multiple shipping options by leveraging Web Services from other vendors. This increases customer satisfaction and removes the need for customers to leave a Web site.

Offer Software as services - Companies can avoid the tedious and costly problems associated with installing, maintaining and managing software on local machines. With Web Services, they will be able to rent the functionality they need and access it across the Internet.

The examples above are just some of the many benefits that Web Services bring. As the availability and usage of Web Services spread and the nature of collaboration evolves, many additional benefits will emerge.

Developing and Deploying with Web Services: Divide and Conquer

There are 5 functional areas that need to be considered in a service-oriented architecture as shown below. Web Services are created by one group of developers, and consumed - or assembled - by others. The resulting network of services is exposed to the end user and deployed on a runtime engine however, the entire application has to be designed, built and managed.

When building with Web Services, it is important to do it in such away that maximizes the potential of this new paradigm. These means fully understanding how to work with a services-oriented architecture and having the right tools for the job. This paves the way for rapid prototyping and deploying, as well as reduced overall costs. SilverStream's supports a service-oriented architecture from prototyping to ongoing ebusiness management. This Environment is currently packaged in three products: xcommerce, eportal, and the SilverStream Application Server.

Producing Web Services

Web Services can be created from existing business services such as legacy mainframe applications, packaged applications (SAP, PeopleSoft, etc.), client/server or Web applications, or even components (EJB, COM, etc.) Turning an existing source into a Web Service requires exposing the functionality in XML and adding a SOAP wrapper. Some packaged applications are doing this themselves, but for other sources the desired approach is to map existing services into XML Web Services using a visual drag and drop designer.

Once created, a Web Service can optionally be listed in a registry for other users to discover. Registries currently come in two classes: public and enterprise. Public registries are used primarily to find and partially evaluate suitable partners before engaging in a large partnering effort. Enterprise registries list all internal technology assets as well as enterprise-approved partner assets so that eBusiness applications can be comprehensive.

SilverStream supports the creation of Web Services through visual tools that XML - enable legacy systems, map any XML-formatted input to an XML- formatted output, and add SOAP wrappers. This can be done without coding. Some vendor applications (like SAP) are already XML-enabled, so they can be immediately integrated into Web Services using the xCommerce Designer.

For systems that are not XML-enabled, such as custom-built legacy systems or any J2EE application, SilverStream provides a suite of Enterprise Enablers that connect to a broad array of enterprise applications (including CICS, MQ Series, 3270 screens, FJBS, relational databases, HTML Web pages, etc.) Enablers provide accessibility via application transports such as terminal protocols, TP monitors, messaging middleware, SQL (very handy for integrating stored procedures) and HTTP. Interactions to these back-end applications are fully managed at runtime, including advanced logon and connection pooling. Once XMI-enabled any system can be repurposed for Web Service integration. The xCommerce Designer visually maps all available data fields to XML - formatted inputs and XML-formatted outputs.

Consuming Web Services

Web Services from either the enterprise or other organizations, along with other components, can be browsed at a registry and assembled into applications. Web Services assembling implies more than just connectivity - the challenge is to connect Services intelligently, that is, the resulting network of Services must act within the context of a process and business rules.

The person who builds this network is an IT manager or business analyst who is focused on business processes, rather than intricate programming details. For that reason, tools can allow the IT manager to diagram the business process and configure conditional logic without having to write code.

SilverStream's Business Process Workflow Engine connects any activity (such as a Web Service, EJBS, or an email utility) and creates a workflow based on business rules.

It's service oriented architecture allows for some assets to be turned into Web Services and accessed through HTTP while allowing others to be left in their native form (such as EJB's being accessed via JMS). SilverStream's Designer allows for the visual mapping between services, which enables disparate services to talk to each other. Connecting activities and building rules are both done visually, but can be extended with Java.

Exposing Applications to the End Users

Once the business processes are assembled, they need to be exposed to the different end users (customers, partners or enterprise systems) in different ways (at a browser, cell phone, or mainframe.) Optimal exposure requires sophisticated targeting to ensure the right information is delivered to the right application, in the right format. Again, the challenge is to do it practically, and to do it intelligently. Targeting services for relevance is a mix of personalization and business rules from different sources. Users provide information about preferences, but targeting must also include personalization based on device type as well as potentially complex business roles. And many of these rules are decision made by the business analyst - not the programmer.

SilverStream provides frameworks for creating portal and WAP applications. For exposing applications to back-end or B2B systems, the xCommerce Designer transforms data to the format appropriate for any device also combines user profiling and business rules to ensure that the right information gets to the right person or machine, in the right format. The SilverStream Rules Engine allows business analysts to design and managed through visual tools without programming.

Runtime Engine

Once assembled, Web Services need a run time environment that is highly scalable, reliable, secure and manageable. The ideal environment is based on a high performance application server that provides all of these attributes.

To fulfil these requirements, the SilverStream Environment deploys Web Services on commercial J2EE application servers. The SilverStream Application Server, in particular, provides the integrated development and console features required to comprehensively manage enterprise Web Services platforms. In addition, it provides all the Internet infrastructure technologies required to manage B2B integration using UDDI including Web URLS, Servlets, popular cryptography algorithms, support for digital certificates and certificate authorities, etc.

Build and Manage an ebusiness

ebusiness applications require the strength of sophisticated IT infrastructure, combined with flexibility to rapidly adapt to changing business criteria. Success requires productivity tools to assist with building applications as well as visual tools for business analysts to configure and adapt the digital business processes.

SilverStream's strategy is to offer the best Integrated Web Services Environment for prototyping, development and continued deployment of complex ebusiness applications that leverage Web Services. delivering:

* Rapid Prototyping - by providing an application road map and 4GL tools that allow skilled contributors to focus exclusively on the areas that need their expertise

* Rapid Development - by providing a fully integrated environment so that all phases of the application life cycle flow together seamlessly and efficiently

* Rapid Deployment - by providing a run time environment that ensures scalability, security, and reliability using industry standards

* Rapid Growth - by providing business analysts the ability to visually repurpose assets and services, and create and modify business processes and business rules on-the-fly

Conclusion

Web Services is a new application paradigm that makes much of the promise of the internet a reality. They add Web-based interoperability to traditional components models so that applications can be assembled from remote, loosely coupled systems. This level of interoperability opens new doors for application integration and collaboration. Fully taking advantage of this new paradigm requires re-examining application development across the entire project lifecycle, and assessing where tools can speed delivery and reduce the burden on skilled programmers.

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