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Looking for the next-generation integration and collaboration architecture for business-to-business e-commerce? Look no further than the latest paradigm to hit the streets, Web services. Several organizations, including Microsoft Corp., IBM, Ariba Inc., Tibco Software Inc., I2 Technologies Inc., webMethods Inc., Neon Systems Inc. and Ventro Corp., have been cooperating on a set of standards resulting in cross-platform interoperability. The goal is to accelerate and broaden B2B integration and e-commerce.


The cornerstones of Web services include the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) framework and the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). As an application-to-application interoperability standard, Web service architectures are emerging as the next leap in open standards for e-collaboration.


Web Services: The New Paradigm


E-collaboration and "anything, anytime, anywhere" are the new mantras leading
the Web services paradigm. Making applications and application components available
across the Internet will radically change the way systems are architected.

			Web Services Examples Establishing a ZIP code validation service: Many applications have a ZIP code validation process that consists of a table containing 9,000 or so valid U.S. ZIP codes and the logic to match up the city and state. Maintaining this table as ZIP codes change can be tedious. Updates must be obtained from the postal service on a monthly or quarterly basis and tables must be manually updated. Every company has the same process and data built into their applications; some have multiple applications performing the same function on different platforms. One solution is to publish the ZIP code validation process as a Web service, accessible across the Internet to any organization. The process can be invoked via a SOAP message, which passes the ZIP code from the requester to the Web service. That service then returns the valid city and state in another SOAP message. Figure 1 illustrates how this works. Bridging business processes: Consider the case of a large auto insurance carrier that has multiple divisions that providing similar services, but run on different policy systems. Common business processes exist, but processes can't be shared because the applications run on disparate platforms. The solution: Develop a Web services or BPI strategy and adopt a framework that enables interoperability across all applications. This architecture will expose common business processes as Web services across the enterprise so they can be easily reused, resulting in significant savings and eliminating duplication of applications, services and resources.

Cost is the overwhelming factor leading to the adoption of Web services, as organizations
will be able to leverage and protect their investments in software that is Web
services-enabled. The concept of pulling information from across the world to
local applications has tremendous appeal and cost benefits.