New era of web services?

Microsoft and IBM united in the US to demonstrate preview code for the next set of web service protocols designed to enable more complex, secure, cross-company e-business transactions.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, on hand with top IBM software executive Steve Mills, said the forthcoming WS-Security, WS-Reliable Messaging and WS-Transaction protocols are designed to enable the kind of e-business relationships many dot.com vendors hyped during the late 1990s.

'Web services are important to the foundation of the Internet, enabling e-commerce to become a reality,' Gates said during a briefing in New York. 'That rich new layer will take web services to a new level ... we hope to see implementation in .NET and Websphere.

At a briefing in New York on Wednesday, Microsoft and IBM together demonstrated early WS-Security, WS-Reliable Messaging and WS-Transaction protocol code working in the form of a supply chain web service application among a car dealer, manufacturer and supplier.

The web service application - which replicates the same function as a costly Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) transaction of the past - was running on disparate systems -- a Windows 2003 Server, a Linux-based Websphere server from IBM and Linux-based wireless handheld.

The WS-Security, WS-Reliable Messaging and transactions specifications have been under development for more than a year.

The demonstration on Wednesday - a big milestone in the evolution of web services -- proved interoperability of systems and the execution of a hassle-free secure, financial transaction between three partners, Gates and Mills said.

'It's new,' Gates said, noting it's the first time the two companies showed a web service application actually working among between systems. 'People talked about e-commerce for a long time, but the software infrastructure wasn't there ... these are the infrastructure pieces that will lead to an explosion in web services.

'In simplest terms, the code works,' Gates said. 'The hard part is behind us.'
Ultimately, Microsoft Visual Studio development platform and Windows platform as well as IBM's Websphere Server and tools lineup will incorporate support for these advanced web service protocols, executives have said recently.

Responding to a CRN question, Gates said he expects some portions of these next generation web service protocols to be 'implemented in [Microsoft] tools over the next nine months'.

The first set of web service protocols - XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI - are currently supported in the latest round of Windows and WebSphere offerings.

The three-year collaboration between the two fierce competitors has 'been fruitful' and the next generation of security, messaging and transaction protocols will 'bring more life to the software industry,' Mills said. 'It's hard to see but [these web service protocols] are critical for making businesses interoperate.'

One analyst at the briefing said it was significant for IBM and Microsoft to show customers that they remain committed to standards, security and to prove web services ROI for customers who invested in expensive EAI systems during the dot.com hey-day and feel burned.

'The attitude in the market is much more 'show me',' said Joanne Morin Correia, vice-president of software at Dataquest, noting that adoption of web services has moved from early adopters to mainstream corporation, but in limited fashion. 'Security and trust are the biggest inhibitor to web services,' she said.

While the two companies voiced continued commitment to standards, there remain a number of uncertainties that could undermine web service interoperability, sources note.

Privately, one IBM executive said the formal adoption of WS-Security by OASIS is expected 'very soon' - within the next six months. The two other protocols - WS-Reliable Messaging and WS-Transaction -- are due in 2004 or 2005.

However, during the briefing, neither Gates nor IBM Steve Mills, senior vice-president and group executive of IBM's Software Group, could say when complaint products will be delivered, or when the specification will be formally adopted and by which standards body.

'We're still evaluating that,' Gates said. 'WS-Security went to OASIS, that's a possibility. No decision has been made.'

In August, the web services Interoperability (WS-I) organisation backed by Microsoft and IBM published the first draft of Basic Profile 1.0, an implementation guide to ensure that vendors implement the specifications consistently.

Observers also noted that it was important for Gates, as well as IBM, to reiterate that security is a key concern for companies considering transactions across the firewall. In light of the spate of recent viruses and worms that hit Windows-based PCs, some in the industry are sceptical that Microsoft and IBM can pull this off.

But security is 'very, very important,' Gates said at the briefing, and he hinted that the robust user authentication code in WS-Security will prevent hackers from breaking into web services.

Both Microsoft and IBM also recommitted to making the protocols available to customers royalty free. When asked if he really meant it, Gates laughed, and confirmed he won't back off the promise. 'I can't believe I said that,' Gates quipped.