From marketplaces to web services

Abstract

To enable intra- and inter-enterprise application integration, enterprises have invested heavily in EAI (Enterprise Application Integration) and B2B (Business to Business) technologies. However, the first generation B2B technologies, represented by the Marketplace platform and its associated tools and applications offered in the mid to late 1990s, have left much to be desired. Recent momentum in Web Services based on the SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI specifications promises a standardized connectivity at a lower cost that would transform the business connectivity paradigm. In this talk, we will provide an anatomy and diagnosis of the B2B technologies. We will also analyze the current Web service specifications and technologies from the perspectives of protocol layers, service descriptions, and business service registries. We will describe the problems that must be solved in order for Web services to evolve from its simplistic form today to enable the vision of dynamic business process integration within and across enterprise boundaries.