Christen Lee

Creating a Web service is not a technology story that's limited to applications talking XML to one another and using registries. Rather, the real endgame is enabling companies to deliver useful services to key constituencies ­ employees, customers, and partners. To cite Metcalf's Law, a single Web service interfacing entity on the network is of little value. However, as Web services grow in number, they grow in value exponentially because they present the potential for new combinations. Integration plays a pivotal role in the delivery of Web services. Ranging from encapsulation of data objects as Web services to the transformation of Web services from one system to another, integration solutions can add tremendous technical capabilities to an entire Web services infrastructure. In fact, a key integration concept, business process management (BPM), represents one of... (more)