semweb2slide16
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At least that’s the vision. Unfortunately, in practice, there are three problems with Web Services that stand in the way of doing business.
Complex standards: Web services promised lightweight integration, using simple, open protocols inspired by the Web. Things started out simply enough with SOAP, WSDL and UDDI. However, they rapidly got out of hand as people began adding features that pushed Web services toward a full-fledged CORBA-like distributed operating system. Today there are literally dozens of standards supporting features such as business process orchestration, security, and service provisioning and management.
Additionally, there are hundreds of specialized XML languages that define the semantics for doing business in particular industries. Each such language typically entails a painful multi-year standards process whereby companies attempt to reconcile their local data and business process standards. The electronics industry has been attempting to standardize on RosettaNet, which is sponsored by leading manufacturers and distributors. However, after more than five years, only a few RosettaNet processes have moved past initial pilots.
Static processes: Business demands agility, but BPEL (Business Process Execution Language), the emerging Web services standard for business process orchestration, was designed for static processes. At the least, a rules engine is needed to select the right BPEL script at run time. Even better, rules should be embedded within BPEL so that actions can respond dynamically to events.
Point-to point communications: Standard Web services rely on point to point communications. However, as we’ve seen, it’s often not clear until run time who needs to know about a design change, or which supplier has the best prices and inventory on hand to fulfill a request.
