You've heard a lot about Web services (see Web Services: The Next Generation of Distributed Computing) and now, naturally enough, you'd like to go out and experiment with a few of the products available for creating them. Well, it's not quite that easy--at least, not just yet. While a slew of software vendors have announced some sort of support for Web services, that doesn't mean you can easily purchase commercial-quality Web service development products.

Support for key Web service protocols--such as UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration), ebXML (electronic business XML) or SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)--is gradually being added to existing application servers and tools. But the standards are still in the initial stages themselves, and no vendor has a completed framework for creating, deploying and using Web services.

Nevertheless, at least five of the leading platform and software vendors--Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and Sun Microsystems--have announced some sort of Web services architecture, and more companies are no doubt poised to follow suit in the months ahead. Besides the "Big 5" vendors, several smaller companies are also making Web service development frameworks. These players include The Mind Electric, which makes Glue, a Java-, XML- and SOAP-based platform for constructing Web services; Eltegra, which produces Eltegra, an XML component server and platform; WebCollage and its Syndicator product; and Bowstreet, a startup that produces the Business Web Factory and has announced co-development agreements with both Sun and HP.

So how do you decide which vendors' vision of Web services is right for you?

John Rymer, president of Upstream Consulting, says it helps to keep in mind that Web services aren't a radically new development paradigm but are, in many respects, simply an extension of the current trend toward component-based distributed computing. As such, new Web service tools and products will need to support, and extend, an organization's current software infrastructure.

Rymer says the choice really boils down to development path. "There are only two [development paths] in the current market: Microsoft's path and the Java path," he says. "People select from among the Java choices primarily for market position, relationship and reputation."

To help you get your arms around this rather confusing new market, we've provided the following roundup of the five major vendors' offerings, with comments from experts on each one's strengths and weaknesses.

First introduced in May 1999, HP's e-Speak encompasses specifications, products and a Web services registry called the e-Services Village. In February of this year, the company released its Netaction suite of software applications, which are designed to enable the creation, registration, deployment and hosting of e-services. That suite includes more than a dozen products, such as HP's Bluestone Total e-Mobile software, the Bluestone Total e-Server application server, the HP Process Manager (formerly Changengine), HP e-Speak software and various HP development and security tools.

While Netaction is the new marketing name for HP's Web services product line, the core of HP's e-services technology remains e-Speak. Its two key components are the e-Speak Service Engine (version A.0 was released in January) and the e-Speak Services Framework Specification.

The e-Speak engine is a run-time engine that resides on both the host system and devices or applications that want to access and use e-Speak services. Services can be developed in a variety of languages, including Java, C, C++ or Python. The developer creates an interface for the services in Java based on the e-Speak Services Framework Specification and registers the services with a host system that runs the e-Speak engine and is connected to the Internet. The engine, which provides core functions such as discovery and negotiation, is available free from HP and runs on the HP-UX 11, Windows NT 4.0 and Red Hat Linux 6.2 operating systems.

The e-Speak architecture supports XML for defining and registering Web services, Microsoft's BizTalk vocabularies, SOAP and the UDDI project, which HP joined in late 2000.

What the Experts Say

"HP's e-Speak is the most interesting [of the offerings] because it's an architecture that was built from the ground up to be distributed... HP is in an interesting position, too, because while it's probably got the farthest-reaching vision of any of the vendors, it doesn't have a development ecosystem--the grass roots developers' support that it's going to need to really succeed here. IBM, on the other hand, is really well positioned with developers." James Governor, analyst, Illuminata

"This technology stack provides HP with a highly scalable application server that is completely J2EE-compliant and that integrates with the Microsoft platform via XML... HP's plan also includes a strong developer support program. In the past, this has been the key to the success of a development platform. So far, the start-up e-business infrastructure vendors have not had the resources for a full-blown developer program and have had to rely on increasing partnerships with system integrators to gain acceptance for their platforms. HP will need to do a good job with its program to win over the hearts and minds of developers." Beth Gold-Bernstein, vice president of strategic services, ebizQ.net

"HP recognized the opportunity for e-services early on but never articulated a clear strategy for what e-Speak was or why anyone should care about it. By integrating e-Speak into the Bluestone application server, on paper at least, they have a credible platform for creating and deploying Web services. But while HP has said it supports UDDI, it has not said anything about its plans for SOAP. It's spent a lot of time developing its own service framework specifications, but that stuff has to take a back seat to SOAP, UDDI and ebXML. It would be a very smart thing for them to downplay e-Speak in favor of UDDI, SOAP and ebXML, because e-Speak has no brand or mind share at this point. It's one of those obscure technologies that HP came up with that never really gained any traction." Simon Yates, analyst, Forrester Research

First announced in July 2000, Microsoft's .NET Framework is a collection of many different technologies and products. It can be boiled down to three main components: a Common Language Runtime (sort of a Java Virtual Machine, only for .NET code), a set of class libraries and a new version of Active Server Pages called ASP+.

ASP+ controls run on a Web server and make applications running on the Web server appear as a Web page in a user's browser. The Common Language Runtime (CLR), executes "managed code," or code developed in any language but compiled for the .NET platform. Managed code requires a CLR to execute. Compilers reportedly exist for such languages as COBOL, Perl, Python, SmallTalk and Java.

Also part of the Framework, but not necessarily required, are an array of .NET products, such as the .NET Enterprise Server family--consisting of six server products, including the BizTalk Server 2000, the Application Center 2000 and the Mobile Information 2001 Server--and the Visual Studio.NET development environment, currently in beta. In fact, Microsoft has plans to rename most of its existing products with the .NET moniker. Developers looking to create .NET-based services today can use either the Visual Studio.NET beta or the .NET Framework SDK (Software Development Kit) Beta 1.0, a 111 MB download that has everything from the CLR and command line compilers to sample code and documentation.

The .NET Framework supports SOAP and UDDI as well as, of course, the BizTalk XML-based business vocabularies and Microsoft's BizTalk Framework for defining those vocabularies.

What the Experts Say

"It's the easiest to use [of the various frameworks] ... and the basic parts should ship in 2001. By the basic parts I mean the SDK and runtime support for CLR, together with the first release of their VisualStudio.NET... As far as I know, none of the .NET is available on any platform except Windows. This means you can't build a .NET service except on Windows or use .NET to access a Web service unless the client is Windows." Graham Glass, CEO, The Mind Electric

"Microsoft has clearly thought through many of the issues involved in building a true service-oriented architecture and is planning accordingly. It has made a major commitment to opening its APIs and making its infrastructure increasingly granular... Microsoft's direction is pretty clear, and some .NET components and tools have already begun to arrive. Developers, enterprises with big IT shops and service providers should begin downloading the tools and getting their hands dirty." James Governor, Illuminata (from his report Microsoft and the .NET Experience)

"It's pretty obvious that Microsoft is the leader in Web services today. It's played a central role in creating all of the core technologies--WSDL [Web Services Description Language], SOAP and UDDI--and it'll also be first to market with serious Web service tools when Visual Studio.NET ships later this year. The company really does seem to be reorienting large parts of its business around this new idea." David Chappell, founder, Chappell & Associates

IBM announced its Web Services Architecture late last year. According to IBM's FAQ, the architecture encompasses three key roles: a service provider, which offers the applications to be served up as Web services and which publishes the availability of those applications on an Internet registry; a service requestor, which seeks the services and publishes its needs in an Internet registry so providers can find it; and a service broker, or registry, which identifies the available services and links them to service requestors.

To create Web services, a developer needs a Java Development Kit (JDK) for the Java 2 platform, as well as IBM's Web Services Tool Kit (WSTK), available from IBM's alphaWorks site and eventually destined to become part of the VisualAge application development products.

The WSTK is a collection of specifications, templates and sample code. The latest version, 2.2, runs on either the Apache Tomcat Java application server or IBM's WebSphere Application Server 3.5 (the WSTK comes with a scaled-down developer version, called Embedded WebSphere). The WSTK contains a preview of MQSeries Transport for SOAP; SOAP Digital Signature Web Services, a Web service for secure transport of confidential messages among business partners; and a Web Services Tool for Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs), for wrapping and converting legacy EJBs into Web services. It also has a Web Services Browser for browsing UDDI registries.

In version 2.1 of the WSTK, IBM included a WSDL-based broker for creating private registries, but it was removed in February and replaced with the UDDI browser and API. Steve Holbrook, IBM's Web services technology evangelist, says the broker will eventually be integrated into the WebSphere application server.

In conjunction with the WSTK, developers can also try out IBM's XML and Web Services Development Environment (to eventually be renamed the WebSphere Studio Development Environment), an alpha version of a Web services integrated development environment that is, like the tool kit, available for free on the alphaWorks site.

IBM will also be including support for UDDI, SOAP and WSDL in its next version of WebSphere, due out in June. In the meantime, it has a preview version, called WebSphere Technology for Developers, that is available on a limited basis from IBM sales reps and business partners. That product includes some of the technologies in the WSTK, as well as IBM's SOAP for Java tool kit and parser run-time, and the UDDI for Java tool kit (for creating a Java interface to the UDDI registry).

What the Experts Say

"The Web Services Tool Kit is the first implementation of IBM's architecture. IBM is trying to familiarize people with the issues around Web services and position IBM as a premier provider. Before they throw their weight behind the concept, they want to see how people develop and implement Web services because, right now, the concept of Web services is just that--a concept... This addition [of support for Web services] to WebSphere will help them maintain their position as an XML and Web services leader, instead of looking like they're in the back seat. While this indicates some willingness to weigh in on Web services, it also shows that they want to develop a well-thought-out strategy in their approach to Web services as part of a complete e-business approach." Ron Schmelzer, senior analyst, ZapThink

"Gartner expects that IBM's Web services implementation will mature faster than Microsoft's. The latter will initially be hampered by the higher cost of entry caused by the need for users to fully adopt the completely new .NET stack before experimenting with Microsoft's Web services. The faster penetration of IBM's Web services into IBM accounts will also favor their larger initial support from independent software vendors, system integrators and other partners. However, this will not necessarily grant IBM a sustainable advantage. Mainstream acceptance of IBM's vision demands availability of easy-to-use development and deployment tools. IBM has a long tradition of providing highly sophisticated products that are complex, difficult to learn and difficult to support. IBM has recognized this historical issue and in the second half of 2001 will be providing a whole set of tools for automatically generating Web services from existing applications, but mainly from those based on Java and IBM software platforms." From GartnerGroup's "IBM Steps into the Web-Services Arena"

"[The March announcement of WebSphere Technology for Developers] brings IBM up to parity with the other major vendors but provides little distinction for the company's Web service offerings. The most notable aspect of the announcement was the fact that IBM and Microsoft are working so closely together on core services. That's very different from Sun and BEA, for example." John Rymer, Upstream Consulting

Oracle's Dynamic Services, a feature of the Oracle 9i platform (comprising the Oracle 9i Database, 9i Application Server and 9i Developer Suite), consists of an execution engine, protocol adapters and a services registry so developers can convert informational or content resources into services.

Service definitions are stored in the registry, which is based on the Oracle Internet Directory LDAP server, and the Java-based Dynamic Services engine executes the services and handles access to distributed resources. The Dynamic Services engine uses XML to handle content. Applications can discover services by searching the Dynamic Services Registry. Dynamic services can also be published in UDDI registries to support Internet server discovery. A Dynamic Services Creation Assistant, a Java-based client wizard, helps developers compose services from Web information sources by producing XML service descriptors defining the services to be executed.

Oracle claims support for a variety of current and draft standards for XML and promises future support for WAP [Wireless Access Protocol], SOAP and UDDI.

What the Experts Say

"Oracle is terribly afraid of missing the next big wave, which would be Web services and Internet applications and those kinds of things. But it is not perceived as a principal player [in Web services] unless you happen to be using Oracle's application server and Oracle's development tools, which qualifies you as an Oracle shop... Oracle really needs to change the way it approaches this business: this is a partnership business; you have to provide integration into everyone else's platforms and with everyone else's tools." Simon Yates, Forrester Research

"So far, the organization that has the most out-of-the-box Web service product is Oracle. You can take Oracle content and data and wrap it and make it a Web service right away. But it's very Oracle-centric... Oracle says Dynamic Services will support UDDI when the W3C formalizes its support, but UDDI is nowhere near W3C support right now. Oracle also says it will support WAP and SOAP in future releases. It's not that important to support WAP right now, but SOAP is another story. It's hard to believe that Oracle isn't supporting SOAP right now. Microsoft, Sun and IBM all agree on SOAP. Without SOAP, you can't communicate with any of the other Web service environments... So I see Dynamic Services as more of a feature of Oracle products than as a long-term strategy for the company. Oracle hasn't said what its vision for Web services is, or how this is going to contribute to their revenue beyond simply more licenses to Oracle 9i. Web services is like XML and Java; it's not a feature set like your spell-checker and a dictionary. It's an approach, a strategy." Ron Schmelzer, ZapThink

Sun ONE is a Java- and XML-based scheme, centered on a Java application server and using EJBs or servlets as the Web service components. Requests for services are expressed as XML messages. While Sun proposes no registry of its own, it encourages communication with other services registries, such as UDDI or ebXML, via Java APIs. Sun ONE introduces the notion of "smart services" in which the composite Web service transactions will be governed according to rules in a policy engine and will be sensitive to differences in context, such as the user's identity. However, Sun notes that standards for this process have yet to be defined.

As part of the Sun ONE announcement, Sun unveiled new and upgraded iPlanet application server software as well as Sun's Webtop Developer Release 1.0 software, formerly called StarPortal. While not a required part of the Sun ONE platform, Webtop facilitates the development and deployment of Web services by providing server infrastructure, such as security and load balancing, client component for rendering the presentation logic for different client devices, and Web service versions of the StarOffice software. The initial developer's release is targeted at software vendors developing Web service applications, application service providers and corporate IT departments interested in creating an internal Web services architecture. The Webtop is slated to be available for free from Sun's Web site in April. It will be supported on Solaris, Linux and Microsoft Windows NT and 2000.

Sun plans to support standards such as SOAP, ebXML and UDDI via Java APIs.

What the Experts Say

"Sun is taking current products and rebranding them as Web services. I think that's a direct response to Microsoft's .NET Framework. But Sun's big selling point is the completeness of the offering. They have the Solaris operating system; they have an LDAP directory and all of Sun's servers. They're building on a complete offering, which is exactly what most of the vendors are trying to show they have--a complete solution to help you build these Web services." Peter Urban, analyst, AMR Research

"Sun's announcement was tremendously disappointing. It's very much a restating of what they've already got and, also, a very, very Java-focused restating of what they've got. The industry--apart from Microsoft--has already made that decision [to go with Java], so Sun didn't have anything particularly new to say." James Governor, Illuminata

"Sun calls ONE 'a complete open architecture, roadmap and product portfolio,' but a close look at the Sun ONE architecture reveals little more than a collection of proprietary developer tools and services. The company's statement that Sun ONE will reflect the company's support of W3C, ebXML, OASIS and UDDI standards organizations is the only thing open that we can discern at this point... To translate the Sun ONE announcement: Sometime late in 2001, Sun ONE is scheduled to deliver a set of proprietary tools (most of which already exist) that will aid Solaris developers in creating applications that can be delivered via the Web." Zona Research's 2-7-01 "Zona Quinela"

Copyright © 2001 by ebizQ. All rights reserved.