A Friendly Interface

OASIS unveils new technical committee for standardizing interactive Web services

As Web services technology continues to mature, companies readying Web services need to develop more and more standards, especially in areas such as presentation, interaction, and user interfaces. In response to the increasing demand for interaction standards, the Organization for the Advancement for Structured Information Standards (OASIS) formed a technical committee to develop a Web Services Component Model (WSCM).

The new committee, with members such as Epicentric Inc., Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Macromedia Inc., plans to create a Web services standard for interactive application access. The committee's Web site outlines two main goals for the model: "[To] enable businesses to distribute Web applications through multiple revenue channels, and enable new services or applications to be created by leveraging existing applications across the Web." The model will let companies transfer Web services across portals and platforms regardless of proprietary products.

"Right now, there is no industry-standard mechanism for packaging the display components of a Web service," said Charles Weicha of IBM and chair of the WSCM committee. "WSCM will enable any Web application — a package tracker, a calendar application, a stock quote, anything — to be delivered and displayed to an end user as a Web service, regardless of the underlying Web platform, vendor-specific application format, or display device."

Although the big players in the Web services space, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems, have yet to join the committee, many analysts believe the WSCM is a step in the right direction. The Web Services User Interface (WSUI) working group submitted the WSUI specification to OASIS for consideration in the WSCM. WSUI includes influential members from the portal and content markets, such as Epicentric, Documentum Inc., Intraspect Software Inc., Jamcracker Inc., NewsEdge Corp., Securant Technologies Inc. (now owned by RSA Security Inc.), and YellowBrix.

Tyler McDaniel, director of application strategies at the Hurwitz Group, discussed in an OASIS release how WSCM and WSUI could help Web services evolve.

"The nascent stage of Web services requires nurturing not just in terms of commercial credibility but also in terms of usable standards," said McDaniel. "This concerted effort by OASIS, leveraging the work of WSUI.org, will help the market address a key issue of presenting Web services throughout the Internet ecosystem. With strong vendor leadership, focused through OASIS, enterprises should get the benefit of a thorough specification," McDaniel said.

Delphi Group related a similar sentiment in a recent report, saying that the WSCM is one of many things furthering the growth of Web services.

"These standards and specifications are the foundation elements that enable early Web services efforts to develop incrementally and bear fruit, thus self-funding their expansion and refinement — a reliable strategy for IT asset allocation in unsettled times," the Delphi report said.

The WSCM committee will also consider using technology from the Web Services Experience Language component model, or WSXL, which IBM will contribute. Committee meetings began in January 2002.

— Jeanette Perez

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