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Web Services Addressing 1.0 is Now a W3C Recommendation W3C Standardizes a Proven Method for Addressing Web Services Messages

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 May 2006, 12:03 CDT

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announced today that Web Services Addressing 1.0 - consisting of the Core specification and the SOAP Binding - is a W3C Recommendation. Industry now has a reliable, proven interoperable standard to address Web services messages.

"Web Services Addressing 1.0 provides a mechanism to developers on how to address objects for Web services applications," explained Philippe Le Hegaret, W3C Architecture Domain Leader. "It extends the capabilities of Web services by enabling asynchronous message exchanges, and allowing more than two services to interact."

Web Services Addressing 1.0 Defines New Standard Way to Address Web Services Objects

Web Services Addressing 1.0 provides a transport-neutral mechanism for addressing objects in Web services applications built on top of URIs. This new method is called an endpoint reference, or EPR. EPRs are designed to solve the issues posed by specific scenarios:

* Dynamic generation and customization of service endpoint descriptions, such as those created for a session id or customer id

* Referencing and description of specific service instances that are created as the result of stateful interactions

* Flexible and dynamic exchange of endpoint information in tightly coupled environments where communicating parties share a set of common assumptions about specific policies or protocols that are used during the interaction.

In addition to the addressing function of EPRs, they can serve a role similar to that of a cookie for Web services interactions. Another special feature of EPRs is referred to as a metadata bag. The metadata bag allows for additional information - whether it be a policy statement, a WSDL description, or Semantic Web data - to be included with the EPR.

EPRs serve as a key component of Web services specifications developed in a variety of different standards and industry organizations. The W3C work ensures that these diverse groups have a universal starting point with regards to addressing Web services messages.

SOAP Binding for WS Addressing Makes New, More Powerful Applications Easier to Implement, More Secure

Along with the core specification, the W3C Web Services Addressing Working Group issued an accompanying Recommendation, "Web Services Addressing 1.0 - SOAP Binding". The SOAP binding provides instructions to developers interested in implementing Web Services Addressing with either the W3C standard SOAP 1.2 or the earlier SOAP 1.1 version. It specifies security considerations to use Web Services Addressing safely.

Web Services Addressing 1.0 Facilitates Asynchronous Interactions

Web Services Addressing introduces a way to specify the destination address reply messages and faults in SOAP messages, taking advantage of SOAP's versatility in being carried by arbitrary underlying protocols and being applicable to a wide variety of interaction patterns. This capability facilitates in particular scenarios with long-running requests.

Web Services Addressing Carries Significant Industry Participation and Endorsement

The participants in the Web Services Addressing Working Group include BEA Systems, BT, CA, Ericsson, Fujitsu Limited, Hitachi Ltd, HP, IBM, IONA Technologies Inc., JBoss Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Nortel Networks, Oracle Corporation, Ricoh Company Ltd., SAP AG, Sonic Software, Sonoa Systems Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc., Systinet Inc., TIBCO Software Inc., webMethods Inc, and WSO2. Many of these participants have implemented or are planning to implement Web Services Addressing 1.0 in their products, as identified in the testimonials.

About the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 400 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France, Keio University in Japan, and has additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org/

Source: Business Wire

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