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2
Web Services Basics 1
2
3
4
5
If you ask five people to define Web services, you’ll probably get There’s no one 6
at least six answers. Some people use the term “Web services” to official definition of 7
describe applications that communicate with Simple Object Access “Web services” 8
Protocol (SOAP). (SOAP is an XML messaging protocol. We’ll dis- 9
cuss it in detail in Chapter 3.) Other folks use the term to describe 1
only the SOAP interface. Still other people vehemently object to the 1
idea of constraining the definition to a specific technology such as 2
SOAP. Some people use the term to describe any application that 3
communicates over the Internet. Other people use the term to 4
describe any Web-based application. Some people view Web ser- 5
vices as anything that’s accessible over the Web. And some people 6
use the term to describe the software-as-a-service business model. 7
8
Given that there is no official consensus within the industry, I am For the purposes of 9
establishing my own set of names and definitions. I want to give this book I am 2
you a basic grounding to help you understand this technology, so defining my own 1
my goal is to make things as simple and straightforward as possible. terminology 2
3
4
What Is a Web Service? 5
The simplest and most basic definition that I can give you is that A Web service is an 6
a Web service is an application that provides a Web API. As men- application with a 7
tioned in Chapter 1, an API supports application-to-application Web API 8
communication. A Web API is an API that lets the applications com- 9
municate using XML and the Web. 3
3
So here’s the basic concept: Web services use the Web to perform Web services use the 3
application-to-application integration. A lot of the hype around Web for application-to- 3
Web services talks about dynamic assembly of Web-based software application integration 3

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Chapter 2 Web Services Basics

1 services. It talks about the software-as-a-service business model.

2 It talks about spontaneous discovery of new business partners.
3 My advice is to ignore this hype. It’s possible that at some point
4 in the future some of these glossy images will become reality, but
5 please don’t let the science fiction stories distract you from reality
6 or dissuade you from using this technology today to solve real
7 business issues.
8
9
0 Why Web Services?
1 Web services help Rather than “what?” I think the more important question is “why?”
2 you integrate Why should you care about Web services? The answer is that Web
3 applications services mitigate the application integration crisis. They help you
4 integrate applications, and they do so at a significantly lower price
5 point than any other integration technology.
6
7 XML and the Web services represent a new form of middleware based on XML
8 Web solve the and the Web. XML and the Web help solve the challenges associ-
9 ”Traditional ated with traditional application-to-application integration, which
0 Middleware Blues” I identified in Chapter 1 as the Traditional Middleware Blues. To
1 summarize:
2
❏ Traditional middleware doesn’t support heterogeneity.
3
❏ Traditional middleware doesn’t work across the Internet.
4
❏ Traditional middleware isn’t pervasive.
5
❏ Traditional middleware is hard to use.
6
❏ Traditional middleware is expensive.
7
❏ Traditional middleware maintenance costs are outrageous.
8
❏ Traditional middleware connections are hard to reuse.
9
❏ Traditional middleware connections are fragile.
0
1 Web services support Web services address these issues. Web services are platform- and
2 heterogeneous language-independent. You can develop a Web service using any
3 interoperability language, and you can deploy it on any platform, from the tiniest
4 device to the largest supercomputer. More to the point, any Web

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Defining “Web” and “Service”

service can be accessed by any other application, regardless of 1

either’s language or platform. Web services communicate using 2
XML and Web protocols, which are pervasive, work both inter- 3
nally and across the Internet, and support heterogeneous 4
interoperability. 5
6
Web services simplify the process of making applications talk Web services are 7
to each other. Simplification results in lower development cost, inexpensive 8
faster time to market, easier maintenance, and reduced total cost 9
of ownership. The bottom line is this: Web services allow you to 1
integrate your applications at a fraction of the cost of traditional 1
middleware. 2
3
Traditional RPC-style middleware, such as RPC, CORBA, RMI, and Web services are 4
DCOM, relies on tightly coupled connections. A tightly coupled flexible and 5
connection is very brittle, and it can break if you make any modi- adaptable 6
fication to the application. Tightly coupled connections are the 7
source of many a maintenance nightmare. In contrast, Web services 8
support loosely coupled connections. Loose coupling minimizes the 9
impact of changes to your applications. A Web service interface pro- 2
vides a layer of abstraction between the client and server. A change 1
in one doesn’t necessarily force a change in the other. The abstract 2
interface also makes it easier to reuse a service in another applica- 3
tion. Loose coupling reduces the cost of maintenance and increases 4
reusability. 5
6
7
Defining “Web” and “Service” 8
So let’s dig a little deeper into our definition. Just what is a Web A Web service is 9
service? If we dissect the name, we can infer that a Web service has a service that lives 3
something to do with the Web and something to do with services. I on the Web 3
like to say that a Web service is a service that lives on the Web. This 3
definition doesn’t help us very much, though, unless we know the 3
meaning of the terms “Web” and “service.” So let’s start there. 3

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Chapter 2 Web Services Basics

1 The Web is a The Web is an immensely scalable information space filled with
2 huge information interconnected resources. The architecture for the Web has been
3 space filled with developed and standardized by the World Wide Web Consortium
4 interconnected (W3C). A Web resource is any type of named information object—
5 resources such as a word processing document, a digital picture, a Web page,
6 an e-mail account, or an application—that’s accessible through the
7 Web. All resources on the Web are connected via the Internet, and
8 you access Web resources using standard Internet protocols. Any
9 network-enabled application or device can access any resource in
0 the Web. Right off the bat, you can see that the Web solves one of
1 your integration challenges: The Web is pervasive and provides
2 universal connectivity.
3
4 A service is an A service is an application that exposes its functionality through an
5 application that can application programming interface (API). In other words, a service
6 be consumed by is a resource that is designed to be consumed by software rather
7 software than by humans.
8
9 “Service” refers to The term “service” implies something special about the application
0 the service-oriented design. It refers to something known as the service-oriented
1 architecture architecture (SOA). The SOA is the basic architecture used by
2 most RPC-style middleware systems. Chapter 3 talks about the
3 SOA in detail.
4
5 An interface hides One of the most important features of the SOA is the separa-
6 the complexities of tion of interface from implementation. A service exposes its func-
7 the internal system tionality through an interface, and that interface hides the inner
8 workings of the application. A client application doesn’t need to
9 understand how the service actually performs its work. All it
0 needs to understand is how to use the interface. To give you an
1 analogy, let’s look at a car. A car is a complicated machine, but the
2 car provides a set of interfaces that’s relatively simple to use. To start
3 a car, you don’t need to know how an internal combustion engine
4

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Defining “Web” and “Service”

works, or even how the starter motor works. You only need to 1
know how to use the interface that the car supplies to start it: Turn 2
the key. 3
4
A Web service possesses the characteristics of both a Web resource A Web service is 5
and a service. It is an application that exposes its functionality both a Web resource 6
through an API, and it is a Web resource that is designed to be con- and a service 7
sumed by software rather than by a human sitting at a browser. 8
9
Understanding the concept of a service is key to understanding Web A service is software 1
services. A service is a piece of software that does work for other that does work for 1
software. In most circumstances, a service runs on a server, waiting other software 2
for an application to call it and ask it to do some work. In many 3
cases services don’t provide any type of human interface, and the 4
only way to access the service is through its API. 5
6
A service can perform system functions or business application A service can 7
functions. For example, a file service can create, find, save, or perform system or 8
delete a file. A stock quote service can retrieve the current ask and business functions 9
bid prices of an equity. 2
1
All client/server technologies rely on this basic concept of a service. A service plays 2
A service is the business or system application that plays the part of the role of server 3
the server in a client/server relationship. Print servers, file servers, in a client/server 4
database servers, Web servers, and application servers are all relationship 5
examples of service-oriented systems. 6
7
Any business application that exposes its capabilities through an Application services 8
API is a service. Business application services often run in an appli- often run in an 9
cation server. An application server manages and coordinates the application server 3
utilization of all resources available in a shared, multiprocessing 3
environment, enabling optimized performance, scalability, reliabil- 3
ity, and availability. 3
3

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Chapter 2 Web Services Basics

1 Figure 2-1: A service

can be shared by
2 Browser
many different Web Store Su
Client bm
3 applications. it O
rde
4 r
Browser Get O
Portal rder
5 Client Statu
s
6 Order
Desktop List Back Orders
7 Report Processing
Client Service
tory
8 er His
stom
Get Cu
9 Desktop
tor
y
CRM is
Client rH
0 de
t Or
1 Ge
Spreadsheet
Analytics
2 Client
3
4 A service is a You often need this type of scalability because many different users
5 shared resource can share a single service. A service is a shared resource. One rea-
6 son you might want to design a business application as a service is
7 to consolidate your efforts and reduce duplicated work. If there is a
8 particular piece of functionality that many of your applications
9 need to perform, you should build this functionality as a service
0 rather than reimplement the functionality in each application.
1
2 One service can For example, as shown in Figure 2-1, it’s much simpler and
3 support many easier to manage and maintain your order processing system if
4 applications you have only one application service that actually processes
5 orders. This one service can support all the different ways that
6 you offer to place orders, inquire about order status, and generate
7 reports about orders.
8
9 Building Services
0 You use middleware To let clients access a service over the network, you must build a
1 to create your network API for the service. You generally use some type of com-
2 network API munication middleware to create a network API. You can use a
3 traditional middleware technology, such as RPC, DCOM, CORBA,
4 RMI, or MOM, but all these technologies suffer from the Traditional

32
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Web Evolution

Middleware Blues. If you want to make your services available to 1

heterogeneous users across multiple systems (including the Inter- 2
net) at a reasonable cost, you should use middleware technology 3
that supports these requirements. 4
5
Web services represent a new type of middleware that relies on Web services are 6
the Web. The Web resolves the pervasive aspects of the Traditional Web-based 7
Middleware Blues.1 The Web is pervasive. The Web is free. The Web middleware 8
is completely vendor-, platform-, and language-independent. The 9
Web uses the Internet as its native communication protocol. Web 1
services support easy integration, flexibility, and service reusability. 1
2
3
Web Evolution 4
The Web was originally created to support interactive communica- The Web was 5
tion. People use the Web to communicate with other people and to designed for 6
access information. You use e-mail and instant messaging to con- interactive 7
verse with friends and colleagues. You use a browser to access communication 8
information. 9
2
In the early days of the Web, a Web site was simply a set of static A dynamic Web site 1
pages that were stored in files. You could view only the text and allows people to talk 2
pictures contained in these files. To change what users saw, a Web to applications 3
site operator had to edit the files. Soon we realized that we could 4
also use the Web to access dynamic information. When you link 5
to a dynamic page, the Web server doesn’t merely display a file. 6
Instead it calls an application that dynamically generates and ren- 7
ders the requested information. The introduction of this technique 8
marked the point when the Web evolved to allow people to talk to 9
applications. 3
3
3
1 The other Traditional Middleware Blues tend to be a function of tightly coupled 3
connections. Web services solve these issues using XML. Chapter 3 discusses XML. 3

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Chapter 2 Web Services Basics

1 Web services allow Web services represent the next step in the Web’s evolution
2 applications to talk because they allow applications to talk to applications. Web-based
3 to applications application-to-application integration allows us to exploit the uni-
4 versal connectivity and immense scalability of the Web, and it sup-
5 ports a much richer set of usage models than do human-oriented
6 applications.
7
8 Web sites support Figure 2-2 summarizes the differences between a Web site and a
9 humans; Web Web service. A Web site represents a group of Web resources that
0 services support are designed to be accessed by humans, and a Web service repre-
1 software sents a group of Web resources that are designed to be accessed by
2 applications.
3
4 A service interface The interfaces to these two types of applications are fundamentally
5 must be structured different. A Web site supports human clients who have a tremen-
6 and unambiguous dous capacity to interpret the meaning of information. The site
7 returns information as a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
8 page—a string of text containing formatting information, often
9 including graphics, clickable buttons, and links. A human interprets
0 this information based on visual layout and physical association. In
1 contrast, an application can’t interpret information this way. An
2
Figure 2-2: A Web
3
site is designed to be
4 accessed by humans.
A Web service is
5
designed to be
6 accessed by
applications.
Web site
7
8
9
0
1
2
Web service
3
4

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Understanding the Scope of Web Services

application needs unambiguous information. It needs to know 1

what programmatic functions are available, and it needs to know 2
how to structure and interpret the data being exchanged. A Web 3
API defines these programmatic functions and data structures in a 4
completely unambiguous way. 5
6
7
Defining Characteristics of Web Services 8
A Web service exhibits the following defining characteristics: A Web service is a 9
Web resource that 1
❏ A Web service is a Web resource. You access a Web service 1
provides an API
using platform-independent and language-neutral Web 2
protocols, such as HTTP. These Web protocols ensure easy 3
integration of heterogeneous environments. 4
❏ A Web service provides an interface—a Web API—that can be 5
called from another program. This application-to-application 6
programming interface can be invoked from any type of appli- 7
cation. The Web API provides access to the application logic 8
that implements the service. 9
❏ A Web service is typically registered and can be located 2
through a Web service registry. A registry enables service 1
consumers to find services that match their needs. These ser- 2
vice consumers may be humans or other applications. 3
❏ Web services support loosely coupled connections between 4
systems. Web services communicate by passing XML mes- 5
sages to each other via a Web API, which adds a layer of 6
abstraction to the environment that makes the connections 7
flexible and adaptable. 8
9
3
Understanding the Scope of Web Services 3
So now that we have the basic definition down, let’s go back to the Web services concepts 3
big picture. How do you build Web services? What do you need to can be divided into 3
run Web services? How do you use Web services? Obviously this four layers 3

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Chapter 2 Web Services Basics

1 topic covers a lot of territory. Figure 2-3 divides the scope of our
2 discussion into four basic concepts: XML and Web services tech-
3 nologies, Web services infrastructure, Web services, and Web
4 services application templates. Each layer builds on the layers
5 below it.
6
7 XML and Web The bottom layer in Figure 2-3 comprises XML and Web services
8 services technologies technologies. These technologies provide the foundation for Web ser-
9 provide the vices. Don’t worry about all the acronyms used in this illustration.
0 foundation for We’ll take a closer look at these technologies in Chapters 3–5. (If you
1 Web services can’t wait, you can find definitions for the acronyms in the Glossary.)
2
3 Infrastructure refers The next layer in Figure 2-3 represents Web services infrastruc-
4 to products that ture: products that implement the XML and Web services technolo-
5 implement Web gies. You use these products to build, deploy, manage, and use Web
6 services technologies services. Chapters 8 and 9 will take a closer look at Web services
7 infrastructure.
8
9 Figure 2-3: Web
0 services concepts
can be divided into
1 Web Services Application Templates
four logical layers:
2 XML and Web
CRM EAI
services technol- ERP B2B
Portal ...
3 ogies, Web services
4 infrastructure, Web Web Services
services, and Web
5 services application Sales Order Weather Stock Map and
...
quote tracking reports trading directions
6 templates.

7 Web Services Infrastructure

8 Tools and
Containers Infrastructure Management ...
frameworks frameworks
9 and servers services

0
SOAP XML and Web Services Technologies BPEL4WS
1 WSDL ebXML
XML UDDI WSS ...
2 XML Schema SAML
XSLT XML Signature
3
4

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Web Services Business Models

A Web service represents an information resource or business Web services are 1

process that you have made available to other applications through applications that 2
a Web API. In particular, it is a resource that supports application- communicate using 3
to-application communication using Web services infrastructure. Web services 4
You can turn any piece of application code into a Web service. A infrastructure 5
Web service can do whatever you’ve programmed it to do. Fig- 6
ure 2-3 lists five sample Web services: sales quote, order tracking, 7
weather reports, stock trading, and map and directions. 8
9
Web services application templates represent the kinds of appli- Application 1
cations and initiatives for which Web services technology offers templates represent 1
substantial benefits. The list of templates in Figure 2-3 is by no systems that benefit 2
means exhaustive, but it identifies some of the more popular uses from Web services 3
of Web services, such as portals, enterprise resource planning, cus- 4
tomer relationship management, enterprise application integration 5
initiatives, and business-to-business integration. We’ll discuss a 6
number of real-life Web services applications in this chapter and 7
in Chapter 7. 8
9
2
Web Services Business Models 1
You may have noticed that I didn’t list software-as-a-service as a Web services is not a 2
Web services application template. That’s because software-as-a- business model 3
service isn’t an application. It’s a business model in which you 4
license subscription rights to access hosted software rather than 5
license the rights to deploy the software in your own organization. 6
For example, Salesforce.com uses the software-as-a-service busi- 7
ness model. Salesforce.com hosts a CRM system, and users pay a 8
monthly subscription fee to use the software. 9
3
A lot of the early hype about Web services led many people to Many people equate 3
equate Web services with the software-as-a-service business model. Web services with 3
The hype projects a blue-sky vision of being able to dynamically software-as-a-service 3
discover, assemble, and consume Internet-based software services. 3

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Chapter 2 Web Services Basics

1 But IDC predicts that the realization of this vision is at least 10 years
2 away. I view that prediction as optimistic.
3
4 Web services should My point is that, except in a few rare circumstances, you don’t sell a
5 support your existing Web service. Instead you sell some other type of product or service,
6 business models and you use Web services to help you do that. Only in very rare cir-
7 cumstances are Web services the focus of their own business model.
8 Without a viable business model, it’s hard to create a business case
9 for Web services. For example, let’s look at Google.
0
1
Google
2
Google’s business Google is the world’s leading Web search company. Google provides
3
model is based on a public search engine that contains an index of more than three
4
advertising billion Web pages. The normal interface to this search engine is a
5
human-oriented browser interface. The business model that sup-
6
ports this public service is advertising. Users can access the service
7
for free in exchange for viewing a few ads. Google collects revenues
8
from the businesses that place the ads.
9
0
The Google Web Google also provides a Web service interface to this public search
1
service provides an engine. It calls this Web service the Google Web APIs. You can use
2
API to the search these Web APIs to query the Google search engine from an applica-
3
engine tion rather than from a browser. The results of the search are
4
returned as structured data so that the requesting application can
5
process the information.
6
7
Google is encour- As of the time of this writing, this Web service is still in an experi-
8
aging users to create mental stage. Google is encouraging developers to use their imagi-
9
innovative appli- nation to create new and interesting applications using the Google
0
cations using these Web APIs. Here are three examples:
1
Web APIs
2 ❏ Subject monitoring: issue regularly scheduled Web searches to
3 find any new information on a particular subject
4

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Web Services Business Models

❏ Market research: issue regularly scheduled Web searches and 1

analyze the difference in the amount of information available 2
on the subject over time 3
❏ Plagiarism search: search for phrases from a piece of writing to 4
ensure that it is original material 5
6
Researchers and developers may be excited about the Google Web The Google Web
7
APIs, but it’s hard to figure out what benefit Google will gain from APIs undermine
8
this Web service other than goodwill. The Google Web APIs under- Google’s normal
9
mine Google’s normal business model. The Google Web APIs don’t business model
1
constitute a new service. Instead they simply provide a program-
1
matic interface to Google’s public Web search engine. The Web APIs
2
are free. Users are required to register, and they are limited to 1,000
3
queries per day per user, but users of the Google Web APIs don’t
4
receive the Google advertisements.
5
6
The cost of an individual Google search is minuscule. Google views Web services should
7
it as a reasonable investment to give away a few million searches in support your existing
8
exchange for the generation of goodwill. But in general, I wouldn’t business models
9
recommend that you follow Google’s example. Web services should
2
be designed to support your existing business model. They should
1
provide a new or improved mechanism to sell or use an existing
2
product or service.
3
4
Kinko’s 5
For example, let’s look at Kinko’s, the world's leading provider “File, Print . . . 6
of document solutions and business services. Kinko’s has offered Kinko’s” will allow 7
a browser-based utility for quite a while that allows you to send you to send a print 8
documents from your PC directly to Kinko’s for printing. Now job to Kinko’s 9
Kinko’s wants to use Web services to make the process even more directly from your 3
seamless. Kinko’s plans to roll out a “File, Print . . . Kinko’s” Web Office application 3
service in mid-2003. This Web service allows you to send a print 3
job to Kinko’s over the Internet directly from any Microsoft Office 3
3

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Chapter 2 Web Services Basics

1 application. The service will require you to install a small add-

2 in to Office, which will supply the client interface to the Kinko’s
3 Web service. After you’ve installed this add-in, “Kinko’s” will
4 appear in your list of printers when you select File and Print . . .
5 from the Office menu. When you select the Kinko’s print service,
6 Office will launch Kinko’s client interface, which then presents
7 you with an easy-to-use dialog box to guide you through the
8 process of submitting a print job. The dialog box will help you
9 find a convenient Kinko’s location, select options such as stapling
0 and binding, and specify payment, notification, and delivery
1 methods.
2
3 You can send the Suppose you’re sitting in your hotel room writing a proposal in
4 print job to any Microsoft Word. When you’re finished, you select File, Print . . .
5 Kinko’s anywhere Kinko’s. The hotel’s high-speed Internet connection sends the print
6 in the world job to a Kinko’s in another city, and the proposal is delivered
7 directly to your client. Kinko’s will even send you a notification
8 when the job is complete.
9
0 Kinko’s Web The “File, Print . . . Kinko’s” Web service doesn’t compete with the
1 service supports company’s core business model. It enhances it by providing another
2 the company’s core way for users to submit print jobs. And it provides a level of conve-
3 business model nience that many users will certainly appreciate.
4
5 Amazon
6 Amazon provides a Amazon also uses Web services to enhance its core business
7 Web API to support model. Amazon’s business model is based on online retail sales.
8 its marketing Amazon is renowned for the features of its online catalog, which
9 affiliates provides the primary consumer sales interface. The catalog is
0 designed to be viewed by a human sitting at a browser. Amazon
1 also wants to make this catalog available to applications so that
2 its 800,000 marketing affiliates can more easily sell products for
3 Amazon. So Amazon created a Web API for its catalog. Before it
4 offered this Web API, it was quite difficult to access the Amazon

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Web Services Business Models

catalog from an application. You needed to build a screen scraping 1

application that simulated a human sitting at a browser. 2
3
The new Amazon Web API allows Amazon’s marketing affiliates Amazon hopes its 4
to easily incorporate Amazon content and features into their Web Web service will 5
sites. Many of Amazon’s most popular search facilities—such as boost book sales 6
keyword search, ISBN search, and even “Listmania!”—are available 7
through the Web service. Now consumers can buy products from 8
Amazon transparently through the affiliate sites. The affiliate Web 9
site uses the Amazon Web service to search Amazon’s catalog and 1
display the results on its own site, including features such as Ama- 1
zon reviews and book ratings. This free Web service is a win-win 2
situation for both the affiliates and Amazon. Each time a consumer 3
makes an Amazon purchase through the affiliate site, the affiliate 4
earns a 15% referral fee. Meanwhile Amazon expects to see a 5
boost in product sales. 6
7
UPS 8
UPS also uses Web services to promote sales. UPS provides a set of UPS OnLine Tools 9
Web APIs called UPS OnLine Tools. Businesses can use these APIs streamline the 2
to connect their applications directly to the UPS logistics system to logistics process 1
add integrated shipping, tracking, and related functionality. UPS 2
OnLine Tools are available at no charge, and UPS provides free 3
e-mail support. As with Amazon, this Web service offers a win- 4
win situation. Customers appreciate the way this Web service 5
can streamline their logistics process; UPS can expect to see an 6
increase in UPS shipments. 7
8
T-Mobile 9
Sometimes Web services can help enable a new business model. T-Mobile uses Web 3
T-Mobile International, a division of Deutsche Telekom, is one of services to enable a 3
the world’s leading international mobile communication providers. new business model 3
One of its service offerings, T-Mobile Online, provides a wireless 3
Web portal for more than three million T-Mobile customers in 3

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Chapter 2 Web Services Basics

1 Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

2 As with most wireless plans, the business model is based on con-
3 sumer usage.
4
5 T-Mobile needs When first planning T-Mobile Online, T-Mobile realized that to
6 interesting content to promote consumer usage it needed to provide interesting content
7 attract users on the portal. Recruiting content providers was critical to the suc-
8 cess of this new venture. T-Mobile needed to make sure that it was
9 as easy as possible for content providers to join the network.
0
1 The content One of the biggest challenges T-Mobile faced was figuring out a way
2 providers need to give the content providers access to information about individual
3 consumer info and consumers. Providers need this information to furnish customized,
4 billing services localized, useful content. Another challenge was devising an afford-
5 able micro-payment system to ensure that the content providers
6 got paid for their services.
7
8 Web services ensure Given that each content provider might have a completely dif-
9 easy content ferent IT infrastructure, T-Mobile elected to use Web services. All
0 integration consumer information and billing services are made available to the
1 content providers as Web services, as shown in Figure 2-4. The Web
2 services ensure that content providers can quickly, easily, and in-
3 expensively integrate their content into the T-Mobile portal.
4
5 Web services enable This venture has been very successful. T-Mobile Online has enlisted
6 this m-commerce more than 200 content providers to make the wireless Web inter-
7 business model esting and appealing to T-Mobile consumers. Through T-Mobile
8 Online, these content providers provide services such as e-mail,
9 Short Message Service (SMS) messaging, news, sports scores,
0 restaurant recommendations, directions, stock trading, banking,
1 ticket purchases, gambling, and more. T-Mobile doesn’t charge
2 either its consumers or the content providers for these Web ser-
3 vices. Instead T-Mobile makes money from the increased airtime
4

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Web Services Business Models

1
2 Access Application 2
Content 3
Provider 4
Consumer
1 Log on and Make
5
Menu Selection 6
Gateway
7

Web Portal

Web API
3 Service Calls
8
T-Mobile
9
4 Return to 1
T-Mobile
1
Session Consumer Messaging and 2
Payments
Management Profile Notifications 3
Location and
Bookmarks Calendar
Address 4
Presence Book
5
Web Services
6
7
Figure 2-4: T-Mobile Web services maintain user session information, automatically capture and manage
8
billing and payment services, and allow content providers to obtain information about consumers.
9
2
the consumers use to access these third-party offerings. The Web 1
services aren’t the focus of the business model, but it wouldn’t 2
work without them. 3
4
Internal Integration 5
In the examples I’ve cited so far, I’ve talked only about external Web services can 6
integration applications. One key theme that permeates all these make it easier for 7
examples is that Web services can make it easier for your customers your customers 8
or partners to do business with you. Anything that simplifies busi- and partners to do 9
ness integration is a valuable commodity. Another recurring theme business with you 3
is that Web services do not themselves define a business model. 3
Instead, they support existing business models, and in some cir- 3
cumstances they enable a new business model. 3
3

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Chapter 2 Web Services Basics

1 Web services Although the external applications are interesting, most production
2 lower the cost applications based on Web services are internal application projects.
3 of application As with external Web services, internal Web services should sup-
4 integration port your core business model. You can use them to improve and
5 optimize your internal application systems to make your business
6 processes work better. The first and foremost reason you should be
7 exploring Web services is that they can dramatically lower the cost
8 of application integration.
9
0 Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch completed an internal application integration
1 saved more than project in 2002. The idea was to build an integration bus to pro-
2 96% on a project vide access to mainframe-based Customer Information Control
3 with Web services System (CICS) applications. An integration bus is a common
4 pathway that multiple applications can use to communicate. The
5 original estimated cost for the project based on message-oriented
6 middleware was $800,000. Then the company switched to Web
7 services technology. Rather than purchase software licenses for
8 the MOM technology on a host of different platforms and then
9 build a bunch of adapters to allow the various client applications
0 to use the MOM middleware, Merrill Lynch developed a small
1 SOAP gateway for the CICS environment for only $30,000. Now
2 any client environment can access the CICS environment using
3 SOAP, and Merrill Lynch doesn’t need any special software or any
4 special adapters on any of its systems.
5
6
7 Executive Summary
8 A Web service is an The simplest definition of a Web service is an application that pro-
9 application that vides a Web API. The Web API exposes the functionality of the
0 provides a Web API application to other applications. The Web API relies on Web ser-
1 vices technology to manage communications. Web services tech-
2 nology is pervasive, vendor-independent, language-neutral, and
3 very low-cost.
4

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Executive Summary

The purpose of a Web API is to enable application integration. A Web API 1

More specifically, a Web API lets you integrate heterogeneous enables application 2
applications. You can use Web services to achieve many different integration 3
goals. You can use them to implement internal point-to-point appli- 4
cation integration projects. You can use them to consolidate your 5
development efforts and reduce redundant applications. You can 6
use them to implement a general-purpose integration bus for 7
your internal application systems. And you can use them to make 8
it easier for your partners and your customers to do business 9
with you. 1
1
Web services do not represent a new business model. Instead Web Web services should 2
services are a technology that you can use to build systems to sup- support your core 3
port a business model. business model 4
5
IT departments are being asked to do more with less. There’s less Web services let you 6
money in the budget to buy software, and there are fewer people to do more with less 7
do the work. Nearly every application development project involves 8
some level of application integration. It just makes sense to reduce 9
the cost and simplify the process of doing integration. Web services 2
are an obvious choice. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
3
3
3
3
3

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