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XML Web Services and telcos The new business opportunities
Recently, the concept of XML Web Services has attracted significant attention both from a technology and a business point of view. XML Web Services provide a standardised way for machines to access and use encapsulated services and functions on other machines over the Internet. Due to the service-oriented architecture model behind XML Web Services, a whole range of potential business opportunities is arising, particularly for telcos. In this article a brief introduction to the concept of XML Web Services will be provided along with a description of the current status of XML Web Services standardisation. Selected business opportunities for telcos will be discussed, and finally some conclusions will be drawn. Overview of XML Web Services technology In a very basic form, the term XML Web Service is often associated with a simple and robust mechanism for Remote Procedure Call-type service invocation based on the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), a communication protocol running e.g. over HTTP and XML, a data description language. By adding registry services, a means for dynamic search and match of service consumer and provider at run-time is introduced. This service model, with its three main entities provider, consumer, and registrar, is an example of a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) suitable for an open and dynamic service environment. Here are some definitions of Web Services. They also indicate the areas in which Web Services can be applied.
Standardisation Though the XML Web Services core specifications are a good starting point, they are not sufficient to effectively support complex transactions in a uniform and standardised manner. This is due to constraints and requirements ranging from reliability and security up to business transaction support, which are not addressed by the core standards and specifications mentioned above. For a better overview, the various protocols and specifications relevant to a future standardised Web Services protocol stack may be grouped within a simple protocol stack framework, outlined by IBM and Microsoft during a W3C workshop on Web Services in Spring 2001 called the Web Services Framework (see figure 1). Interoperability between the various protocol stack levels of the Web Services Framework is not necessarily given, but an important goal of the ongoing standardisation process.
Figure 1: Web Services Framework The main players in the field of Web Services standardisation are the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the OASIS group, which, together with the UN, backed the ebXML consortium, and software vendors, like IBM, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems, who push their own technologies. Important industry-specific groups include RosettaNet, BizTalk, commercialXML (cXML), the Open Travel Alliance (OTA), the XML/EDI group and the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI). The W3C attempts to create robust standards for Web Services in a bottom-up style, e.g. SOAP and XML, while the ebXML mission was to provide an open SOAP-/XML-based infrastructure comprehensively enabling the global use of electronic business information. It is apparent that additional protocols and specifications are required which together form a commonly accepted and openly available XML Web Services protocol stack. Currently, however, many complementary as well as rivalling approaches to various protocol needs are available. Some of them have been endorsed by established standardisation bodies, others by industry groups or even individual companies only. As yet, no consolidated and standardised Web Services protocol stack or Web Services architecture exists. It remains to be seen which standardisation body or industry group will prevail or in which way their efforts might be merged. This applies particularly to the higher-level business-oriented protocols, e.g. business process orchestration. These protocols currently are being pushed into OASIS, which is seen as the more appropriate body due to its history in ebXML. Business opportunities for telcos In order to analyse potential business opportunities for telcos in the XML Web Services arena, figure 2 illustrates the expected value chain and where a telco might find suitable business opportunities. Eurescom project P1209 has conducted an initial analysis of business models relevant to telcos. Two of them are briefly introduced below.
Figure 2: XML Web Services - value cahin and business opportunities Web Services broker A telco operating a vertical Web Services broker will run, for example, a Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry, in which suppliers are able to register Web Services. A taxonomy/categorisation will be provided to facilitate searching. To leverage its knowledge of the supplier network, the broker will provide ratings of the participating suppliers, and it can further provide ratings for individual Web Services based on either a testing programme or customer feedback or popularity. Other value-added services such as payment brokerage, availability and QoS could be offered if the broker is part of a Web Services network solution. The broker may use its established brand to attract customers to search for providers through its registry. To support this, the broker might be providing value-added consulting and integration services. The Web Service brokering scenario offers new market opportunities. As the registry grows, brokers may decide to differentiate and specialise in specific geographical areas or industries. The opportunities for such specialised value added Web Service providers are even larger as it is expected that horizontal value added services, for example secure communications, logging, monitoring, will be commoditised and included in the Web Service standards and vendor platforms. In addition, brokers specialised on specific industries will have the advantages of niche markets and loyal customers. Web Services infrastructure provisioning This business model sees the telco as a provider of basic infrastructure services, which are offered to Web Service providers, for instance:
The rationale behind this is that providers cannot always implement the whole infrastructure needed for Web Service business collaboration on their own, due to the lack of resources. Telcos are in a good position to establish themselves as infrastructure providers, mainly because they already have experience in providing infrastructure services. The associated costs are too high for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but can be covered by a telco. This business model is, however, inhibited by the currently still immature Web Services market. Conclusions At present, telcos are mainly experimenting with Web Services internally. Isolated examples indicate though that the usage of Web Services as an additional access path to information and services for external partners has already begun. This evolution will continue, allowing business partners in the near future to integrate their business processes via Web Services more closely. Additionally, through the maturing of Web Service technology new business models will become possible, which are closely related to B2B eBusiness. Web Services extend the available technology for B2B eBusiness in order to get a step closer to the ultimate vision of eBusiness, meaning to perform business on an ad hoc basis ‘on the fly’. However, a number of open issues still need to be solved for achieving this ultimate goal, for instance methods for contracting and standards for business-specific documents. Whether this vision can be achieved depends on a market for Web Services, which still needs to emerge. At the moment it is not yet clear whether this market will come into existence. Telcos are advised to carefully observe the further evolution of XML Web Services and to exploit the emerging business opportunities. Please send us your comments on this article. |
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