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XML and Web Services In The News - 05 December 2006
Provided by OASIS |
Edited by Robin Cover
This issue of XML Daily Newslink is sponsored by Innodata Isogen
HEADLINES:
IONA Delivers on Open-Source SOA Strategy
Darryl K. Taft, eWEEK
IONA Technologies, which makes SOA infrastructure software for
enterprise users, has announced the availability of Celtix Enterprise,
the company's open-source Enterprise Service Bus. IONA, based in Dublin,
Ireland, with U.S. headquarters in Waltham, Mass., said Celtix
Enterprise features enterprise-class ESB capabilities, backed by IONA's
"world-class" services organization, which provides consulting,
training and support. Eric Newcomer, chief technology officer at IONA,
said Celtix Enterprise has a lightweight, pluggable service engine that
enables customers to deploy the base functionality necessary to achieve
a project's goal, then add new capabilities as business and technology
requirements evolve. Moreover, with Celtix Enterprise, IONA brings
together SOA (service-oriented architecture) standards and new SOA
developments, including the Apache CXF project, also known as Apache
CeltiXfire because it combines the Celtix effort with the Codehaus
Xfire project. Apache CXF is an incubator project, and IONA is using it
to provide the services framework for Celtix Enterprise. IONA is also
utilizing Eclipse-based tooling from the Eclipse SOA Tools Platform
Project, which IONA is leading, and the Apache incubator project known
as Qpid, to provide an open-source implementation of the AMQP (Advanced
Message Queuing Protocol) specification. In addition to Celtix
Enterprise, IONA announced the Celtix Advanced Service Engine, an
open-source subscription offering based on the Apache Incubator CXF
project. The Celtix Advanced Service Engine provides users with a
small-footprint, pluggable service engine that lays the foundation
for distributed SOA deployments. The Celtix Advanced Service Engine
is a certified and tested distribution that is delivered along with
enterprise-quality support, training and consulting provided by IONA
services, the company said. The engine features support for a variety
of standards, including SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) 1.1 and
1.2, JAX-WS (Java API for XML Web Services), WS-RM (Web
Services-Reliable Messaging), Web Services-Addressing and Web
Services-Security.
See also: the announcement
Microsoft Takes Web Development Leap
Jim Rapoza, eWEEK
Software Review: Microsoft's Expression Web could be a more significant
release than even Vista and Office 2007. Where Web applications and
service-oriented architectures are becoming as important or even more
important than desktop-based products, the release of Microsoft's
Expression Web could prove to be as significant as that of its more
widely heralded siblings. In its most basic form, Expression Web is
the successor to Microsoft's FrontPage Web authoring application. While
we always looked at FrontPage as a fairly basic Web editing tool that
fell short when it came to serious Web development, Expression Web has
taken a big leap in functionality and capability, to the point where
it is a serious competitor to the leader in Web authoring, Adobe's
Dreamweaver. Some of Expression Web's features are even better than
those in rivals such as Dreamweaver, including the best CSS (Cascading
Style Sheet) browsing tools that we've seen in a Web editing tool. The
CSS tools, for example, made it very simple to browse through our
styles and actually see what each style looked like before applying it.
Still, while Expression Web is a big step up for Microsoft when it
comes to Web authoring, overall it isn't quite up to the level of
Dreamweaver, which we believe is a better option for experienced Web
developers. For one thing, Expression Web lacks a few features, such
as support for Secure FTP, that are must-haves for serious Web
development. Also, being a Microsoft product, Expression Web doesn't
play well with non-Microsoft development languages, such as PHP and
JSP, and it runs only on Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and Vista.
Still, Expression Web includes a good set of templates and wizards to
help users create new sites, and it is effective at importing existing
sites. Expression Web, like most good Web development tools, includes
the ability to link into data sources. We especially liked the ability
to use an XML file as a database, which was very useful for quick
application testing.
See also: the announcement
IDC Report: "The Road to Open Document Standards"
Per Andersen, IDC Technology Assessment Report
This independent study, based on an IDC survey of Nordic companies,
provides an overview of interoperability issues and options with a
focus on document standards such as Open XML and ODF. The title of
this 27-page report is "Technology Assessment: The Road to Open
Document Standards." Excerpt: "Interoperability is very high on the
agenda for companies and organizations. This has created a strong
interest in standards including open standards as enabling
technologies. In the office document area a battle is emerging between
two competing standards: Open XML from Ecma and ODF from OASIS. While
IBM, Microsoft, Sun and others discuss 'openness', IPR and
documentation, IDC has surveyed Nordic companies, reality checking the
adoption and views of customers of open document standards. Open
standards are definitively on the IT agenda of Nordic companies. Two
(2) in ten (10) companies are already heavily using open standards
and another four (4) in ten companies are either piloting or
considering piloting open standards. The interest is highest in
Denmark, followed by Finland and Sweden. Companies generally do not
consider ODF more open than Open XML or vice versa. Generally,
companies are rating Open XML of higher importance to them when
purchasing software than ODF. This is probably because IDC analysis
shows a stronger affinity between the interest in interoperability
and the interest in Open XML than between interests in interoperability
and ODF. There is a similar affinity between Open XML and the interest
in SOA as well as the interest in XML messaging architectures. ODF
has its strongest adoption and ratings among public organization. We
believe this reflects the current positioning of ODF as ensuring the
'free communication between public sector and citizens'. Assuming Open
XML is approved by Ecma and subsequently ISO, we believe that even
this position can be contested by Open XML — if Microsoft can build
enough confidence in the market as to its 'open intentions'. An
important step in this direction was the recent collaboration
announcement from Microsoft and Novell... Assuming the proper approvals,
there will be two document standards available in the market, but we
do not believe there per se are any problems with the co-existence of
two document standards."
See also: OpenXML Developer
Everware-CBDI to Submit SOA Metamodel in Response to OMG UPMS RFP
Staff, CBDI Announcement
Everware-CBDI Inc. announced that it intends to make a submission to
the Object Management Group (OMG) in response to their UML Profile and
Metamodel for Services (UPMS) Request for Proposal. "SOA is widely
regarded as one of the most profound changes ever in enterprise
computing, yet there is general confusion over basic concepts,
architecture and practices. To address these issues Everware-CBDI has
developed and published a comprehensive metamodel that defines SOA
unambiguously leveraging current industry standards. A metamodel defines
the rules for building business and software models and defines
terminology in a consistent manner to eliminate confusion. The SOA
metamodel provides essential precision for the specification of
business services, and enables SOA automation and effective governance."
The OMG's Request for Proposal (RFP) solicits submissions for a UML
Metamodel and Profile for Service (UPMS). Essentially, the UPMS RFP
requests a services metamodel and profile for extending UML with
capabilities applicable to modeling services using an SOA. The profile
will define extensions for modeling and integrating services within
and across business enterprises. UPMS will include facilities for
formal specification of service contracts that may be developed
directly using the profile, or abstracted from business processes. It
will also include facilities for indicating which of these contracts
are fulfilled by modeled service providers... The purpose of this RFP
is to address Service Modeling, not methodologies for SOA. However,
submissions are expected to demonstrate how service models relate to
business process models on the one hand and existing Web Services
standards (XSD, WSDL, BPEL, etc.) on the other in order to facilitate
bridging the gap between business models and deployed services
solutions.
See also: OMG UPMS RFP references
SAML, The Liberty Alliance, and Federation
Eve Maler, Internet Identity Workshop Presentation
This presentation was prepared for the "Internet Identity Workshop
(IIW)," held December 4-6, 2006 at the Computer History Museum,
Mountain View, CA, USA. The workshop was designed to discuss technical
protocols, frameworks and proposals such as: OpenID (Sxip, LID, i-names,
XRI, Yadis), SAML, Identity metasystem, CardSpace, i-cards, Open Source
Identity System (OSIS), XDI, itags, Identity Schemas and the Higgins
Project. From Maler's presentation: " When you distribute identity
tasks and information in the right way, people can: Unify management
of their identity information; Avoid authenticating repeatedly; Have
better-personalized online experiences; Gain better privacy control.
Services and applications on the web can: Offload authentication and
identity lookup tasks; Unify treatment of all 'things with identities';
Provide finer-grained access control and differentiation. Organizations
can more securely outsource business functions..." Slide 11 presents
a list of major open-source implementations for SAML/Shibboleth/ID-FF,
etc. Slide 13 shows "Some convergence history" and spec relationships
between three versions of SAML, Liberty Alliance specifications, and
Internet2/Shibboleth specifications.
See also: SAML references
XSL Version 1.1 Recommendation Enhances High Quality XML Formatting
Anders Berglund (ed), W3C Technical Report
"In response to user and vendor feedback, W3C has revised the widely
deployed XML formatting standard XSL-FO 1.0 to support the creation
of back-of-the-book style indexes, revision bars, PDF bookmarks, and
to include other popular features. The new XSL-FO 1.1 Recommendation
('Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) Version 1.1') increases
interoperability by standardizing these features and other enhancements,
formerly only available as proprietary extensions. An XSL stylesheet
specifies the presentation of a class of XML documents by describing
how an instance of the class is transformed into an XML document that
uses the formatting vocabulary. An XSL stylesheet processor accepts a
document or data in XML and an XSL stylesheet and produces the
presentation of that XML source content that was intended by the
designer of that stylesheet. There are two aspects of this presentation
process: first, constructing a result tree from the XML source tree
and second, interpreting the result tree to produce formatted results
suitable for presentation on a display, on paper, in speech, or onto
other media. The first aspect is called tree transformation and the
second is called formatting. The process of formatting is performed
by the formatter. This formatter may simply be a rendering engine
inside a browser. In XSL-FO 1.1, the W3C XSL Working Group enhanced a
number of XSL-FO 1.0 features, providing for multiple color profile
references, more complex page numbering schemes, and clarifications
for internationalization. The XSL-FO 1.1 specification was developed
by the XSL-FO Subgroup of the XSL Working Group, and approved for
publication by the W3C XSL Working Group (WG). During the development
of XSL 1.1 the members of the XSL-FO Subgroup included contributions
from Adobe Systems Inc; HP; IBM; Inventive Designers; Isogen; Pageflex;
PTC-Arbortext; RenderX; and Sun Microsystems."
See also: the announcement
Novell Joins Microsoft in ODF Effort
Sean Michael Kerner, InternetNews.com
Announced in July 2006, Microsoft is working on interoperability with
the Open Document Format (ODF). Interoperability is also a key part
of the November deal between Microsoft and Novell. One of the fruits of
that deal is that the ODF to Open XML effort now has the backing and
assistance of Novell. ODF is an OASIS standard based on the
OpenOffice.org (OOo) XML format. ODF is the default file format for OOo.
Open XML is Microsoft's new file format specification for Microsoft
Office 2007. In response to much criticism for governments around the
world, Microsoft launched the ODF to Open XML translator initiative
in July of this year. Justin Steinman, director of marketing for Linux
and open platform solutions for Novell, explained that Novell is now
contributing its expertise to the ODF to Open XML effort. Novell will
also be providing the ODF to Open XML translator with all editions of
OOo that ship with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) moving forward.
Users won't have to wait for SLED 11 to get Open XML. Novell intends
on shipping a patch update to the existing SLED 10 in early 2007 that
will include the Open XML plug-in. Novell's OpenSUSE distribution users
will be able to download and install the plug-in within the same
timeframe. It is unclear whether the ODF to Open XML plug-in will be
picked up by other Linux distributions or even the OOo project directly.
Though the interoperability deal with Microsoft isn't the only reason
Novell is participating in the effort, Steinman noted that the Microsoft
agreement accelerated the process and it was an item on the table during
the negotiations. According to Steinman, patents do not play a role at
all in the ODF to Open XML translator effort.
See also: ODF Add-in for Microsoft Word
IBM Extends SOA Tools for Desktop: Rational Architecture Enhancements
Paul Krill, InfoWorld
Focusing on the global architecture of SOA, IBM is introducing IBM
Rational Software Delivery Platform 7.0 for the desktop. The product
unveiling features a multitude of integrated products tweaked to the
needs of SOA. With the rollout, IBM reasons enterprises need tools to
visualize an architecture that has composite applications residing in
multiple locations, said Dave Locke, director of offerings marketing at
IBM Rational. SOA testing also is a critical component: "We've added
functionality to help line-of-business people communicate more
effectively with the IT people, so that IT can understand what to
implement, and help the implementers, if you will, be more efficient
and work as a geographically distributed team." As part of the rollout,
Rational Unified Process, which provides process guidance, now will
cover SOA governance. IBM envisions governance as understanding what
teams are doing in an SOA as well as assisting with regulatory
compliance. The 7.0 desktop tools, which are based on the Eclipse
platform, complement previously released server-side products such
as IBM Rational ClearQuest 7.0. Among the tools being upgraded, all
bearing the name IBM Rational at the beginning, include: (1)
Application Developer for WebSphere Software, featuring an IDE for
developing SOA, Java and portal applications; (2) Software Architect,
for model-driven development of SOA, J2EE and portal applications.
New models are featured for SOA; (3) Software Modeler, a visual
modeling tool for architects, systems analysts and designers to
ensure that specifications, architectures and designs are clearly
defined. It is based on Unified Modeling Language 2.1; (4) Systems
Developer, a systems design and development tool for building
hardware and software systems; this product adds SysML (Systems
Modeling Language) support...
See also: the announcement
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