[基础理论] Web Services and Service-Oriented Architecture: The Savvy Manager's Guide

[book]bName=Web Services and Service-Oriented Architecture: The Savvy Manager's Guide;bAuthor=Douglas K. Barry ;bISBN=1558609067;bPub=;bVer=2003;bLang=;bFormat=chm;bCover=http://www.itepub.net/book.gif[/book]Provides both practical leadership and architectural advice on how to prepare an organization to take advantage of Web services and service-oriented architectures, bridging the gap between the data-centric and the software engineering worlds. Picture a world where services are ubiquitous and organically integrated into the way we think and work. A place where both users and providers of information interact through a common focus on services. A world where technology is implemented within industry frameworks that operate on a global scale, enabled by open, interoperable standards. To some, this vision may seem impossible to realize or at the very least, a long way off. However, those who follow the evolution of information and communications technology appreciate that the dream is quite surely within our grasp. Indeed, the widespread benefits of Web services are easily achievable within the next two to five years. Douglas Barry’s Web Services and Service-Oriented Architectures: The Savvy Manager’s Guide provides both a road map and a how-to guide for transforming the possible into the actual. The book delivers a solid description of what Web services are, how they can be used, how service-oriented architectures are developed, and some detailed options for successful implementation. Readers will find very practical steps to guide them in planning and justifying the use of Web services. The following summary statement provides insight into the business-oriented approach the author takes to explain the expected benefits. “Service-oriented architectures that use Web services will result in a blurring between internal and external services. Architectures will be constructed using a combination of those internal and external services. As time goes on, these services will become more standardized making it easier to replace one ‘plug-compatible’ service with another. The result will be competition to create higher quality software in these services.” It is important to appreciate, however, that two fundamental issues must be addressed before we can herald the brave, new world Barry describes. A common framework for Web service interactions based on open standards must occur. An agreed set of vocabularies and interactions for specific industries or common functions must be adopted. A common framework is essential to provide a sustainable foundation that will allow end-user companies to achieve the payback they require to invest widely in the service-oriented architecture. An interview with the CIO of a Fortune 50 corporation in 2003 provided this response to a question about his greatest concern over adoption of Web services. “One is fragmentation. There’s a sordid history in the technology world of everybody trying to get a little leverage over somebody else by developing proprietary extensions or vendor-specific add-ons to the core technology. In general, those have been bad, because they don’t end up being sustainable over time and that costs companies like us a lot of money.” The second highest priority that must be achieved is standard, open vocabularies and interactions (transactions). As Barry repeatedly points out, “Of course, for this [service-oriented scenario] to happen, there needs to be standardization of the types of messages and data exchanges needed with a CRM system.” Barry provides multiple examples of the type of standardization that must be realized in order for the scenarios depicted to be carried out seamlessly and efficiently. The real meat of Barry’s perspective is found in Part II—Managing Change Needed for a Service-Oriented Architecture. Here, Barry brings together interrelated issues for the organization, technology and the people involved in deploying service-oriented architecture. He also delves into the change options related to database systems, message routers, internal applications and the various architectural options. Web Services and Service-Oriented Architectures: The Savvy Manager’s Guide gives business managers much-needed help in assessing the costs and benefits of adopting Web services standards and building their own service-oriented architectures. Barry’s many years of work with technology standards consortia enables him to clearly explain why the widespread adoption of Web services is closely tied to the agreed use of common standard vocabularies and methods for inter-enterprise transactions. What will happen if Web services standards and common vocabularies are not developed and implemented in the near term? Certainly, the benefits of service-oriented architectures as outlined by Barry will be delayed or restricted to a few specialized areas or a handful of proprietary vendor installations. Software providers, seeking widespread markets for their Web service tools and application development platforms, won’t be the only ones at risk. I contend that that the negative impact will be even more pervasive, and the biggest fallout will be felt by end-user companies, unable to achieve the cost reduction and service expansion benefits that a widespread deployment of standards-based Web services would enable. In this post-dot-com era, end user companies are expecting more liquidity and longevity of their assets. If they are unable to achieve the expected benefits, they will likely abandon the technology as just another over-hyped promise of software vendors. Clearly, the time to forge a common framework based on interoperable standards and open vocabularies is now. Web Services and Service-Oriented Architectures: The Savvy Manager’s Guide puts these requirements into context and gives readers the information they need to advance this development and assure that the promises of Web services remain within reach.

附件: 您需要登录才可以下载或查看附件。没有帐号？注册会员