A few weeks after Microsoft Corp. and IBM Corp.
aired an XML-based Web services specification, the two tech
giants were back in the trenches to further develop their Web Yellow Pages services initiative known as the Universal Description,
Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) project. This time, they enlisted Hewlett-Packard Co. and SAP
to offer spruced up UDDI services.
At hand is the second version beta of UDDI, which in its first casting was created by Microsoft and IBM to help businesses find Web
services they need. On Monday the four firms said they had expanded UDDI functionality to improve support for rolling out public and
private Web service registries. Also in the mix is the ability for enterprises to deploy private registries to manage internal Web
services using the UDDI specification.
As an example, the firms said a manufacturer may share information about a parts inventory Web service with its business partners
through a private UDDI registry.
“As a core component of the emerging Web services infrastructure, UDDI delivers key features to help facilitate the discovery and
integration of companies, products and services,” said Tom Glover, UDDI general program manager. “UDDI v2 beta enables developers to
explore the possibilities of building Web services registries — both within and across enterprises.”
Other improvements of v2 include:
sophisticated and complex queries in accessing data in UDDI registries. This feature is geared to help users find Web
services by facilitating easier and more efficient access to UDDI registries
relationships also provides the opportunity for a variety of business relationships — such as certifications, alliances and
memberships — to be made available to customers and business partners
points to find and manage UDDI information. IBM and Microsoft have also enhanced their implementations of the UDDI Business Registry
and incorporated new UDDI v2 features into the browser interface.
UDDI Business Registry v2 beta implementations can be found at the respective Web pages: HP, IBM, Microsoft and SAP.