HP Offers Web Services Schema to OASIS

The Web services movement has garnered plenty of hype over the last few years, but the method for helping applications talk to one
another and perform computing tasks has also opened up other avenues of
software development.

As with any other niche in the crowded software sector, it’s important to have products that can step in and make sure Web services perform the right functions for the business they are serving.

To that end, HP Monday sought to propel Web services management by submitting its Web Services Management Framework for review to the
Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS)
standards body.

The Palo Alto, Calif. giant is offering WSMF to OASIS’ Web Services
Distributed Management (WSDM) working group, which has been trying to lay a
foundation for Web services management for several months. This group also
includes IBM and BMC . WSMF is intended to
be open and, should it come to fruition, could eliminate a barrier to the
widespread adoption of Web services.

HP, operating under the auspices of its “adaptive enterprise” strategy, said
such a specification is needed because businesses need to control access,
track service levels and collect data about usage to make sure their
investments are protected. WSMF is platform-agnostic and would support the
management of J2EE, .NET and other platforms.

HP is getting support from such notable software vendors as Ascential
Software , BEA Systems
, Informatica , IONA , Oracle , Sun Microsystems
, TIBCO Software , and webMethods
, among others. But the space is littered with startups
such as Talking Blocks, AmberPoint and Confluent Software. As such,
consolidation is expected.

“HP is making an aggressive push with their Adaptive Enterprise initiative,
and the effort to contribute WSMF, which is very “complimentary” to their
commercial Darwin Reference Architecture, is clearly a move to out-step the
competition (notably IBM, Computer Associates, and the emerging class of WS
Management vendors) for a Web Services-based management spec,” said ZapThink
Senior Analyst Ronald Schmelzer.

As with a lot of aspects of Web services, the stakes for becoming a
preferred management technology provider for them, are high.

“Since Web Services abstracts the actual implementation from the user — so
that there’s no way to know what’s actually running behind the Web Services
interface — it becomes imperative to manage the Web Services interfaces
themselves and the application servers running those services,” Schmelzer
explained. “Any vendor that provides that functionality can wedge its way
into becoming the Web Services management vendor of choice at an
enterprise.”

This means, for example, that HP can sell management software to vendors
that might be otherwise IBM based – and vice versa and so on.

ZapThink Senior Analyst Jason Bloomberg said the play shows HP’s dedication
to its adaptive enterprise strategy since turning its focus to its OpenView
management platform since its Compaq purchase.

“As with any established player, they must innovate carefully to avoid
alienating their established customer base, but that being said, today’s
announcement shows that HP is committed to being a Web Services management
leader,” Bloomberg said.

The Web Services Management Framework 2.0 specification, which will be given to the OASIS WSDM committee at its next meeting July 28, is available for download here.