As Published In July/August 2004

Surprisingly Fast Adoption
By Jeff Spicer

Web services are taking hold more rapidly than many expected.

The words "Web services" first appeared on the cover of this magazine a little more than two years ago. Before that, we had written short, technically focused articles on the topic, but we hadn't yet profiled businesses that were developing, deploying, or leveraging Web services in a meaningful way.

In early 2002, we conducted a series of interviews with businesses that were just beginning to explore the possibilities of Web services, and in a couple of cases, had actually developed and deployed their own Web services. These pioneers were considering using Web services for a somewhat limited range of functions—exposing a restricted amount of existing application functionality to trusted partners or customers, for example, or employing Web services to handle simple application integration projects. A few of these companies talked of application development projects that would soon leverage Web services, generally as part of a larger services-oriented application-development strategy. By and large, the vast majority of Web services-related projects that we learned of were relegated skunk work status, and those Web services used in production environments were relatively modest.

Although many of the developers and IT managers we talked to at that time spoke of the potential Web services offered for solving certain technology-related problems that had plagued the enterprise for years, others were not as convinced of Web services' prospects. Some we spoke with even speculated that the early hype surrounding Web services was largely vendor-driven, and that Web services would be used for little more than basic application integration.

As it turns out, the uses for which Web services have been employed during the past two years are incredibly varied, and companies are exploring the possibilities of Web services in increasing numbers. For example, Gartner Research director Whit Andrews says that 50 percent of all medium to large enterprises have already gotten started with Web services, and the research firm Forrester found that 85 percent of companies it surveyed planned to be using Web services before the end of the year. At Gartner's Application Integration & Web Services Summit 2004 earlier this year in Los Angeles, David Smith, vice president and research fellow at Gartner, looked just a few years into the future: "Enterprises that haven't acquired Web services experience by 2009 could find themselves at a competitive disadvantage," he forecast. And what about the budget associated with Web services technologies? IDC estimates that the total value of the Web services market by 2007 will reach US$21 billion.

Why Web Services?

Next Steps VISIT the OTN Web services technology center LEARN more about Web services management

What is it about Web services that's driving its popularity and adoption? First, and perhaps most important, Web services are based on widely accepted industry standards (many of which are XML-based). In this way, the Web services model is fundamentally different from previous distributed computing models such as the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) standard and Microsoft's Compound Object Model (COM) programming, which each essentially required that users on both ends of a distributed system run the same programs. Web services, in contrast, have no such requirements and are better suited for connecting heterogeneous systems. This means, quite simply, that Web services are well equipped to solve some of the most perplexing and expensive technology issues confronting businesses today.

In this issue of Oracle Magazine, author Kelli Wiseth takes a look at the current state of Web services, profiling companies that are leveraging or have developed Web services. She also examines the Oracle technology used to develop, deploy, and consume Web services and provides an update of new Web services-related functionality and features in Oracle 10g applications.

Also in this issue, our Web services columnist, Mike Lehmann, continues his discussion of Web services management and provides insight into Oracle's advances in this area as well as information about exciting and relevant product developments.

Jeff Spicer, Editor in Chief
jeff.spicer@oracle.com