IBM/MS push new web services standard

A services standard to allow developers to find and access web services on the iInternet has been developed by IBM and Microsoft.

The Web Services Inspection (WS-Inspection) specification will create a way of connecting to a service held on a website by allowing developers to browse web servers for XML web services.

The companies said WS-Inspection will help developers find services on websites unlisted in the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registries. While UDDI acts as a yellow pages of web services, WS-Inspection will allow developers to search specific sites.

Philip DesAutels, product manager of XML web services strategy at Microsoft, said: "The work to create WS-Inspection will make it much easier for developers to work with XML web services."

IBM and Microsoft say they plan to submit WS-Inspection to an industry standards body soon, and will make it available to software developers immediately.

WS-Inspection complements UDDI, and builds on Simple Object Access Protocol Discovery technology, according to Microsoft.

Whereas the UDDI web service catalogues the capabilities of each software product in a directory, this does not offer differentiation for leading service providers.

Clive Longbottom, service director with analyst firm Quocirca, said: "It's a good idea, but I would not bet the farm on it. For now I would stay with the known web services standards until it is adopted."

He pointed out that XML allows considerable flexibility even within a standard, leading to potential compatibility problems between web service providers.