SAP and HP sign on for public directory

SAP and Hewlett-Packard have joined IBM and Microsoft in launching a public web services directory based on the latest version of the UDDI specification.

The Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) business registry is a global, public, online directory that gives businesses a uniform way to describe their services, discover other companies' services and conduct ebusiness over the web.

The UDDI spec was developed by IBM, Microsoft and Ariba, and is supported by more than 300 companies, including Oracle, Sun Microsystems and Nortel Networks. The latest version, v2, expands UDDI functionality to enhance support for deploying public and private registries to manage internal web services using the UDDI specifications.

With the addition of HP and SAP as hosts of the registry, there are now four browser-accessible points to find and manage UDDI information. IBM and Microsoft have also enhanced their implementation of the UDDI Business Registry and incorporated new UDDI v2 features into the browser interface.

As part of becoming a UDDI operator, SAP said it would build, run and maintain a global UDDI node that enables businesses to register and discover web services over the internet.

Tom Glover, UDDI general program manager, said this version provides developers with the means to explore building web services registries, both within and across enterprises.

Improvements include a capability that allows the modelling of large businesses, or various business units and services within UDDI. Access to internal web service information may also be extended to a private network of business partners.

For example, a manufacturer may share information about a parts inventory web service with its business partners through a private UDDI registry.

The UDDI specification, along with Extensible Markup Language (XML), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Web Services Description Language (WSDL), are gaining widespread support in the web services framework. About 7,000 businesses have registered with the UDDI directory.