Web Services: Benefits, Approaches, Tips & Realities

Sun Enterprise Software VP Mark Bauhaus is responsible for the company's Web services business, which encompasses strategy, technology, and products.

In this interview, Mark gives us an update on important Web services topics affecting developers, including his views on the benefits of developing with a service-oriented architecture approach. He even tips his hand about upcoming new features in the Java Enterprise System (Java ES), Sun's integrated platform for Web services development and deployment.

Q: Standards are really important to Web applications because they enable interoperability and choice. What should IT managers keep in mind as they develop and deploy Web services applications?

A: That's right. Open standards create markets where our customers can choose among products and vendors. That flexibility is particularly important with pervasive initiatives such as Web services. Sun is a large supporter of standards bodies such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and OASIS, as well as coordinating bodies such as the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I).

Standards must apply to multiple environments. People talk about using standards such as XML, SOAP, and WSDL, but many implementations have proprietary extensions that lock the application to a particular operating system. When that happens, the implementation is not really open or standard.

It takes a lot of testing to make sure that an application or toolkit is compatible across environments. Sun has made a very significant investment in compatibility testing. For example, to ensure that J2EE technology complies with the WS-I protocol, we perform tens of thousands of tests. We use these tests to validate that an implementation of Web services APIs by Oracle, IBM, BEA, and Sun are all truly compatible.

I know of no other company that does this kind of testing. It gives developers confidence that the J2EE environment and Web services applications from J2EE licensees — some of which I just named — are all compatible. We spend a lot of time making sure that Microsoft .NET and J2EE environments can co-exist.

Q: There are a lot of Web services standards. Is Sun working to simplify things?

A: In short, yes — all this has become really complex. Today, there are a lot of standards and proposed standards. They overlap and create unnecessary complexity. Customers tell us that it's time to simplify and consolidate those standards.

As a result, I think we are about halfway toward realizing the full potential of Web services. We've created a lingua franca that enables interoperability. Using off-the-shelf tools, XML-based transactions can now be exchanged among .NET, J2EE and mainframe environments. That's a huge step forward.

Now Sun is working through the standards bodies to converge on a smaller number of Web services standards. Once we streamline the standards, which may take several years, many more programmers will be able to write Web services software and we will realize the full potential of this exciting approach.

Q: What is the next step in the evolution of Web services?

A: Once developers have portable data and portable business logic, they want to put together strings of transactions and business processes. Abstracting these standards up to the business process level — to choreography and collaboration — is a logical next step for Web services.

Called a service-oriented architecture (SOA), this approach makes it easier for developers to reuse components of Web services. Why re-invent them for every new application? The SOA approach makes much better use of developer time, lowering costs and accelerating project timelines.

We're already delivering tools to help developers get to a pragmatic SOA. We have a two-year roadmap to deliver practical features that can improve developer efficiency. In the next few months, you will see several new, innovative tools for developing in SOA environments.

Q: The cornerstone of Sun's Web services offerings is Java Enterprise System. Briefly, what makes it so unique?

A: Sun offers a set of tools for developing Web applications (Java Studio Enterprise) along with a unifying production platform (Java ES) to deploy them. The platform includes a Web server, application server, portal server, and other components — everything you need. It eliminates integration hassles.

But you don't have to get everything from us. Java ES is built on open standards, so you can plug in the best products for a given job from multiple vendors. And our professional services team provides consulting help if you need it. Getting all that in one place is unique.

Our pricing is unique, too. We charge for Java ES on a per-employee basis, which makes it very affordable.

Q: What makes Java ES so valuable to developers?

A: Our objective is to provide tools that make developers as productive as possible. Within Java ES, developers will find a complete Web services infrastructure, which allows them to focus on developing applications that solve their business problems. We have seen many cases where Java ES has cut months off the time needed to deploy a highly available Web-based application. That saves money and accelerates time-to-market.

Q: What new capabilities we can expect in Java ES during the coming year?

A: Our goal is to lower infrastructure-related development and maintenance efforts so IT teams can focus on solving business problems. We are going to continue our regular new releases — you can expect a couple of Java ES releases in 2005. All of the components are released on the same cycle, so developers can be confident that everything works well together — which minimizes their integration issues.

We are adding features and tools to support the SOA approach. We'll also introduce an SOA opportunity assessment program, which will help customers identify where this new approach will most benefit them.

There will be a major release of the Java runtime environment in the first half of 2005. J2SE 1.5 will provide additional manageability, security, and language features as well as greater performance. Because Sun drives Java and J2EE standards, we are well positioned to leverage new language capabilities in our tools and platforms.

We will also expand Java ES interoperability by adding support for HP-UX and Microsoft Windows operating systems in the first half of 2005. Building on Sun's interoperability initiatives with Microsoft, we'll also add interoperability with .NET later in the year.

Q: Could you share a couple of tips with our readers who are implementing Web services?

A: Of course. First of all, Web services development requires that developers learn a new approach to designing applications, interfaces, and data models. The best way that I've seen to infuse this new thinking into an IT organization is to set up a center of excellence around the SOA approach.

You can use your own people, or you can ask Sun professional services to help establish the competencies you need. Seed your IT organization with Web services experts. Have your developers work side-by-side with those experts as they begin using Web services, Java, and SOA technologies.

Another suggestion is to be careful not to get locked into any one approach or vendor. Not all Web services products are open. Some are incompatible, and some support standards that are not really standards yet. At the end of the day, you want choices — standards are the key to having it your way.

Q: How do you find out if a product is built on true standards?

A: Start by asking how portable your applications will be after using a particular tool or runtime platform. After you develop an application with a given environment, can you switch to another vendor without recoding? How many other vendors can you go to without changing the application?

To help you determine that an application adheres to standards and is portable, Sun provides a free downloadable Application Verification Kit (AVK), which can improve your confidence that a Web application will run in any J2EE environment.

Here's one more tip — pay attention to security. Web services often extend beyond the firewall. So the whole area of identity management is important — and it is not just about people, but also applications.

The industry-leading directory server within Java ES can provide solid user authentication and authorization. Because the directory server is standards-based, it works with application servers from other vendors. Integration with the other components of Java ES is obviously a given, making it a great foundation for building Web services applications.