OASIS Members Collaborate on Composite Application Framework for Web Services

["Scott McGrath" <scott.mcgrath@oasis-open.org>]

OASIS Members Collaborate on Composite Application Framework for Web
Services

Arjuna Technologies, Booz Allen Hamilton, Cyclone Commerce, Fujitsu,
IONA, Oracle, SeeBeyond, Sun Microsystems, Yellow Dragon, and Others
Work to Define Transactional Coordination Specifications

Boston, MA, USA; 7 October 2003 -- Members of the OASIS international
standards consortium announced plans to collaborate on a generic, open
framework for applications composed of Web services used in combination.
The OASIS Web Services Composite Application Framework (WS-CAF)
Technical Committee will define a set of royalty-free, interoperable,
modular specifications that will enable the development of composite
applications, ranging from simple to complex combinations of Web
services and encompassing a useful range of transaction and coordination
requirements.

"A serious problem remaining in Web services standardization is
transactional coordination," explained Mark Little of Arjuna
Technologies, convener of the OASIS WS-CAF Technical Committee. "Web
services combined in composite applications require interoperable
mechanisms to set the boundaries of an activity (such as start/end, or
success/failure), to create, access, and manage context information and
to inform participants of changes to an activity."

"We expect WS-CAF specifications will become the building blocks for
other Web services standards," said Martin Chapman of Oracle
Corporation, proposed co-chair of the OASIS WS-CAF Technical Committee.
"That's why we're taking an incremental, multi-protocol approach,
creating a modular stack of specifications. Instead of mandating a
single protocol, we want to offer users the option to implement portions
of WS-CAF based on their needs."

The OASIS WS-CAF Technical Committee intends to accept as input the
WS-Context, WS-Coordination Framework, and WS-Transaction Management
specifications published by Arjuna, Fujitsu, IONA, Oracle, and Sun
Microsystems. Other contributions are welcome on an equal basis.

"Composability is a critical aspect of Web services," added Eric
Newcomer of IONA, proposed co-chair of the OASIS WS-CAF Technical
Committee. "That's why WS-CAF will be designed to be non-overlapping and
interoperable with other open Web Service specifications. We plan to
invest in gathering requirements input and defining relationships
between related specifications and WS-CAF. Above all, we want to promote
convergence, consistent use, and a coherent architecture."

WS-CAF specifications will provide WSDL definitions for context,
coordination, and transactions. Message formats will be specified as
SOAP headers and/or body content. The new group will collaborate with
other OASIS Technical Committees, such as the OASIS Business Transaction
Technical Committee, the OASIS Asynchronous Service Access Protocol
(ASAP) Technical Committee and the OASIS Web Service Business Process
Execution Language (WSBPEL) Technical Committee. WS-CAF developers also
plan to liaise with efforts of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C),
including the XML Protocol, Web Service Architecture, Web Service
Description, and Web Service Choreography Working Groups.

"It is important that the industry agrees on a standard, interoperable
way to demarcate and coordinate Web services activities," noted Karl
Best, vice president of OASIS. "In parallel with the development of the
framework, OASIS Technical Committee members will design and sponsor a
testing/interoperability program for WS-CAF. This should go a long way
toward ensuring widespread adoption."

OASIS WS-CAF Technical Committee members include representatives of
Arjuna Technologies, Booz Allen Hamilton, Cyclone Commerce, Fujitsu,
IONA, Oracle, SeeBeyond, Sun Microsystems, Yellow Dragon, and other
OASIS members. Participation remains open to all organizations and
individuals, and OASIS will host a mail list for public comment.


Industry Support for WS-CAF

Arjuna Technologies
"In Arjuna we spent a lot of time and effort listening to the
requirements of our customers when working on the original submissions,"
said Mark Little of Arjuna Technologies Ltd. "It's important that WS-CAF
takes into account work from other specifications and use cases that
have real-world requirements for context, coordination, and
transactions. This is a great opportunity to unify the current
state-of-the-art in this extremely important area. We're excited to be
involved in what should turn out to be critical infrastructural
components for the Web services architecture."

Booz Allen Hamilton
"Booz Allen is pleased to contribute to the advancement of Web services
standards through its participation in the further development of
WS-CAF," said Joseph Chiusano, Senior Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton.
"WS-CAF is the latest in an exciting genre of specifications that
advance Web services in critical areas such as transaction processing,
coordination, and context propagation. We look forward to future
applications of these important concepts for our clients."

Oracle
"Oracle is committed to promoting interoperability based on open
industry standards. WS-CAF provides a common and open foundation to
build complex Web services, enabling multiple Web services to function
effectively in a coordinated and interoperable manner," said Don
Deutsch, Vice President of Standards Strategy and Architecture for
Oracle Corporation. "As one of the original authors and major proponent
of WS-CAF, Oracle is pleased to be a co-sponsor and co-chair of the
OASIS WS-CAF Technical Committee."

Sun Microsystems
"Composable Web services represents the leading edge of a new software
development model for our industry, with the WS-CAF specification set
providing some important enabling technologies" said Mark Bauhaus, VP of
Java Web Services for Sun Microsystems. "It is vitally important that
the underlying technologies and specifications for Web services be based
on open, royalty-free standards, and Sun is pleased to be both a
contributor of technology and OASIS supporter in this important effort."



About OASIS:
OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information
Standards) is a not-for-profit, global consortium that drives the
development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards. Members
themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open
process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite
disparate efforts. OASIS produces worldwide standards for security, Web
services, conformance, business transactions, electronic publishing,
topic maps and interoperability within and between marketplaces. Founded
in 1993, OASIS has more than 2,000 participants representing over 600
organizations and individual members in 100 countries.
http://www.oasis-open.org


Additional information:

OASIS WS-CAF Technical Committee
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=ws-caf

Cover Pages Technology Report: Messaging and Transaction Coordination
http://xml.coverpages.org/coordination.html


Press contact:

Carol Geyer
Director of Communications
OASIS (www.oasis-open.org)
carol.geyer@oasis-open.org
+1.978.667.5115 x209