XML
Archives > SGML, HTML & XML

In any business application one has to exchange data between a database and other systems (other applications, another database, etc.). As everyone does not use the same data model, you'll have to find one that allows a wider audience usage and yet manages to capture all the semantics entailed.
XML presents an ideal solution to these needs. Formats like CSV files do not enable us to capture enough semantics, and more complicated solutions like Java serialized objects or CORBA objects-by-values are overkill.

XML’s potential impact is significant, Web servers and applications encoding their data in XML can quickly make their information available in a simple and usable format, and such information providers can interoperate easily.

Unlike HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), XML can decode a web site and identify individual pieces of information in the page and assign each one of them with a special tag. The new generation of forms will allow a user to fill in his own preferences for an item that he chooses to order online. This order can be validated and processed immediately and at the same time it can check if the wholesaler stocks more of these products and even reorder if necessary. Orders can be downloaded regularly, even on an hourly basis thus enabling timely rescheduling of production to meet and satisfy customer needs.

Eventually all companies may use XML to manage their web based data, the difference between truly leveraging on the power of XML and merely being an also ran will come from how quickly and effectively one can convert their existing data into XML usable formats.

While, it may be prudent to wait and watch as others take the risk (and XML matures into a global standard), It maybe a smarter business move to convert your data now and be ready for the revolution when it arrives. XML conversion can be a low risk entry point into the future of the web, especially with all the outsource options available in today’s vibrant industry.

XML - based applications in e-commerce are fast gaining momentum. Some of the areas that will see a metamorphosis are:

• Online Publishing and Web Maintenance
• Content and knowledge management
• Data Exchange
• Supply Chain Integration
• Design

http://www.stylusinc.net/technology/XML/xml_potential.shtml

Web services
We are witnessing the transformation of the Internet from an information provider to a service provider today. What kinds of services are on offer? Yes, we have all heard about eBay and Amazon. But what we are talking about here is not just an online store but of services that can be used to build other bigger services – from simple currency conversions and language translations to the more complex ones like shipping and customer-focused web-enabled supply chains

A good number of businesses today are realigning themselves into e-business platforms that support a web services infrastructure. Web Services are modular applications that can perform simple functions like requests to other intricate business processes. They are self-describing and can be published and then invoked across the web. Using a basic platform that is HTML and XML based, they can run practically anywhere on the net.

Once a web service is deployed, other applications or web services can interface with it and also call upon it easily. Web services also complement middleware platforms like RMI, Jini, CORBA and DCOM by providing a uniform and widely accessible interface. XML being a meta language that helps disparate systems exchange data, almost any application in any business becomes a potential candidate for web services.

By efficiently automating their business processes all companies will be able to provide better service to customers. Legacy systems, client service applications and any breed of web application can interoperate across multi-platforms and communicate between web services operated by different web enterprises, resulting in a change from applications to services.

Components of this service-oriented architecture are the service providers, service brokers and service requesters, all of whose services are described in a standard XML format that makes them understandable, imparts all the semantic information and also takes care of the security considerations related to the exchange of this information.

Traditional computing tasks like database access and commercial transactions once connected to the Internet using web services will allow for total automated backend B2B integration. Computerized auctions and online stock market information access will soon define exclusively new e-market places conducting dynamic
e-business.

http://www.web-enable.com/business/enabling_key_services.pdf

WS-1
Web services interoperability organization (WS-1) designed to accelerate and deploy web services across a variety of platforms, applications and programming languages. The founders include organizations like IBM, Microsoft and Hewlett Packard and they aim to provide support to customers deploying web services, “Ensuring that Web services implementations interoperate across heterogeneous platforms is crucial to furthering the evolution of Web services and driving customer adoption," said Daryl Plummer, group vice president and research group director at Gartner Inc. "WS-I is an expected and necessary industry initiative that will address the key issue of interoperability, which is instrumental in moving Web services to the next level of acceptance and adoption."

http://www.ws-i.org/