Chapter Sixteen. Other Standards

The purpose of this chapter is to touch on those standards that are relevant to application integration, and thus worth exploring, but not in depth. Once again, the focus will be on the application of these standards to application integration. Greater detail can be found in other publications.

Keep in mind as we conclude our discussion of standards that this is a dynamic area, things are changing, and today's flavor of the month may be outdated in a short order. Standards can be risky, and only a few make it the distance. This doesn't mean you shouldn't employ standards. Just factor the dynamics into your solution decisions.

There are holistic standards, such as ebXML, BPEL4WS, and RosettaNet, which are more strategic, and then there are tactical standards, such as the ones we will describe in this chapter. This does not diminish the importance of these standards. They could be critical to many enterprises and to application integration in general.

Most of these standards are security based and look to provide a standard set of security services to Web services and Web-based communication in general. We still have a long way to go in that area. What's interesting is the number of security standards that are out there. Clearly, we won't need all of them at the end of the day, and it will be interesting to see how they shake out. Let's take a look at some of the most popular.