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E-commerce web services: Better, faster, cheaper
E-commerce firms are turning to Web services to streamline operations. A web service, for instance, could carry out payment validation by taking details from one system and initiate a request for other information, such as a credit card account number or expiration date.
Typically, new technologies tend to promise more than they deliver. That has not been the case with web services, which are being integrated into just about every new e-commerce application.
"Support for web services has come from application vendors, application development tool suppliers and middleware vendors," said Jason Bloomberg, a managing partner with market research firm ZapThink.
The support has been widespread because web services enable companies to simplify application design, deliver enhancements more quickly, and reuse software more easily. Those features stem from the design of web services.
In essence, web services provide businesses with a standard way to communicate. They replace complex, proprietary programming interfaces with Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents and standard application protocols. XML is used to tag data, and SOAP is used to transfer it, WSDL (Web Services Description Language) describes the services needed, and UDDI (Universal Description Discovery and Integration) tells applications what services are available.
Because compliant software works with open protocols, it can be discovered by other programs, and two or more applications can interact with one another and perform tasks, such as exchanging information. With this flexibility, companies can integrate their own applications more tightly within the enterprise. An e-commerce corporation might connect its order entry program with its accounting applications so that changes made in one area automatically update data housed in another department. This step can be taken even if the applications are coded in different programming languages.
