Java Web Services

Chapter 6. UDDI: Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration

The Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Project provides a standardized method for publishing and discovering information about web services. The UDDI Project is an industry initiative that attempts to create a platform-independent, open framework for describing services, discovering businesses, and integrating business services. UDDI focuses on the process of discovery in the service-oriented architecture.

The UDDI Project is an initiative that communicates with the public through http://www.uddi.org. The UDDI Community runs the UDDI Project. The Community consists of a group of Working Group members who develop the specifications and Advisory Group members who provide requirements and review the specifications. The Working Group is an invitation-based group and the Advisory Group is open to everyone.

Web services are becoming the basis for electronic commerce of all forms. Companies invoke the services of other companies to accomplish a business transaction. In an environment in which only a few companies participate, managing the discovery of business partners manually would be simple. After all, how difficult would it be to figure out if one of your few business partners has an access point that adheres to your requirements? This model breaks down, however, as the number of companies that you need to interact with grows, along with the number and types of interfaces they export. How do you ...