Professional WCF Programming: .NET Development with the Windows® Communication Foundation

Chapter 12. Interoperability and Integration

A recurring theme that has been evident in nearly every chapter so far is the ability of Windows Communication Foundation to "play nice" with other technologies. WCF provides many benefits, and one of them is the ability to communicate with other platforms and technologies.

Interoperation and integration are the abilities to communicate with other platforms (like Linux) and to interact with other technologies (like Java). This chapter discusses the interoperability and integration features in Windows Communication Foundation.

It can't be stated enough the importance of interoperability and integration in Windows Communication Foundation. Although WCF is a near replacement for a lot of the technology you use today, such as web services, Web Service Enhancements, and Remoting, it would not be a very good idea for Microsoft to ask you to toss out much of your existing functionality that you worked so hard on, only to replace it with the "new and improved."

This is why there is such an emphasis on the integration and interoperability of Windows Communication Foundation. WCF allows you to enhance and build upon existing applications and technology without giving up on your existing technologies.

This chapter covers the following topics:

• WS-* interoperability

• Integration with legacy systems

Interoperability

Interoperability is the ability to communicate with other platforms through standard protocols (such as SOAP). One of the major benefits of SOAP ...