Service-oriented Communications
Encyclopedia
Service-oriented communications (SOC) technologies are designed to be easily used in the context of service-oriented
architectures. These technologies are generally software based and are built more like a business application than a traditional PBX business communications system
. Service-oriented communications systems allow their services to participate in business process
es. They make their services available to other business applications within and SOA and allow for reuse of the services.
The goal of service-oriented communications is to enable business environments to build communications into their business processes, enabling more streamlined collaboration among people within the business. It typically assumes that certain services are provided in the context of an SOA service provider. This is often in the form of a suite of web services
, but may also be attached to other means of sharing the services such as an enterprise system bus (ESB).
The communications part of SOC
Enterprise communications have traditionally been provided by closed, stand-alone PBX systems. Installed in a separate phone room or wiring closet, operated over a different wiring infrastructure, known only by the telecom manager, these systems ran independently from every other aspect of the business.
Today’s business-savvy CIOs are exploring ways in which information technology
can be better leveraged to improve the efficiency and productivity of the enterprise. In practice, CIOs are embracing the concepts of Service Oriented Architectures and rethinking how the different business systems in use within the enterprise can be designed to allow each system to leverage the benefits of any other system.
The maturing of web service technology has provided a real framework for allowing one system to leverage the services of another according to the principles of a Service Oriented Architecture
. Complex business systems can now work together to deliver solutions in highly customized ways to end users. Increasingly, applications are adapting to the specific needs of users rather than users being forced to adapt to the available functionality of applications.
The general goal of web services is to construct elements of business logic
, services, which can be very easily used by other applications. The services themselves hide the complexity of their business logic from the consumers through simple interfaces that allow the services to be reused in many different applications. The service and the consumer are described as being loosely coupled
, an approach that allows complex composite solutions to be developed through leveraging multiple web services.
There are a number of key elements to web service technology…
Advantages of web services
Service-orientation
Service-orientation is a design paradigm to build computer software in the form of services. Like other design paradigms , service-orientation provides a governing approach to automate business logic as distributed systems...
architectures. These technologies are generally software based and are built more like a business application than a traditional PBX business communications system
Communications system
In telecommunication, a communications system is a collection of individual communications networks, transmission systems, relay stations, tributary stations, and data terminal equipment usually capable of interconnection and interoperation to form an integrated whole...
. Service-oriented communications systems allow their services to participate in business process
Business process
A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product for a particular customer or customers...
es. They make their services available to other business applications within and SOA and allow for reuse of the services.
The goal of service-oriented communications is to enable business environments to build communications into their business processes, enabling more streamlined collaboration among people within the business. It typically assumes that certain services are provided in the context of an SOA service provider. This is often in the form of a suite of web services
Web service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
, but may also be attached to other means of sharing the services such as an enterprise system bus (ESB).
The communications part of SOC
Enterprise communications have traditionally been provided by closed, stand-alone PBX systems. Installed in a separate phone room or wiring closet, operated over a different wiring infrastructure, known only by the telecom manager, these systems ran independently from every other aspect of the business.
Today’s business-savvy CIOs are exploring ways in which information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
can be better leveraged to improve the efficiency and productivity of the enterprise. In practice, CIOs are embracing the concepts of Service Oriented Architectures and rethinking how the different business systems in use within the enterprise can be designed to allow each system to leverage the benefits of any other system.
The maturing of web service technology has provided a real framework for allowing one system to leverage the services of another according to the principles of a Service Oriented Architecture
Service-oriented architecture
In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
. Complex business systems can now work together to deliver solutions in highly customized ways to end users. Increasingly, applications are adapting to the specific needs of users rather than users being forced to adapt to the available functionality of applications.
Web service technology
As the Internet grew from a forum for sharing information to a marketplace for doing business, a technology matured that allowed computers to transact with each other more easily. Out of these Internet roots, web service technology was born.The general goal of web services is to construct elements of business logic
Business logic
Business logic, or domain logic, is a non-technical term generally used to describe the functional algorithms that handle information exchange between a database and a user interface.- Scope of business logic :Business logic:...
, services, which can be very easily used by other applications. The services themselves hide the complexity of their business logic from the consumers through simple interfaces that allow the services to be reused in many different applications. The service and the consumer are described as being loosely coupled
Loose coupling
In computing and systems design a loosely coupled system is one where each of its components has, or makes use of, little or no knowledge of the definitions of other separate components. The notion was introduced into organizational studies by Karl Weick...
, an approach that allows complex composite solutions to be developed through leveraging multiple web services.
There are a number of key elements to web service technology…
- XML (eXtensible Markup LanguageExtensible Markup LanguageExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
) is the core language of web service technology. It provides a platform neutral way to describe the data associated with any service transaction. - SOAP (Simple Object Access ProtocolSOAPSOAP, originally defined as Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of Web Services in computer networks...
) is the preferred means by which an application invokes a web service. The protocol itself is written in XML. - WSDL (Web Service Definition Language) is the specification of the interface that a web service exposes to consumers. It describes the set of operations that the service makes available. The WSDL is also written in XML.
Advantages of web services
- Loosely coupled—the high degree of abstraction that exists between the implementation and the consumption of the service frees the web service client and the web service provider from needing any knowledge of each other beyond inputs and outputs
- Platform neutral—web services can be provided by or invoked on most, if not all, platforms today, even legacy platforms
- Development language neutral—people are developing web services using C/C++, C#, Java, Visual BasicVisual BasicVisual Basic is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model...
, Python and others - Standards are architecture neutral—these do not enforce client–server, peer-to-peerPeer-to-peerPeer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
or any other model, although practical implementation issues currently drive developers to client–server - Web services leverage existing standards—standards that are already in place for conventional web serverWeb serverWeb server can refer to either the hardware or the software that helps to deliver content that can be accessed through the Internet....
applications, including HTTP, secure sockets and authentication - Relatively lightweight—so they can be easily deployed to small devices for example PDAs and SmartPhonesSmartphoneA smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
.