UN/CEFACT
and OASIS have formally announced
that they are to integrate the SOAP 1.1 and SOAP with
Attachments specifications into the ebXML Messaging Specification.
This
announcement signals the end of the rivalry between SOAP and ebXML, a
competition that had reached its climax during a speech by Jon Bosak,
in which he stated that SOAP was not reliable enough to be used in
mission critical ebXML applications.
The main
technical obstacle appears though to have been support for attachments and
MIME types, a requirement for ebXML not met by SOAP 1.1. IBM, Oracle, HP
and others involved in both SOAP and ebXML haven't backed the position
taken by Sun.
The
integration of SOAP in the ebXML architecture was therefore predictable, after Microsoft
and others submitted a proposal for SOAP messages with attachments
as a W3C Note.
Strategic move or pragmatic decision?
Andrew
Layman, Microsoft's XML Architect, sees this announcement as a step forward to a
"SOAP everywhere" architecture:
By adopting SOAP in their
messaging layer, ebXML puts to rest any worries about interoperability between
SOAP and ebXML. This takes advantage of SOAP's role as a key component of
XML-based messaging
While ebXML
chair Klaus-Dieter Naujok draws a relation between the integration of SOAP and
the ability to deliver ebXML in time:
We're committed--not only
to integrating ebXML Messaging with SOAP--but also to completing this work in
time to meet our original goal of delivering ebXML in May 2001.
And ebXML
Messaging Services Project Team Leader Rik Drummond is more concrete about practical
benefits:
By incorporating SOAP
into ebXML, we streamline acceptance and reduce the cost of product
implementation for all companies, regardless of their size.
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