WS-* Specifications Define Standards

Indigo implements several protocols and specifications related to Web services. These specifications were generally coauthored by Microsoft along with a handful of key partners, such as BEA, IBM, and VeriSign. Some, such as WS-Security, have been ratified by the Web Service Interoperability Organization (WS-I) or by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Systems (OASIS). Some have been submitted but not yet ratified and others are still under development. Because the names of these specifications tend to begin with the prefix “WS-,” they have collectively come to be called “WS-*,” sometimes pronounced “WS-star” or “WS-splat.” (For a list of some of the most critical specifications, see the chart “Status of Major Web Services Specifications” on page 26 of the Nov. 2003 Update.)

All the WS-* specifications are built on top of a pair of baseline specifications: XML and the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). Although XML and SOAP provide the foundation for applications integration over the Web, the resulting systems are only as reliable as the underlying Internet, and while users might find it acceptable to have to refresh their browser periodically in order to get a page to load correctly, such “refreshes” are unacceptable if the request is a business order worth millions of dollars.