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 THE STAT 26Percentage of wireless customers who use their cell phones to take picturesMore Vitals
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JUNE 24, 2003
"As Big a Change as E-Mail" BEA Systems' Adam Bosworth, one of XML's chief architects, talks about the current state of Web services and the technology's potential Only a few years ago, Web services -- the awkward label denoting a technology that enables previously alien computer systems to communicate via the Internet -- was virtually unheard of. Today, the name is no catchier, but the idea is catching on -- thanks in no small part to the work of Adam Bosworth. In the 1990s, Bosworth led software king Microsoft's (MSFT ) efforts in developing XML (extensible markup language), a key tool that allows all data -- anything from a medical record to an address -- to be recorded in the same language. XML later became an integral part of Microsoft's .Net (pronounced dot-Net) initiative, a set of hardware and software tools that allows for seamless retrieval, manipulation, or exchange of data from different applications -- in other words, for Web services. Bosworth "is somewhat of a celebrity among people consumed with XML," says Dwight Davis, a vice-president with emerging-markets researcher Summit Strategies in Kirkland, Wash. That makes him one of the progenitors of Web services. So great is his stature in the industry that Bosworth's current employer, infrastructure software company BEA Systems (BEAS ), recently distributed a bobblehead doll of him at a company-sponsored Web-services conference. As BEA's chief architect, Bosworth is developing tools designed to make sure that Web services are used by more industries to link together more devices. Bosworth talked to BusinessWeek Online Reporter Olga Kharif on June 17 about the future of Web services and the challenges that lie ahead for developers of the technology. Here are edited excerpts of their conversation: Q: What's driving Web services today? A: Mainly, the need to integrate software applications across big enterprises. [Web services] offers a huge return on investment, and it's easy to do. Every customer I talk to is doing Web services internally, then looking at [implementing it with their] partners. Of course, some companies have done things you don't want to see with Web services. The whole idea was that not only can your programs talk to another one but if you change a field [such as a customer's address] in one program, you wouldn't break the other program. There are some customers who don't make sure that this happens. Some products, such as .NET, don't enforce this. Q: What do you think of .Net in its present form? A: I think .Net was a good first step. There wasn't a [toolbox for developing Web services] before that mere mortals could use. The big issue I have with .Net -- and I have no doubt it will be fixed -- is that as a framework for developers, it encourages a couple of things you don't want to encourage. I already mentioned one. Also, it wasn't focused on the enterprise and delivering service-level volumes. While it's easy to use and the applications interoperate well, the systems you build with it don't necessarily provide the robust model for scaling and for change that a big organization will need. [Microsoft] fully understands those problems. I'm confident they'll get fixed. Q: What will Web services look like in five years? A: I think Web services will have a wide impact five years from now -- and not one that most people expect. As we move to a world of mobile devices, it becomes increasingly appropriate that the information comes to us, instead of us having to browse for it. Browsing doesn't work well on mobile devices, but having information come to you does. So, consumers are going to expect every system out there to track what they need to know and send them the information when they need it. If I'm in Chicago, I'll get information on Chicago hotels. That sort of thing is going to be huge. Once people start to take it for granted, it's going to be as big a change as e-mail. And Web services are going to be the mechanism by which information flows to mobile laptops and personal digital assistants (PDAs).
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