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Thursday 15th December 2005
COMMENTARY: IBM, Microsoft and SAP Close Down UDDI Business Registry
| As a consequence of the lack of governance over the process of publishing entries to UBR, it was rumoured that 3/4 of the entries were invalid. Consequently most organizations steered clear of a public registry. In fact, very few saw any need for Services to be publicly advertised at all, as usage was either internal, or between close business partners who could be advised of available Services by other mechanisms.
However, that is not to say that the world doesn't need some form of "public" service registry. Although the federated UBR that replicated entries between the IBM, Microsoft and SAP nodes will close down in January, SAP in fact will continue to host their public node.
But what it needs is governance and management over the contents, not the free for all that UBR is. It is a pity that IBM, Microsoft and SAP did not move forward and provide a better managed facility rather than simply closing it down. I assume it would have been difficult for them to agree on who would operate the governance processes and how such a venture would be funded. However, Strikeiron provide an example of how this capability can be provided on a commercial basis with their Web Services Business Network which offers a carefully managed registry of useful Business Services from multiple providers that are available on a subscription basis. An opportunity could be for Telco or ISP to provide a managed registry on a national or regional basis, or just for its customers.
There are also suggestions that you could simply Google for Services, though I am not sure Google is by itself good substitute to discover Services as I can't see Google providing the necessary governance at present. However, Googling as a search mechanism across managed registries makes sense.
Instead, organizations that see a need for a UDDI registry have primarily turned to private implementations. Many platform vendors, including IBM and Microsoft provide UDDI implementations that can be used to host a private registry. Where the need arises to publish their Services externally then UDDI can provide the security to keep the information private to trusted to business partners.
Even so, many organizations don’t yet see the need for a registry at all as they have so few Services in use. However, they may miss the point that it isn’t a quantity, but a quality issue. A suitable registry can provide more robust governance over the publication and discovery processes ensuring that design and usage policies are complied with, and that Services are not provided or consumed by the organization without proper authority. Such Implementations are available from vendors such as Systinet and Infravio.
For even greater control over the Service Lifecycle, Software Development Asset Management solutions from vendors such as Flashline, Fujitsu/Software AG, Logic Library and Select Business Systems, integrate UDDI within the context of broader asset management.
The closure of UBR should not be seen as a inherent weakness in UDDI. We expect other organizations to fill the public void. And as adoption grows, we recommend that organizations consider a private implementations as a key component of SOA governance.
LINKS
IBM UBR
Microsoft UBR
SAP UBR
Flashline SAPM
Fujitsu/Software AG CentraSite
Logic Library Logidex
CBDI Product Report - Software Development Asset Management with LogicLibrary Logidex
Select Business Solutions Component Manager
Systinet Registry
CBDI Product Report - Improving SOA Governance with the Systinet Business Services Registry
Infravio Service Catalog
Strikeiron Web Services Business Network
CBDI Product Report - StrikeIron's Web Services Business Network | It comes as little surprise to us that the UDDI Business Registry (UBR) operated by IBM, Microsoft and SAP will shut down on 12 January 2006. They claim that their shared implementation of the specifications has now proven interoperability and helped refine the specifications through operational experience and hence is no longer required. However, we sense it also closed due to the lack of governance over the entries in the UBR where unmanaged content was devaluing UDDI rather than promoting it.
So what now are the alternatives? |
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