Microsoft submits SOAP for IETF approval

By Owen Ferguson

Microsoft is hoping to clean up the way Web applications interact, washing away interoperability problems with its new SOAP. The acronym, according to Michael Flynn, marketing manager for developer tools at Mississauga, Ont.-based Microsoft Canada Corp. "stands for Simple Object Access Protocol," and, if ratified by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), will forever change the way Web-based applications communicate over the Internet.

"The whole idea behind SOAP is that it will enable applications to communicate with other applications," says Flynn, "And the overall goal here is to provide a framework for connecting Web sites and applications together and evolve Web services. That's really the goal behind SOAP."

What makes SOAP unique is that it's a protocol solution, as opposed to a software solution. Thus it can be installed across many different platforms using different software, different operating systems and different hardware, yet still provide the interoperability needed to allow Web applications to communicate effectively. Also, in that it is based on XML, SOAP can navigate its way through firewalls, allowing for even greater interoperability. "SOAP is not specific to operating systems, and the beauty of that is that it's very easy to implement. And, at the end of the day when, for example, you want to access a CORBA application, and maybe you want that to interface to a DCOM application, SOAP is really going to become the glue that ties those disparate component technologies together," says Flynn. "So it really enables you to create a self-describing message, if you will, and simplify applications interpreting messages and creating automation between different sites."

Flynn says he's confident the IETF, which gives official recognition to standards such as SOAP, will be quick to recognize SOAP's potential and grant its approval. "It is in itself a protocol. It's not quite a standard yet," he says. "An Internet draft has been created around SOAP and it's been sent to the IETF, and it's not a standard today, but it's going to quickly become one because it's pretty obvious that it's really going to simplify tying all these technologies together."

Flynn describes the move towards an open-standard protocol for Web application information exchange as "in line" with Microsoft's objectives in the online world. That is, taking an anti-proprietary standpoint is not a departure from the company's plans. "I think Microsoft understands that there's a lot of different technologies out there for providing Web applications," he says. "SOAP is going to simplify having all of those applications working together. That's the goal of SOAP."

Flynn also says he believes the protocol will be a success because it addresses a very real issue. "To my knowledge there is no protocol available today that does what SOAP intends to do, and I think that's why if you look at who is supporting SOAP, it's virtually everybody," he says. "Everyone out there wants SOAP because this way no one's left out of the loop regarding Web applications and Web services."

While such open compatibility between Java applications and Windows-based ones might be good for Microsoft, especially with the release of Windows 2000, it might not be all that great for companies backing Java.

Some don't even see the need for another standard. "Does something like SOAP meet a real need?" asks Nancy Lee, senior product manager for XML with Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sun Microsystems Inc. "Customers I talk to say the beauty of XML is it's so simple."



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