“The issue is that architecture is a best practice,” says Ron Schmelzer, an analyst with ZapThink. “The tool set will get you only part of the way. Architecture is a discipline; you don’t get it from a tool. You need to know what services to build, how to build them at the right level of granularity and how to build them loosely coupled.”

“There is still some shakin’ going on,” Schmelzer says about the development of key specifications such as business process, management and reliability. But he notes that the core Web services specifications such as XML, SOAP and WSDL are “pretty mature.”

“Companies should be aware of where the specs are at, but by and large, individual companies don’t implement the spec directly anyway. They look for products,” Schmelzer says. “So companies need to put pressure on the vendors to collaborate and get these specs out.”

Read more at: NetworkWorld