Microsoft spec invites controversy

“The last thing the industry needs are two different security/ID specifications,” said Jason Bloomberg, an analyst with market researcher ZapThink. Bloomberg and Ron Schmeltzer [sic], also with ZapThink, said that a potential standards rivalry could be hurtful to the industry at large.

“Security is the primary concern of Web services users today,” said Schmeltzer. “If we see proliferation of multiple specifications backed by the big players, it could cause confusion and slow down end user adoption.”

Read more at: CNet

Recruiting WS-I Members from Vertical Industries

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JP Morgan, IBM Finalize $5 Billion IT Deal

“I think this [deal] is going to be their poster child for ‘on demand’,” said Ronald Schmelzer, a senior analyst with ZapThink, a tech research firm which specializes in XML and Web Services computing protocols.

“On the positive side, it reflects the movement toward utility computing, even IT infrastructure as services, which started out as part of the ASP (define) trend” in the mid to late-1990s, he said.

However, he added, as the tech giant sells more of these kinds of contracts, and ends up running critical infrastructure for more major companies, “is IBM really going to be able to scale up ‘on demand’ infrastructure, beyond simply bearing everybody’s else’s [IT] costs?”

Read more at: Internetnews.com

Network Identity: Decision Time

Leave it to Microsoft to stretch the definition on what standards-based technology really means.

“TrustBridge only supports companies using Kerberos,” explains Jason Bloomberg, senior analyst at ZapThink, “which is the encryption technology heavily favored by Microsoft.”

Read more at: Sun Inner Circle

ZapNote: RSA Security

RSA Security has been in the encryption business since day one, and they have since successfully leveraged their early leadership to offer a range of security products and technologies in the application security space. RSA offers encryption components that form the basis of many of the evolving XML security efforts on the market today, such as XML Digital Signature, and their pioneering work with the Security Assertions Markup Language (SAML) has affirmed their position as a leader in the identity management product space.

The Liberty Alliance: Circle of Mistrust

After almost a year of work, the Liberty Alliance (http://www.projectliberty.org) launched its first set of specifications, giving users simplified sign-on to Web sites from any platform or device as well as federated identity across multiple systems. The Liberty Alliance, led by Sun Microsystems, features an enterprise-heavy membership roster, including …

ZapNote: Commerce.Net

While there no doubt are more than a handful of XML-based eBusiness and e-Commerce specifications, OBI differentiates itself by focusing on the business processes and data sets required to support catalog, configurator, and other e-Procurement transactions expressed in ANSI x12, UN/EDIFACT 96A and XML. The OBI specification facilitates Internet-based transactions between trading partners, particularly with key contracted suppliers of commodity goods and services. The standard specifically targets the transactions of indirect materials, including maintenance, repair, operations (MRO) materials, and office and laboratory supplies.