Microsoft Offers Security Tool for Pending Server

Ronald Schmelzer, senior analyst for XML and Web services research firm ZapThink, discussed Microsoft’s play with internetnews.com.

“The approach Microsoft is taking is to use a centralized system that can be accessed via Web Services. This single trusted source would control all the important steps in the DRM process. In essence, it would be an end-to-end, closed-loop system as exists in a number of major DRM products from companies such as those that used to be produced by InterTrust,” Schmelzer said. “In this DRM environment the system has to package rights, encrypt the content, put it in a central repository, provide means for activation on the receiving end, issue licenses, and provide a way to inform the rendering application (Adobe, RealPlayer, etc.) about the terms of the license such as number of times to view, rights to print, and expiration. This monolithic model for DRM, while secure and doable, presents a number of hurdles to the adoption of this important piece of functionality that can enable trustworthy computing going forward.

Read more at: Internetnews.com

XML in the Content Lifecycle

The process of creating content — information meant for human consumption — is almost always extremely effort-intensive. People must spend time organizing information prior to creation, constructing the content, and laying out the information so that it is easily read. With so much time, cost, and effort invested in content, it makes sense to reduce costs by reusing content as much as possible. Furthermore, content-oriented processes involve a complex set of interactions that progress in a “Content Lifecycle” consisting of five major stages: content creation, management, publishing, syndication, and protection. Each of these phases requires different technologies, processes, and resources.

By rearchitecting content representation technologies to treat content as another asset in the corporate IT infrastructure, businesses can realize the benefits long promised to us by reusable and agile content. But first, we need to move from ad-hoc content creation to content componentization, and then to content services. XML and Web Services are the key to this transition that can help organizations maximize the value of their content.

XML in the Content Lifecycle

The process of creating content — information meant for human consumption — is almost always extremely effort-intensive. People must spend time organizing information prior to creation, constructing the content, and laying out the information so that it is easily read. With so much time, cost, and effort invested in content, it makes sense to reduce costs by reusing content as much as possible. Furthermore, content-oriented processes involve a complex set of interactions that progress in a “Content Lifecycle” consisting of five major stages: content creation, management, publishing, syndication, and protection. Each of these phases requires different technologies, processes, and resources.

By rearchitecting content representation technologies to treat content as another asset in the corporate IT infrastructure, businesses can realize the benefits long promised to us by reusable and agile content. But first, we need to move from ad-hoc content creation to content componentization, and then to content services. XML and Web Services are the key to this transition that can help organizations maximize the value of their content.

XML Security Technology Landscape

Security is the immediate roadblock facing widespread implementation of Web Services technologies across the enterprise. As a result, many software vendors are throwing their hat into the XML and Web Services security ring, offering a broad and confusing number of solutions to a variety of real and perceived problems. However, much of this effort amounts to jostling for defensible market positioning ahead of a solid demand for enterprise-class XML and Web Security products and services. As a result, ZapThink believes that the emerging market for XML and Web Services security solutions will be characterized by a period of turbulence, as companies struggle to clarify their messages and shake the kinks out of their product offerings.

XML and Web Services Security

Security is the immediate roadblock facing widespread implementation of Web Services technologies across the enterprise. As a result, many software vendors are throwing their hat into the XML and Web Services security ring, offering a broad and confusing number of solutions to a variety of real and perceived problems. However, much of this effort amounts to jostling for defensible market positioning ahead of a solid demand for enterprise-class XML and Web Security products and services. As a result, ZapThink believes that the emerging market for XML and Web Services security solutions will be characterized by a period of turbulence, as companies struggle to clarify their messages and shake the kinks out of their product offerings.

“Patents in Open Standards? You Gotta’ Wonder”

Ron Schmelzer has a beef that can be summed up in one word: patents. Specifically, the ZapThink LLC senior analyst is up in arms about the growing trend wherein companies develop, say, a technology that then becomes part of a standard, patent it, and then announce that other companies may nonetheless implement the standard royalty free.

Read more at: UNIX Insider (IDG.net)

XML and Privacy: Mutually Exclusive?

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“XrML Spells Out Rights for Digital Assets”

eXtensible rights Markup Language (XrML) is a general language for specifying rights for digital assets. However, as Ron Schmelzer, senior analyst at ZapThink LLC, puts it, “The name of the game for any XML standard is adoption.” To that end, ContentGuard is contributing XrML to Oasis, the consortium for XML interoperability standards, in the hope of building a consensus and ensuring industry participation in the language’s development.

Read more at: UNIX Insider (IDG.net)

XML & Web Services Security

Security is the immediate roadblock facing widespread implementation of Web Services technologies across the enterprise. As a result, many software vendors are throwing their hat into the XML and Web Services security ring, offering a broad and confusing number of solutions to a variety of real and perceived problems. However, much of this effort amounts to jostling for defensible market positioning ahead of a solid demand for enterprise-class XML and Web Security products and services. As a result, ZapThink believes that the emerging market for XML and Web Services security solutions will be characterized by a period of turbulence, as companies struggle to clarify their messages and shake the kinks out of their product offerings.

ZapNote: ContentGuard

A digital work is a discrete piece of content or resource such as an electronic document, audio file, video clip, component of application functionality, or other feed of information. As the notion of the digital work has evolved, so has the need to protect that work from improper usage, distribution, or disassembly. ContentGuard’s belief is that DRM will evolve so that best of breed components will be developed by different parties in order to drive interoperability. This model breaks the current closed-loop mindset of DRM providers. In order for this approach to work, a single rights management language is needed, rather than a monolithic trust model. The goal of XrML is to expand the usefulness of digital content, resources, and services to rights holders and users by providing a flexible, extensible, and interoperable industry standard language that is platform, media, and format independent.