Web Services in Action: Case Studies From the Front Line

3.0 Web Services in Action:

Case Studies From the
Front Line

E nterprises that want to use IT to compete effectively should begin developing with Web
services in 2003. Web services are a technology of the moment, but they are resilient and
will thrive in the future. Understanding their impact on business will enable IT managers to
experiment with them effectively. Separating promise from hype will enable business managers
to exploit the capabilities of Web services for internal and external use.

Enterprises that are interested in the use of Web services can learn valuable lessons from the
examples of early adopters. Such precedents can help enterprises to identify best practices or
inspire them to come up with novel ideas for the use of Web services technology.

This chapter uses case studies to illustrate how enterprises can chart a strategy for introducing
Web services in the enterprise. The analysis in this chapter is framed by the following Key Issues:

• What are Web services, and why do they matter?

• How are Web services being used today?

• What key factors should enterprises consider in their use of Web services?

• What key trends will shape enterprise use of Web services in coming years?

3.1 Understanding Web Services and Their Usefulness

Key Issue: What are Web services, and why do they matter?

Common-sense definitions of technology allow for some wiggle room in vendor claims while also
creating a common frame of reference that all participants in a market may adopt. Gartner has
heard many competing definitions of Web services. In one case, a major vendor representative
referred to File Transfer Protocol as an early Web service, while stricter interpreters will only certify
a facility as a Web service if it meets their own complex, alphabet-soup definition.

© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 1

Harnessing the Power of Web Services and Middleware

Gartner believes that the following definition is a useful learning about the specifications to dreaming up new uses
and reasonable one: for them. Any technology will follow a similar path, along
which technologists and business managers scrutinize
• Web services are software components that employ
hype cycles and jump on board at the right time for their
one or more of three technologies — Simple Object
own project cultures.
Access Protocol (SOAP), Web Services Description
Language (WSDL) and Universal Description,
Challenges to the progress of Web services adoption
Discovery and Integration (UDDI) — to perform
include:
distributed computing. Use of any of these basic
technologies constitutes Web services; use of all of • The inevitable and worsening vendor conflicts
them is not required.
• The current economic slowdown, which pinches
budgets and draws all gazes to the bottom line
Although it is somewhat oversimplified, this common-
sense definition, like others before it, makes a trade-off • General confusion over what Web services really are
between oversimplification and a wider and clearer
understanding. This definition may change over time, but, In general, business and IS staffs should expect the first
for now, it suffices. (Note that the use of SOAP requires stage of an enterprise’s consideration of Web services to
the use of XML.) produce few benefits in terms of reduced project
execution time or business value, as both business and
Why do Web services matter? They promise substantial IS resources are consumed by learning the potential of
improvement in the dynamic interaction among networked the new business. As IS staff devotes more time than
applications through the use of standards. usual to the new development paradigm, business
managers will benefit through improved data access and
Action Items: Don’t get hung up on definitions. processes. Business innovation will stall as IS teams turn
Remember that Web services’ usefulness lie in their to development efficiency, but when an enterprise fully
simplicity and utility. exploits a service-oriented architecture through Web
services it will experience a renewal of business creativity.

3.2 The Use of Web Services Action Items: Set the initial education phase outside
Today expectations for return on IT investment (ROI). In
measuring ROI, consider both short- and long-term
Key Issue: How are Web services being used today? returns.

3.2.1 Current Deployments 3.2.2 Case Studies

Strategic Planning Assumption: Initial stages of Web
Enterprises that are interested in the use of Web services
services adoption will have neutral or negative impact on
to accomplish the goals of particular projects, or that are
development efficiency and business innovation as considering Web services as the fundamental aspect of
enterprises grow accustomed to the new model through
conversions to service-oriented architectures, should learn
2003; subsequent stages will result in substantial
from the examples of early adopters. Such precedents
improvements in business innovation and development can help enterprises to identify best practices or inspire
efficiency as enterprises gain proficiency in Web services
them to come up with novel applications for Web services
through 2006 (0.7 probability).
technology.

Web services are being deployed now to manage

To demonstrate the increasing diversity of the technology’s
lightweight data integration and to provide improved data
impact, Gartner recently sought out enterprises that have
access across enterprise information webs. chosen to use Web services in projects. Case studies of
seven such enterprises are provided in the following
Enterprises should expect the benefits of Web services
sections.
to come slowly, but steadily, as they maneuver from

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 Web Services in Action: Case Studies From the Front Line

3.2.2.1 Case Study: Rotech Healthcare anomalies revealing that more doctors than necessary
had been sold in low-patient areas, or the reverse, would
Strategic Planning Assumption: Web services will aid Rotech in deploying sales representatives to even out
catalyze a 50 percent increase in data integration for the mixture. However, data concerning the patients
analysis among Type A enterprises through 2004, and Rotech serves resides in a Virtual Storage Access Method
among Type B enterprises from 2004 through 2006 (0.7 file management system, while data concerning relevant
probability). doctors resides in a Linux-based Structured Query
Language database.
Tactical Guideline: As always with projects that rely
heavily on open-source or community-based Instead of creating a new, relational database, Rotech
development methods, standards remain immature, and established a SOAP link between the data sources to
projects should not be “shoe-horned” into a particular feed a homegrown analytical application (see Figure 3-
model. Although Rotech has 10 Web services projects in 1). The use of Web services enabled Rotech to establish
development or testing, it is not seeking to solve all the link more swiftly than it could have through
business problems through a Web services model. conventional means. Rotech has spent very little on the
project, devoting one or two developers per day for less
Rotech Healthcare, based in Orlando, Florida, provides than two weeks.
medical services through a distributed network of small
healthcare companies in 650 locations. It maintains a lean Aware that SOAP faces challenges in terms of its ability
IT staff and seeks to solve business problems through to transfer large amounts of data rapidly, Rotech runs the
lightweight integration initiatives. reports at night and periodically, instead of in real time.

To better manage its sales resources, Rotech wished to Rotech believes the results have provided immediate
compare data about the location of enlisted doctors’ benefits. Rotech can see more clearly how its sales
offices with the location of its patients. Incongruities or resources should be deployed to improve the utilization

Figure 3-1: Rotech Uses SOAP to Bridge Disparate Data Sources

Old Doctors Patients

(SQL) (VSAM)

New Analytic
Doctors SOAP SOAP Patients
Logic
(SQL) (VSAM)

SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol

SQL Structured Query Language
Source: Gartner VSAM Virtual Storage Access Method

© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 3

Harnessing the Power of Web Services and Middleware

of its core business services, including circumstances is critical for enabling unified strategies of public
where its patient count implies that its doctor count is communication about outbreaks or diseased individual elk.
too low.
Development required one worker from Compuware and
Action Item: Consider light data integration with an two workers from the state for 14 weeks. The project
analytical engine as an early SOAP project. architect was full time. Two developers were cycled in
and out of the project.

3.2.2.2 Case Study: The Colorado Developers learned that the Web services aspect must
Department of Agriculture be tied closely to the data source. An initial attempt at a
three-tier physical architecture failed, because interchange
Colorado’s agriculture department needed to modernize between the Web service and data source bogged down
access to the multiple sources of data it uses in tracking the Web service’s response time. Placing the service and
the health of the state’s captive elk population. Before the database on a single physical server and placing the
the department’s Web services project, employees had Web server on a separate server resolved the problem.
to manually combine data from multiple sources into a The state learned that, although substantial benefits are
Macintosh HyperCard application for analyses. Defining, to be gained from a Web services deployment, the
assembling and inspecting reports could take as long as technology’s newness led to development “hiccups” that
six weeks. delayed the project somewhat.

When an elk is diagnosed with the disease, it is critical to Action Item: Through 2004, consider deploying Web
determine what other elk it has had contact with, to trace services in visible but manageable projects that require
back to any outbreak’s “patient zero,” as well as to no more than eight developers.
evaluate the risk of contagion in other elk. Thus, the six-
week wait was a significant detriment to rapid response.
Additionally, the application within which the data was 3.2.2.3 Case Study: MapPoint
analyzed did not reside on the network and, therefore,
was difficult to access. Tactical Guideline: Microsoft’s experience with MapPoint
.NET illustrates how effective delivery of Web services
The dominant technologic source for the data was a requires at least as much effort in operational deployment
database that generated printed reports that employees and commercial strategy as it does in technical
in turn typed into the HyperCard application, where both specification and development. Enterprises should ensure
the business logic and the data resided. The relational that they have identified relevant stakeholders and process
database consists of about 20 tables, with 14 to 30 fields owners for all dimensions of a Web service deployment.
per table. Lengthy waits to trace sick elks’ previous
contacts were common. MapPoint shows the potential and the challenges of fully
deployed Web services. MapPoint is a natural candidate
In the Web services solution, users place their requests for Web services use because mapping data has high
via an Active Server Pages (ASP) Web interface, which value in many contexts, but isn’t something most
passes requests via a dynamic link library to SOAP enterprises want to collect or manage for themselves.
wrappers (see Figure 3-2). These, in turn, address a Map data appears static but in practice changes
Component Object Model Plus (COM+) transaction layer, significantly all the time, particularly when complemented
which interacts with the database. The results are passed by data such as points of interest. MapPoint thus shows
back through the chain to the ASP presentation layer for the potential for other owners of specialized data to
the user to see. The SOAP layer for data transport was distribute information at a transaction level via a Web
adopted to increase the installation’s future flexibility. service.

Officials report that they can trace back an elk’s contacts MapPoint comprises a substantial database of
with other elk immediately, instead of waiting weeks for a cartographic data and a program to search and display
report. The universal view of data the new system provides this data. The MapPoint application was conceived and

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 Web Services in Action: Case Studies From the Front Line

Figure 3-2: Colorado Agriculture Department Speeds Elk Health Analysis

Captive Elk Population Health Tracking System

• Reduced tracking time
• Improved interoperation
• Replaced legacy system

SQL
ASP,
DLL SOAP COM+
JavaScript
Other
Legacy

ASP Active Server Pages

COM+ Component Object Model Plus
DLL dynamic link library
SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol
Source: Gartner SQL Structured Query Language

designed to run as a single-user PC application. It is also A number of the initial deployments of MapPoint .NET
available as an ActiveX control with an extensive object are within MSN services (for example, Expedia and
interface, intended for embedding in other applications. HomeAdvisor). Other early adopters are Dollar Rent-A-
The challenge for Microsoft was to turn MapPoint into a Car and the German hotel booking service hotel.de. TellMe
multiuser system, accessible over the Internet, and uses MapPoint .NET to provide voice driving directions
capable of integration with other systems requiring from a mobile phone.
mapping data.
A particularly innovative application of this Web service
The initial step of defining a SOAP application was developed by Marks & Spencer, which uses
programming interface (API) was fairly simple, since that MapPoint .NET to combat credit card fraud. When the
could be wrapped onto the proven Component Object same account number shows up as having been used in
Model (COM) API from the ActiveX control. The second multiple stores in a brief time window, this raises an alert.
technical challenge was more substantial. It involved The system then sends the store locations to MapPoint
taking a query and rendering program designed for single .NET with the request to return a drive time. If the drive
users and turning it into something that could service time is significantly more than the actual differential
high-volume concurrent access over the Internet. between purchases, the conclusion is that an instance
Microsoft had, however, already decided to deliver an of credit card fraud has likely occurred.
Internet mapping service via MSN, and the
implementation of a high-performance engine to access Several key factors contributed to the success of the
the cartographic database was, therefore, already MapPoint .NET initiative, including the following:
planned.
• Microsoft identified clear business objectives related
to the intrinsic value of the established database.
With a SOAP API, a WSDL interface specification and a
high-performance data access engine, the MapPoint Web • It created a deployment environment, including staging
service was “ready to fly.” The more-substantial challenges and managed operations, that allowed users to test
involved creating a deployment infrastructure and and monitor systems that embed the Web service.
commercial terms and conditions for use of the service.

© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 5

Harnessing the Power of Web Services and Middleware

• Microsoft identified a commercial framework that uBid discussed the situation with many of the aggregators
reflects the natural usage pattern of applications using and found that they all appeared ready to adopt SOAP
the Web service. This framework, which takes interfaces to their systems. uBid’s own Seller Interface,
advantage of transaction-based pricing, is seen as with its Microsoft COM and Distributed COM
equitable but not overly complex. components, was also a likely candidate for conversion
into a Web service. uBid and Tallán developed a
• MapPoint .NET leverages considerable prior
synchronous XML- and SOAP-based interface enabling
investment. Creation of such a service from scratch
the flow of information between uBid’s databases and
would be much more difficult to justify.
third-party applications (see Figure 3-3).

Action Items: Enterprises should use an external service

Initially, the project team consisted of two people, who
as a simple way to begin Web services training.
spent the first two weeks evaluating SOAP
Enterprises should press vendors to establish a SOAP
implementations and designing a solution. By the third
consumption functionality.
week, the uBid project team had grown to 14 people,
had a test site running and had produced a WSDL file for
consumption by the aggregators. The project was
3.2.2.4 Case Study: uBid
completed in 14 weeks.
Strategic Planning Assumption: Through year-end
It now takes less than two weeks to connect a new
2005, Web services will drive a 30 percent increase in
aggregator, and the onus for the integration effort falls
interenterprise connections for data exchange and service
primarily on the aggregator. uBid simply supplies a WSDL
exploitation in relationships where the dominant partner
file and helps test the integration.
is a Type A enterprise (0.7 probability).

uBid has seen the average number of items available for

Tactical Guideline: Where interconnections between
auction increase from approximately 500,000 to
enterprises are critical to the provision of a service to a
approximately three million. It is now connected to
customer, Web services technologies offer a relatively
numerous aggregators and has seen the number of
standard, low-risk, low-cost, multiplatform approach.
available items increase significantly, with a high of six-
uBid’s situation represented an optimal opportunity to
and-a-half-million items in one day.
use Web services, given the reasonableness of the
interface, the limited number of partners, the nature of
Action Item: Consider Web services as a way to allow
the business transaction and the contractual nature of
tactical partners to integrate with a simple interenterprise
the business relationship. Enterprises should look for
data aggregation function. Where multiple future
opportunities that fit this profile as candidates for early
connections will be necessary, Web services can reduce
interenterprise Web services projects.
investment in integration connectors.
The complexity of the functionality available at most
auction sites has increased significantly, and aggregators
3.2.2.5 Case Study: Eastman Chemical
are becoming more important as their value and the value
of online auctions are better understood. uBid needed a
Tactical Guideline: Eastman has steered clear of trying
modern technological solution for supporting multiple
to reinvent its online ordering system, and has also
aggregators. The most-important motivator was the threat
resisted the temptation to re-architect its business-to-
that an aggregator might pull its support from a site if
business e-commerce system. Eastman has chosen
interacting with it was too hard.
instead to pursue a straightforward, comparatively low-
risk Web services application, which could continue to
uBid needed a solution that would enable aggregators to
function in a traditional Web server environment should
interact with its site in a reliable, secure and cost-efficient
problems arise.
way. It wanted a solution that could be developed once,
for all aggregators.
A global company with headquarters in Kingsport,
Tennessee, Eastman Chemical has been very pragmatic

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 Web Services in Action: Case Studies From the Front Line

Figure 3-3: uBid Connects With Multiple Aggregators

Auction
Sellers Aggregators Buyers

uBid

SOAP Web

Source: Gartner SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol

in evaluating the potential of Web services to streamline the desktops of its largest direct customers by using
Web-based e-commerce. After a careful analysis, general-purpose XML-based, client-side graphical user
Eastman concluded that shortening the “info to order” interface (GUI) engines (see Figure 3-4). These engines
cycle was a realistic application of Web services at this can execute within a Web browser or directly on the
early stage of its evolution. desktop, and are designed to be powered on the back
end by a presentation layer server operated by Eastman.
This would mean putting deep, responsive product The company used a combination of Microsoft’s COM+
information systems in place to simplify and ultimately components and Visual Studio .NET development
expedite the online product selection process. Typically, framework to create the wizards.
such systems assist the customer with appropriate and
effective use of purchased products, using such tools as On the back end, Eastman uses WebMethod’s WSDL
product configurators. generator to publish its wizard interface descriptions.
These descriptions are manually uploaded to Grand
Eastman had migrated its configuration spreadsheets Central Networks’ service registry.
online as interactive product configuration wizards. Since
these wizards were driven by server-side application logic Initial testing show one- to two-second response times
and dynamically generated scripts, they were for the wizard, which falls well within the acceptable range
cumbersome to maintain and enhance. More important, for an interactive desktop application. Eastman is
given the breadth of Eastman’s reseller network, this confident that this performance will scale satisfactorily,
script-driven architecture made it difficult to provide as most wizards should have less than 100 concurrent
customizable, value-added wizards that could be hosted users at any given time.
by the company’s specialized channel partners.
Eastman has found that the distributed, rich-client GUI
Therefore, Eastman chose a Web services approach. It architecture enables it to build and deploy user interfaces
has developed SOAP/XML wrappers for a number of that are far more sophisticated than those generally
wizards. Initially, the wizards were deployed directly to available through Web browsers. This approach has

© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 7

Harnessing the Power of Web Services and Middleware

Figure 3-4: Eastman Chemical Streamlines Customer Ordering

XML
GUI
Eastman
SOAP

COM+ XML
GUI
Wizard

VS.NET XML
GUI

WSDL files

COM Component Object Model

GUI graphical user interface
SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol
WSDL Web Services Description Language
Source: Gartner XML Extensible Markup Language

allowed the company to create a user experience that The popular search engine Google has published a
enhances the intrinsic value of the company’s product SOAP interface. The uses made of this interface by a
knowledge base. community of enthusiasts herald the new rules of the
Web services era.
Key to the success of this project was the choice of a
highly distributed, XML-based GUI environment, and a In early 2002, Google announced that it would provide
relatively uncomplicated, Microsoft-based execution flow access to its search index and particular functions through
on the back end of the wizards. Thus, Eastman has wisely an interface using SOAP. The ensuing months brought a
chosen to “keep it simple” from a process flow and flurry of intriguing exploitations of the opportunity. Google
execution standpoint. has tallied a variety of user integrations to its index and
search functions, from simple “because it’s there” inclusion
Action Item: Enterprises should employ Web services of a Google search box on Web journal pages to more-
as a relatively low-risk technology that can be used to sophisticated use of its matching and relevancy
implement a high-leverage business strategy. algorithms.

Developers have created:

3.2.2.6 Case Study: Google
• A system that enables users to input the contents of
Strategic Planning Assumption: By year-end 2004, their Web journals into a Google relevancy matcher,
more than 5 percent of Google searches will be invoked along with other homegrown analytic functions, to
through its SOAP API (0.7 probability). reveal other journal keepers who share their interests.

• A typographical-error generator that enables users to

Tactical Guideline: Applications accessible through the
input a word, then see how it is most-often incorrectly
Internet may be swiftly divided into elements and exploited rendered in written (Web-accessible) discourse.
effectively with no major undertaking, if the application is
useful, effective, trustworthy — and priced right.

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 Web Services in Action: Case Studies From the Front Line

• A Web journal publishing engine that analyzes an harming customer relationships, and resulting in high
entry’s title and incorporates in the entry an addendum exception handling costs.
of appropriate searches as identified by Google.
In 2001, SIC employed Otego AG, a Zurich-based
The enthusiasm with which users have incorporated consultancy, to develop and implement a Web-based
search functionality into these other applications system to replace its older, asynchronous EDI
demonstrates how search is increasingly capable of being infrastructure. SIC decided to use a Web services
reduced to components. Like other applications, search approach, with the hope it would achieve lower
engines were originally aspects of unitary products that development costs and reduced time to market if changes
included access, business logic and contents, as well as to the core application were handled on SIC’s existing
other support elements, such as repository format and mainframe-based clearing system through an XML-based
user authentication. As those functions have been broken Web connector. The core application was based on
out and search applications have emerged into their own scripting EDIFACT fund clearance processes to XML, and
category, vendors have deconstructed these applications the use of SOAP messaging for connecting XML data to
further. the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) transport layer
(see Figure 3-5).
The trend toward deconstruction is promoted and
augmented by the growing interest in Web services as a SIC clients can choose between different methods of
method of accessing application interfaces in a granular, access (via browser, Java client and end-to-end
but standards-based, fashion. Google will use this step integration) on existing client devices, when necessary.
to provide its index to enterprises that require a look at Secure HTTP encryption with Secure Socket Layer is used
the broad Web, or at their own internal content, but lack to ensure the safe transfer of all data. Authentication is
the sophistication to develop a full Web index or the achieved by using smart cards operating digital certificates
commitment to establish search-and-retrieval logic for within an encrypted channel.
their own unstructured content.
The new Web service solution differs from the old
Google is casting a wide net over a variety of business EDIFACT-based system in its synchronous data flow, use
models, and access to this API is no exception. Gartner of Web-based specifications and extensible architecture.
expects that, by year-end 2004, more than 5 percent of Response times have been reduced to a few seconds in
Google searches will be invoked through its SOAP API. a real-time environment. SIC customers receive immediate
feedback to each action in the payment-clearing process,
Action Item: Enterprises of all sizes should encourage including potential payment-clearance problems.
developers to dream up SOAP-enabled interfaces for their
most-valuable and least-accessible data repositories. Action Item: Traditional users of EDI in the financial
sector should evaluate Web services projects to move
operations to a real-time and open environment.
3.2.2.7 Case Study: Swiss Interbank Clearing

A few years ago, Swiss Interbank Clearing’s (SIC’s) 3.3 Web Services
electronic data interchange (EDI) implementation — based Implementation
on EDI for Administration, Commerce and Transportation
(EDIFACT) — was slow, complex, and difficult to maintain. Key Issue: What key factors should enterprises
EDI required expensive and redundant mechanisms to consider in their use of Web services?
back up operational data transfers in an asynchronous
communication mode.
3.3.1 Making the Web Services
Customer demands for faster fund clearance, along with Decision
a Web-based interactive interface to monitor transaction
processing, could not be met by the established Remember the criteria that were used in early Internet
infrastructure. In addition, customer banks experienced projects and that were often settled on more by accident
problems late in the funds clearance process, potentially than by design. Don’t select projects based on their ability

© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 9

Harnessing the Power of Web Services and Middleware

to generate big funding, for example. Major projects Enterprises should avoid using Web services if:
providing critical value to products in production should
• The project is oriented toward operations.
only be undertaken by “bleeding-edge” enterprises that
are comfortable with risk, and that cannot find similar • No one cares “what’s in those numbers.”
capabilities through non-Web-services systems. In
general, any description of a project within an enterprise • People change suppliers as often as they buy new
that is not an aggressive risk taker should end with a cars.
mention of Web services — not begin with the justification
• The underlying data’s value is suspect.
that it is a Web services project.
• It’s a low-level sponsor’s pet project.
Enterprises should consider using Web services if:
• IT staff would prefer to “wait out a round or two.”
• What’s moving is data, not goods.
Enterprises that comb their development project wish lists
• Many people and projects use the data.
for nagging (but not strategic) problem areas will likely
• Dynamic relationships are the rule in your industry. find suitable candidates for testing. Such problems would
include those that aren’t solvable through traditional
• The data is clean. development means or that need the unbroken attention
of technologists. Examples include aggregation of data
• The project has midrange visibility, and the benefits
from obsolescent sources (such as proprietary or
are eye-catching but tactical.
unpopular relational database management system
• IT staff expresses interest in Web services. formats) and the transfer by hand of the results of a

Figure 3-5: Swiss Interbank Clearing Takes Transactions to the Real-Time Level

Bank EDIFACT EDIFACT Bank

1 XML XML 3
SOAP SOAP

Swiss
Interbank

Bank EDIFACT EDIFACT

Bank
2 XML XML
N
SOAP SOAP

EDIFACT Electronic Data Interchange for Administration,

Commerce and Transportation
SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol
Source: Gartner XML Extensible Markup Language

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 Web Services in Action: Case Studies From the Front Line

calculation from one piece of software or one networkable begin within an enterprise’s own walls. In September
device to another. 2001, Gartner predicted: “More than 50 percent of
enterprises’ first experiences with Web services will be
Individual projects should require just a few weeks’ time an internal deployment of a Web-services-enabled
and a few developers’ efforts, and, in most cases, will architecture (0.7 probability).” Gartner client feedback thus
occur inconspicuously. Such projects may be coupled to far appears to validate that prediction.
achieve a larger goal, but the development methodology
should not reach the level of overall project planning. Enterprises that want to build service-oriented
Projects will probably be rolled out in a manner similar to architectures must check internally, as well as troll the IT
early Internet technology projects — for example, professional market, for two skill categories:
departmental Web servers for intranet development.
• Traditional developer skills, such as programmers in
Visual Basic and COBOL, and new Java and C#
Enterprises that approach the issue of Web services by
developers
looking for appropriate services outside the enterprise will
be disappointed when they discover the paucity of such • New specialist skills that are needed to transform
services and their relative immaturity. Despite the obvious software architecture into service-oriented architecture
benefits of reusing internal application elements and
functions, some enterprises insist on seeing their major Skills used in designing and deploying reusable
opportunity in Web services as one of locating external components in traditional languages and tools are equally
services (as was the case in the MapPoint example) and applicable in service-oriented architectures. Component
incorporating them into internal applications. Initially, such wrappers provide a layer of transparency to Web services
opportunities will be the exception, rather than the rule. developers, but because the legacy and packaged
For initial payback, enterprises should seek services in applications and databases were designed for traditional
their own architectures. business transactional processing, reusing them in
conjunction with Web services may require significant
Action Items: redesign. Also, to extend the legacy components into
the new service-oriented-architecture paradigm,
• Carefully select projects using Web services. Begin
enterprises will need skills that can orchestrate the
by identifying a short list of internal development
components into new services.
problems that can potentially be fixed through Web
services technologies immediately.
Enterprises that take the service-oriented-architecture
• Populate small teams of developers with volunteers path also will need specialists in new environments, such
who will become well-seasoned to lead bigger and as Java 2 Enterprise Edition and Microsoft .NET, as well
more-valuable Web services efforts later. as programming languages, such as Java, C# or Visual
Basic .NET. This will increase expense.

3.3.2 Addressing Key Challenges Action Item: Don’t place want ads seeking “five years’
experience in Web services.” Recognize what enterprise
Like other innovations, Web services mix the thrill of new talents and resources may be leveraged to take advantage
capability with the disadvantages of complication. When of your established skills depth.
first confronting Web services, most enterprises will find
the technology daunting, because of its apparent (if not
genuine) complexity, and the need to find like-minded 3.4 The Future
partners with a technology development focus that
matches that of the enterprise. Key Issue: What key trends will shape enterprise use
of Web services in coming years?
The biggest payoff from designing and implementing a
Web services architecture will come in establishing Web services are traveling a path to pure, standards-reliant
controlled engagements among trading partners. The implementations. They make it possible to render
initial “baby steps” to reach that payoff, however, will likely business elements of increasing complexity — initially

© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 11

Harnessing the Power of Web Services and Middleware

calculations, but ultimately, relationships and materials — Enterprises’ desire for basic Web services capabilities to
as software. By 2007, they will have totally flooded the drive improved interoperation and data access will butt
canals of interenterprise communication. up against vendor position jockeying and technology hype
fluctuations through 2005. Unlike the era of Internet hype,
Today, Web services are pervasive, but shallow. Standards today’s technology over-promising does not have the
are robust, but usage and value expectations vary among fertilizer of overheated venture capital markets, but it does
enterprises. The development of a culture of reuse — share other characteristics.
and the ability to manage massive libraries and interaction
streams — is just beginning. Enterprises that fail to determine the best strategies for
executing Web services projects will be disappointed by
By 2007, considerable progress will have been made in projects that do not deliver expected value or return on
simplifying and standardizing integration efforts. investment. Enterprises that use Web services
Enterprises will have recognized the value of a consistent, pragmatically, in concert with generally improved
ubiquitous mechanism for interacting internally and development attitudes, will discover the benefits of
externally. cautious dynamism. A foundation of dynamic relations,
as enabled by XML, grants Web services and their users
The question will be how much of an enterprise’s internal a resiliency that has not been available to previous
workings should be exposed as Web services. Some generations of innovation.
believe enterprises should expose as much as possible,
each becoming a Web services provider; however, given Action Items:
the interconnections, the cost of maintaining interfaces,
• Balance vendor and advocate hype with feedback from
the possible impact on connected parties and the risk of
Web services users and developers.
overexposure, enterprises must continue to carefully
manage touchpoints. • Expect Web services to be broadly available, but
limited in scope.
One wild card is application vendors’ plan to empower
packaged applications with Web services interfaces.
Although much of this work is already under way, the 3.5 Recommendations
completeness of these interfaces, the degree to which
service-oriented architectures are embraced, and the • Begin planning now for an internal SOAP deployment
stability of advanced transactional capabilities have the to pilot this year.
potential to accelerate internal and external process • Identify appropriate external partners to pilot an
connections. By 2007, with respect to simpler Web external SOAP project in 2004.
services, enterprises will have largely overcome light
integration issues across heterogeneous environments • Designate one to three developers to immediately
because of the stability and maturity of core standards. experiment with SOAP interfaces to Google or other
external products.

12 Gartner Executive Report Series