Westbridge touts Web services access tool

Hoping to provide network executives with tools to support service-oriented architectures, Westbridge Technology next month plans to upgrade its Web services middleware to promote reuse of components built with the emerging technology.

With Version 3.0 of XML Message Server, users will be able to tailor a single Web service for access through a variety of clients and protocols, the company says.

Westbridge has added to its Service View technology the capability to make a Web service available to a user based on a profile. A service view aggregates a number of Web services into a single access point on XML Message Server.

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Hoping to provide network executives with tools to support service-oriented architectures, Westbridge Technology next month plans to upgrade its Web services middleware to promote reuse of components built with the emerging technology.

With Version 3.0 of XML Message Server, users will be able to tailor a single Web service for access through a variety of clients and protocols, the company says.

Westbridge has added to its Service View technology the capability to make a Web service available to a user based on a profile. A service view aggregates a number of Web services into a single access point on XML Message Server.

Service View sits between a client and the back-end services connected to it, and brokers communication such as format transcoding and security.

The profile shows if a user is accessing the Web service via a portal, a desktop application or an extranet, and the protocols he is using, including HTTP and Secure-HTTP. The profile also dictates security through support of various authentication methods, including a directory based on Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, or by accepting Security Access Markup Language tokens. Users also can monitor and audit the activity on each service view.

"Web services management products should help companies compose fine-grained Web services into coarse-grained business services," says Jason Bloomberg, an analyst with ZapThink. He says Westbridge does that with its XML Message Server, letting Westbridge provide management for a service-oriented architecture. "Westbridge is the first to really deliver on this with its service views." The company competes with vendors such as Actional, Amberpoint and Digital Evolution.

Also in XML Message Server 3.0, Westbridge has added Smart Parser, a message acceleration technology that processes XML messages using streaming technology, parsing only certain information and caching things such as security credentials and formatted data. Westbridge also added what it calls Autovalidation, which lets XML Message Server generate XML schemas from Web Services Description Language files and ensures each message conforms to a particular schema or format.

Click to see: EAP options will narrow

Additionally, Version 3.0, which runs on Linux, Unix and Windows, features integration with identity management platforms from Oblix and RSA Security.

A new dynamic routing feature can alter the routes of messages in case of a network failure or to satisfy the requirements of a service-level agreement.

XML Message Server 3.0 supports multiple administrators, each with their own set of access privileges, and includes a plug-in for Microsoft Office that helps secure access to XML documents using the desktop software.

The server is expected to ship Nov. 30. Pricing starts at $35,000.

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