The Universal Discovery, Description and Integration protocol has not lived up to its billing as the foundation for a public directory where users can find and connect to Web services because of issues around securing data and access.
Our author (jfontana@nww.com) describes UDDI as one of the four pillars of Web services - the other three being XML, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Web Services Description Language (WSDL). UDDI will soon get a boost that may help it finally live up to its promise.
Remember that UDDI is a set of specifications that defines how Web service providers publish information about their Web services and lets Web service requesters search that information to find a Web service and run it.
Version 3 of the UDDI specification, which was turned over to the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) last fall, is finally getting the security and policy controls that may lift its acceptance among Web services adopters.
Version 3 is seen as the key for creating private, semiprivate and public UDDI registries that could be integrated at various levels. Version 3 also positions UDDI to become the linchpin for the next wave of Web services, which ties multiple Web services together into composite applications.
Specifically, here are the key UDDI Version 3 additions:
* Policy: Improve security, control which allows for more flexible implementations.
* Digital Signature: Ensure data, source integrity so that content can’t be changed. Also fosters trust in registry.
* Multiregistry support: Integrate directory roots, affiliates to allow secure mesh of public, semiprivate and private registries.
* Subscription API: Supports notifications so that users can track content changes made to registries.
For more on UDDI’s directions see: http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2003/0428uddi.html