News Release: World Wide Web Consortium Issues Proposed Recommendation of SOAP Version 1.2

After resolving over 400 issues and identifying seven interoperable 
implementations, the W3C XML Protocol Working Group today released SOAP 
1.2 for final review. According to W3C Director Tim Berners-Lee, 
"starting today, developers who may have hesitated to pick up SOAP 1.2
should take a look."

For more information, please contact the appropriate W3C Communications 
Team member in your region. Web resources are listed at the end of the 
release.


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World Wide Web Consortium Issues Proposed Recommendation of
SOAP Version 1.2

W3C XML Protocol Working Group Requests Final Review of XML-based
solution for Data Transport

http://www.w3.org/ -- 7 May 2003 -- The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
today releases the SOAP Version 1.2 Proposed Recommendation, consisting
of the SOAP 1.2 Messaging Framework; SOAP 1.2 Adjuncts, and a Primer.
SOAP 1.2 is a lightweight protocol intended for exchanging structured
information in a decentralized, distributed environment such as the Web.
A W3C Proposed Recommendation is issued after review by the W3C
Director, W3C Working Groups and the developer public, with evidence of
implementation and interoperability. SOAP 1.2 has been sent to the W3C
Membership for final review, which closes on 7 June 2003.

"Starting today, developers who may have hesitated to pick up SOAP 1.2
should take a look," stated Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. "After
resolving over 400 issues - including over 150 from SOAP 1.1 and
delivering evidence of rigorous implementations, the W3C XML Protocol
Working Group has produced for final review a real SOAP standard - SOAP
1.2."

Robust Web Services Rely on Standardized, Flexible Models for Message
Exchange

Data transport is central to modern computing in the networked,
decentralized, and distributed environment that is the Web. As XML has
emerged as the preferred format for data, the challenge is for both the
sender and the receiver to agree on an application level transfer
protocol - whether the transfer is to occur between software programs,
machines, or organizations.

Since its inception in September 2000, W3C's XML Protocol Working Group
has worked on both XML Protocol Requirements and the SOAP 1.2
specification, using the W3C Note SOAP/1.1 as a starting point. After
producing multiple drafts, receiving significant feedback from
developers, and identifying interoperable implementations, the W3C XML
Protocol Working Group (WG) believes its work on SOAP 1.2 is complete.

SOAP 1.2 Provides Stable Support for W3C Recommendations, Refined
Processing Model

The XML Protocol WG has the goal of developing technologies which enable
two or more peers to communicate in a distributed environment, using XML
as the encapsulation language. Their solution allows a layered
architecture on top of a simple and extensible messaging format, which
provides robustness, simplicity, reusability and interoperability.

SOAP 1.2 provides a framework for XML-based messaging systems, in two
parts - the Message Framework and Adjuncts.

SOAP 1.2 Message Framework provides a processing model (the rules for
processing a SOAP message), an extensibility framework (enabling
developers to use extensions inside and outside the SOAP envelope), the
message construct (the rules for constructing SOAP messages), and the
protocol binding framework (the rules for specifying the exchange of
SOAP messages over underlying protocols such as HTTP).

SOAP 1.2 Adjuncts defines a set of adjuncts. It includes rules for
representing remote procedure calls (RPCs), for encoding SOAP messages,
for describing SOAP features and SOAP bindings. It also provides a
standard binding of SOAP to HTTP 1.1, allowing SOAP messages to be
exchanged using the mechanisms of the World Wide Web.

In addition to fulfilling requirements spelled out in the WG charter,
SOAP 1.2 integrates core XML technologies. SOAP 1.2 is designed to work
seamlessly with W3C XML schemas, maximizing SOAP’s utility with a broad
range of XML tools, and paving the way for future work on WSDL. It also
makes use of XML Namespaces as a flexible and lightweight mechanism for
handling XML language mixing.

SOAP 1.2 describes a refined processing model, thus removing ambiguities
found in SOAP/1.1, and it includes improved error messages, thus helping
developers to write better applications.

Implementation Experience Puts SOAP 1.2 in Strong Position for Final Review

After its Candidate Recommendation period, the W3C XML Protocol WG
tracked seven SOAP 1.2 implementations from W3C Member organizations and
independent developers to ensure the viability and interoperability of
implementations based on the specification. The WG had already
identified and resolved over 400 technical and editorial issues raised
in public review of both the previous SOAP/1.1 specification and the
resultant SOAP 1.2 specification.

Current members of the Working Group include industry and technology
leaders such as: AT&T; BEA Systems; Canon; DaimlerChrysler Research and
Technology; Ericsson; Fujitsu Limited; IBM; IONA Technologies;
Macromedia; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.; Microsoft
Corporation; Oracle Corporation; SAP AG; SeeBeyond; Software AG; Sonic
Software; Sun Microsystems; Systinet; TIBCO Software Inc.; and Unisys.

Developer communities outside of the W3C membership and other
organizations with related interests have provided valuable input to the
creation of SOAP Version 1.2.

Contact America --
    Janet Daly, <janet@w3.org>, +1.617.253.5884 or +1.617.253.2613
Contact Europe --
    Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94
Contact Asia --
   Saeko Takeuchi <saeko@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170

Web resources:

This press release:
http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap12-pressrelease

In English
http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap12-pressrelease.html.en
In French
http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap12-pressrelease.html.fr
In Japanese
http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap12-pressrelease.html.ja

SOAP 1.2 Proposed Recommendations

   SOAP 1.2 Messaging Framework
     http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/PR-soap12-part1-20030507/
   SOAP 1.2 Adjuncts
     http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/PR-soap12-part2-20030507/
   SOAP 1.2 Primer
     http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/PR-soap12-part0-20030507/

About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]

The W3C was created to lead the Web to its full potential by developing
common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its
interoperability. It is an international industry consortium jointly run
by the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (MIT LCS) in the USA, the
European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM)
headquartered in France, and Keio University in Japan. Services provided
by the Consortium include: a repository of information about the World
Wide Web for developers and users, and various prototype and sample
applications to demonstrate use of new technology. To date, over 400
organizations are Members of the Consortium. For more information see
http://www.w3.org/

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Received on Wednesday, 7 May 2003 03:16:19 UTC