News Release: W3C Issues Three Web Services Recommendations

Today, W3C issued three Web Services recommendations aimed at improving 
performance of Web services applications. Used in combination, the three
recommendations help Web services applications make more efficient use
of binary data, bringing increased speed and optimization. The documents
also carry strong support from the W3C Membership, as outlined in the
testimonials.

For more information, please contact Janet Daly <janet@w3.org> at +1 617
253 5884.

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World Wide Web Consortium Issues Three Web Services Recommendations
Three-Part Solution Leads to Better Web Services Performance

Web Resources:

This Press release
   In English: http://www.w3.org/2005/01/xmlp-pressrelease.html.en
   In French: http://www.w3.org/2005/01/xmlp-pressrelease.html.fr
   In Japanese: http://www.w3.org/2005/01/xmlp-pressrelease.html.ja

Testimonials from BEA, IBM and Microsoft

http://www.w3.org/2005/01/xmlp-testimonials

The Recommendations

     XML-binary Optimized Packaging (XOP)
     http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/REC-xop10-20050125/

     SOAP Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM)
     http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/REC-soap12-mtom-20050125/

     Resource Representation SOAP Header Block (RRSHB)
     http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/REC-soap12-rep-20050125/


http://www.w3.org/ -- 25 January 2005 -- The World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) has published three new Web Services Recommendations: XML-binary
Optimized Packaging (XOP), SOAP Message Transmission Optimization
Mechanism (MTOM), and Resource Representation SOAP Header Block (RRSHB).
These recommendations provides ways to efficiently package and transmit
binary data included or referenced in a SOAP 1.2 message.

Web Services Applications Need Effective, Standard Methods for Handling
Binary Data

Web Services applications have the primary goal of sharing and using
data between applications. This includes an increasingly diverse set of
media formats and devices, including large schematics and other
graphical files. Examples are as intricate as sharing architectural
blueprints between multiple parties, or as simple as sending a photo
from a digital camera directly to a printer.

One of the biggest technical and performance issues for Web services
occurs when a user or application is handling large binary files.
Encoding binary data as XML produces huge files, which absorbs bandwidth
and measurably slows down applications. For some devices, it slows down
so much that the performance is considered unacceptable.

W3C Devises Three-Part Solution for Better Web Services Performance

W3C's XML Protocol Working Group has been looking at this issue almost
from its inception, while it was developing the first SOAP standard,
SOAP 1.2. The newest Recommendations published today work with SOAP 1.2
to address the specific issue of improving Web services performance by
providing standard methods and mechanisms for transmitting large binary
data.

"By enabling a more efficient way of serialize and transmit a SOAP
message (XOP and MTOM), and by sending all the data needed to process
the message, even when the data would not be readily available (RRSHB),
Web Services have just become faster and more usable, " explained Yves
Lafon, W3C Team Contact for the XMLP Working Group.

XOP Allows Efficient Encoding of Binary Data in XML

XML-binary Optimized Packaging (XOP) provides a standard method for
applications to include binary data, as is, along with an XML document
in a package. As a result, applications need less space to store the
data and less bandwidth to transmit it. XOP works at the XML Information
Set (Infoset) level, allowing the same abstract representation of a XML
document to be serialized in different ways.

MTOM implements XOP, makes SOAP 1.2 faster

The Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM) uses the features
provided by XOP to address SOAP messages. MTOM defines a "Transmission
Optimization" feature that enables SOAP bindings to optimize the
transmission and/or the wire format used to transfer a SOAP message. It
also defines a concrete implementation of this feature, using HTTP and
XOP to send the various binary parts as well as the SOAP message in a
MIME envelope, reducing the bandwidth and the time used to encode/decode
such data.

RRSHB Gives Applications a Local Short Cut to Resources

The third piece, the Resource Representation SOAP Header Block (RRSHB)
functionality allows SOAP message recipients to access cached
representations of external resources. This is important, as there may
be times when there are either limits to bandwidth or access of files.
It gives the recipient the option of using either the original file that
may be identified by a URI, or to use a cached copy that accompanies the
actual SOAP message. Used with MTOM, it enhance greatly the speed and of
processing as the external data is already present when the recipient is
starting processing the message.

Testimonials from BEA, IBM, and Microsoft in support of W3C's three XMLP
Recommendations: XOP, MTOM and RRSHB

BEA Systems | IBM | Microsoft Corporation

     BEA Systems is extremely pleased that the XOP, MTOM and RRSHB
specifications have been approved as W3C Recommendations. Together,
these specifications will allow Web services extensions and applications
to retain an XML Infoset model for all content, retaining
interoperability with the existing stack of XML tools and
specifications. Additionally, XOP is an important step towards the
improvement of XML performance. BEA is proud to have been a key
contributor to the development and standardisation of these specifications.
     Mark Nottingham, Senior Principal Technologist, BEA Systems

     IBM is committed to using open standards to help customers become
on demand businesses that create higher levels of efficiency, new
flexible business and unlock hidden revenue opportunities. SOAP has
played an important role in this strategy. These new SOAP message
optimization technologies combined with other critical Web services
technologies, such as WSDL and BPEL will further enable our customers to
achieve their business goals. IBM is committed to the development of
open standards for Web services and their incorporation into our
products, ensuring interoperability for our customers, regardless of the
individual components of their IT Infrastructure.
     -- Karla Norsworthy, VP Software Standards, IBM

     Microsoft is committed to MTOM as the definitive solution for
including opaque data in XML and SOAP messages, and we plan to implement
support for MTOM across our XML-aware product line.
     -- Don Box, Architect, Microsoft Corporation


Contact Americas and Australia --
     Janet Daly, <janet@w3.org>, +1.617.253.5884
Contact Europe, Africa and Middle East --
     Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94
Contact Asia --
     Yasuyuki Hirakawa <chibao@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170
(also available in French and Japanese)

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 Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
(CSAIL) 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. More than 350 organizations are Members of W3C. To learn
more, see http://www.w3.org/

Received on Tuesday, 25 January 2005 15:03:07 UTC