News Release: WS-Policy 1.5 is a W3C Recommendation

Today, the World Wide Web Consortium issued a critical Web standard  
for extending the features of Web services and Service Oriented  
Architecture (SOA) applications. Building on the fundamental open Web  
services standards from W3C, Web Services Policy enables developers  
to meet requirements for secure transactions, reliable messaging,  
addressing metadata, and other scenarios, in modular fashion. With  
testimonials and commitments to implement WS-Policy 1.5 from BEA,  
IBM, Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle, Software AG, and Sun Microsystems,  
Inc., it's sure to be a mainstay for SOA solutions.

For  more information, please contact Janet Daly, W3C Global  
Communications Officer , +1 617 253 5884 <janet@w3.org> or the W3C  
Communications Team representative in your region.

W3C Publishes Open Standard for Describing Web Services Policies
Policy Layer Enables Benefits of Extension Architecture

WS-Policy 1.5 - Framework
	http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/REC-ws-policy-20070904/

This press release
	In English: http://www.w3.org/2007/07/wspolicy-pressrelease.html.en
	In French: http://www.w3.org/2007/07/wspolicy-pressrelease.html.fr
	In Japanese: http://www.w3.org/2007/07/wspolicy-pressrelease.html.ja
	In other languages: http://www.w3.org/Press/Overview.html#x2007-wsp

Testimonials from Axway Software, BEA Systems, IBM, JBoss/Red Hat,  
Microsoft Corporation, Nokia,  Oracle, Software AG, and Sun  
Microsystems, Inc.
	http://www.w3.org/2007/07/wspolicy-testimonial

http://www.w3.org/ -- 4 September 2007 -- Today, the World Wide Web  
Consortium issued a critical Web standard for extending the features  
of Web services and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) applications.  
Building on the fundamental open Web services standards from W3C, Web  
Services Policy enables developers to meet requirements for secure  
transactions, reliable messaging, addressing metadata, and other  
scenarios, in modular fashion. With Web Services Policy 1.5, SOA  
developers can enable extensions to a service without disruption or  
requiring changes to lower level service descriptions. The extensions  
themselves (consisting of what are called "policy assertions") are  
defined by other specifications.

Web Services Policy 1.5 Based on Industry Needs, Experience

Years of customer experience with commercial Web services  
applications have made clear the need for a modular approach for  
describing required and optional extensions used by a service.  
Without this capability, it can be costly to rewrite an entire  
service whenever application needs change. Web Services Policy 1.5  
can reduce this cost. It connects the core Web services standards --  
SOAP 1.2, WSDL 2.0, and XML Schema -- to a growing set of extensions  
that reflect industry needs and experience.

The W3C Web Services Policy Working Group invited implementers to  
demonstrate interoperability by evaluating software against the  
group's test suite. Ten implementations of Web Services Policy 1.5  
helped confirm the maturity of the specification. The tests focused  
on security assertions, one of the most important use cases cited by  
industry.

Another use case, addressing metadata, is the focus of W3C's WS- 
Addressing Working Group. The two W3C Working Groups have  
collaborated to ensure that the Addressing Metadata Specification is  
aligned with the policy framework.

The W3C Web Services Policy Working Group also secured review from  
several OASIS Web Services Technical Committees (UDDI, WS-RX, WS-TX,  
and WS-SX) to ensure that Web Services Policy 1.5 would satisfy their  
use cases.

Web Services Working Group Brings Together Industry Leaders

The Web Services Policy Working Group brings together leaders from  
across the software industry including Adobe Systems Inc; Axway  
Software; BEA Systems, Inc; CA; Fujitsu Limited; IBM; IONA  
Technologies, Inc.; JBoss Inc.; Layer 7 Technologies; Microsoft  
Corporation; Nokia; Nortel Networks; Oracle Corporation; SAP AG;  
Sonic Software; Sun Microsystems, Inc.; webMethods, Inc.; and WSO2.

Many of the group participants have made commitments to support the  
specification in products, as indicated by the testimonials.

Testimonials for WS-Policy 1.5

These testimonials are in support of W3C issuance of WS-Policy 1.5 as  
a W3C Recommendation.

In English: Axway Software | BEA Systems | IBM | JBoss/Red Hat |  
Microsoft Corporation | Nokia | Oracle | Software AG | Sun  
Microsystems, Inc.

In French: Axway Software

     As a leading global provider of collaborative business  
solutions, Axway is very pleased to see WS-Policy reaching the W3C  
recommendation status. WS-Policy was the missing link in B2B Web  
Services; we now have a standard way of describing and processing  
policies between partners. Our Synchrony 4.1 platform will embed this  
essential technology.
     -- Arnaud Meyniel, Web Services Product Manager, Axway Software

     BEA Systems is excited by the finalization of the  
standardization process of W3C-Policy 1.5. A key aspect of Service  
Oriented Architecture deployments is the description of the services,  
and WS-Policy can enhance service description and can represent a  
crucial building block for SOA and other related initiatives such as  
Service Component Architecture (SCA). BEA Systems was one of the  
first vendors to offer supported product implementation of WS-Policy,  
and BEA Systems plans to continue our early adoption strategy of key  
interoperability initiatives.
     -- David Orchard, Senior Technical Director, BEA Systems

     IBM is pleased to see Web Services Policy 1.5 Framework and  
Attachments specifications advance to Recommendation status.  
Customers deploying Web services based solutions with advanced  
quality of service characteristics (such as security) want to avoid  
the need for manual exchange of configuration information. The WS- 
Policy specifications facilitate interaction between producers and  
consumers of Web services within context of a Quality-of-Service  
policy. We supported the W3C in this effort by providing the WS- 
Policy Working Group co-chair, and a member of the Working Group  
editing team. IBM will offer support for these important standards in  
market leading products including WebSphere Application Server,  
Tivoli Federated Identity Manager and WebSphere DataPower SOA  
Appliances.
     -- Karla Norsworthy, Vice President, Software Standards, IBM

     JBoss/Red Hat is pleased to see Web Services leadership continue  
through the W3C with the announcement of the WS-Policy standard. WS- 
Policy is a critical component for the evolving Web Services  
architecture and a standard in this area has been lacking for several  
years. JBoss is happy to have been associated with the working group  
and W3C. We are already implementing WS-Policy in our flagship Web  
Services product line, JBossWS.
     -- Dr. Mark Little, Director of Standards, JBoss/Red Hat

     Microsoft Corporation is pleased to see Web Services Policy 1.5  
become a W3C Recommendation. As co-authors and implementers of the  
original Web Services Policy submission in 2006, Microsoft views the  
Recommendation as a fundamental part of the metadata foundation for  
interoperable Web services. Many Web services specifications such as  
WS-SecurityPolicy, WS-RMPolicy, WS-AtomicTransaction, WS-Addressing  
Metadata and WS-MTOM Policy use WS-Policy to enable automatic and  
flexible use of key features such as security, reliability,  
transaction, addressing and message optimization. Microsoft will  
continue its support of Web Services Policy by implementing the W3C  
Recommendation in the next version of its Web services-enabled  
products, including the forthcoming Windows Communication Foundation  
3.5.
     -- Andrew Layman, Partner Product Unit Manager, Microsoft  
Corporation

     As an active participant in the WS-Policy Working Group, Nokia  
is pleased to see the WS-Policy Framework and Attachment  
specifications become W3C Recommendations. We believe it is important  
to have open standards for obtaining policy information associated  
with a service and being able to determine policy compatibility  
between a client and service. To give one example, policy  
compatibility in security is important to Web Services. WS-Policy is  
a major step forward and we are supportive of the W3C and its effort  
to drive interoperable standards for Service Oriented Architecture.
     -- Frederick Hirsch, Senior Architect, Nokia

     Oracle is pleased to see WS-Policy progress to Recommendation  
status. By allowing interactions between Web components to be  
tailored at runtime based on declarative specifications, WS-Policy  
promotes flexibility and enhances compatibility. We congratulate W3C  
on achieving this important milestone toward the delivery of a  
complete Web Services Standards stack.
     -- Don Deutsch, Vice President Standards Strategy and  
Architecture, Oracle

     We are pleased to see the WS-Policy 1.5 Framework and Attachment  
specifications move forward as W3C Recommendations. WS-Policy is  
expected to serve as a key component in building the next generation  
of advanced SOA infrastructure. This will enable our customers to  
control and govern their enterprise-wide SOA landscapes more  
effectively. We are pleased to have served as the editor and as a key  
contributor to the specification, and we’re equally proud of the  
leadership role that we’ve taken in demonstrating support for WS- 
Policy within our leading, policy-based solutions for SOA governance.
     -- Dr. Peter Kürpick, President and Chief Product Officer,  
webMethods business line, Software AG

     Sun sees the promotion of Web Services Policy 1.5 -- Framework  
and Attachment as W3C Recommendations -- an important milestone for  
the web services community. WS-Policy functions are featured in Sun's  
open source Metro web services stack. Building on existing policy  
support, Metro will feature WS-Policy 1.5 functionality to enable  
interoperability with .NET 3.5. The advancement of these W3C  
specifications delivers on customer needs, which are key to critical  
technologies including Metro, Java(TM) Composite Application Platform  
Suite (CAPS), Open ESB and other Sun offerings.
     -- Thomas Kincaid, Director Engineering, Application Platforms,  
Sun Microsystems, Inc.

     Leader mondial des "Collaborative Business Solutions", Axway se  
réjouit que WS-Policy atteigne le statut de recommandation W3C. WS- 
Policy était le chaînon qui manquait aux services Web en  
environnement B2B ; nous possédons désormais un standard permettant  
d'exprimer et de traiter les modalités d'appels entre partenaires.  
Notre plate-forme Synchrony 4.1 incorporera cette technologie  
incontournable.
     -- Arnaud Meyniel, Chef de produit Services Web, Axway Software

Contact Americas, Australia --
     Janet Daly, <janet@w3.org>, +1.617.253.5884 or +1.617.253.2613
Contact Europe, Africa and the Middle East --
     Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94
Contact Asia --
     Yasuyuki Hirakawa <chibao@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170

About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium  
where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work  
together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission  
through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to  
ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 400 organizations are  
Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer  
Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the  
USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics  
(ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has  
additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http:// 
www.w3.org/

Received on Tuesday, 4 September 2007 14:11:26 UTC