Addressing Orchestration

Hi everyone,

Since I just joined the WSA WG, I thought of warming up for the task by
asking a question prompted by the recent publication of the WSCI
spec(http://wwws.sun.com/software/xml/developers/wsci/).

It looks like Orchestration/Choreography/Workflow proposals relevant to Web
Services are proliferating in the industry. The ones that come to my mind
are IBM's WSFL, Microsoft's XLANG, BPMI's BPML, ebXML's BPSS, HP's WSCL, and
now WSCI.

My hope is that clarity will soon be made in this important area(s) of Web
Services utilization. As usual, lack of clarity increases the risks of slow
adoption of, or resistance to, Web Services technologies in many parts of
the industry.

I wonder if WSA could play a role in this area, at least from the point of
view of establishing a conceptual and architectural framework within which
the various proposals can be positioned, discussed, compared and selected.
(Please understand that I am not talking about discussing specific proposals
and/or establishing profiles, a role which is already being played by other
organizations, e.g. WS-I).

I looked at the Requirements document and it does not seem to mention
Orchestration or use any similar word. Browsing through the archives of this
WG, I see that the subject of Orchestration has been raised a few times in
the past, but my impression is that no final decision was reached regarding
whether or how to address it. If that is the case, the recent publication of
yet another Orchestration spec could be the opportunity for the WG to put a
stake in the ground in this particular area.

Regards,
Ugo


Dr. Ugo Corda
Standards and Product Strategies
SeeBeyond Technology Corporation
404 E. Huntington Dr., Monrovia, CA 91016
(626) 471-6045 -- phone
(626) 353-4851 -- cell
(626) 471-6021 -- fax