Boston, MA, USA; 22 October 2001 -- OASIS, the XML interoperability consortium, today announced its members have formed the OASIS Web Services Component Model (WSCM) Technical Committee to create a Web services standard for interactive application access. WSCM will provide a coordinated set of XML vocabularies and Web services interfaces that allow companies to deliver Web applications to end users through a variety of channels--directly to a browser, indirectly through a portal or embedded into a third party Web application.

"Right now, there is no industry standard mechanism for packaging the display component of a Web service," explained Charles Wiecha of IBM, chair of the new OASIS WSCM Technical Committee. "WSCM will enable any Web application--a package tracker, a calendar application, a stock quote, anything--to be delivered and displayed to an end user as a Web service, regardless of the underlying Web platform, vendor-specific application format or display device."

With WSCM, companies will be free to syndicate their applications across different portals and Web site platforms without being limited by proprietary products. They will be able to dynamically share Web services without the time and labor of creating multiple vendor-specific connectors written to different Web languages such as Java, COM/.Net and Perl.

Wiecha emphasized that WSCM will be developed in light of standards and specifications issued by OASIS, UN/CEFACT, ISO, W3C and other relevant standards bodies. "We aren't trying to reinvent the Web presentation layer. Our goal is to harmonize WSCM as far as practical with existing Web application programming models (e.g., Portals), the work of the W3C (e.g., XForms, DOM, XML Events, XPath, XLink, XML Component API task force), emerging Web services standards (e.g., SOAP, WSDL, WSFL) and with the work of other appropriate business information bodies."

In the interest of convergence, the OASIS WSCM Technical Committee will consider contributions of related work from other groups and companies. The Web Services User Interface (WSUI), an initiative proposed by a working group of software providers earlier this year, plans to submit their specification to the new OASIS technical committee.

"From WSUI's inception, the goal was to submit our work to a major standards body," said Ed Anuff, chief strategy officer of Epicentric, one of the major WUSI contributors. "We chose OASIS because its members include some of the largest, most influential developers in the industry. That level of support is critical for widespread adoption."

"The nascent stage of Web services requires nurturing not just in terms of commercial credibility but also in terms of usable standards," said Tyler McDaniel, Director of Application Strategies at Hurwitz Group. "This concerted effort by OASIS, leveraging the work of WSUI.Org, will help the market address a key issue of presenting Web services throughout the Internet ecosystem. With strong vendor leadership, focused through OASIS, enterprises should get the benefit of a thorough specification."

IBM intends to contribute Web Services Experience Language (WSXL), a Web services-centric component model for interactive Web applications, as work to be considered in the OASIS WSCM Technical Committee. The WSXL reference document can be found on IBM's developerWorks site at http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/ws-wsxl/index.html.

"IBM is pleased to contribute WSXL to be considered as part of WSCM," said Bob Sutor, director of e-business standards strategy at IBM. "As an XML and Web services-centric component model for interactive Web applications, WSCM will enable businesses to more easily distribute those interactive Web applications through multiple channels. It will also help create new ones by leveraging existing resources across the Web. IBM is a longtime supporter of OASIS, and we're very happy to have the opportunity to chair the OASIS WSCM Technical Committee."

"Much of the work around Web services is focused on giving developers tools to access remote application functions over the Internet," noted Karl Best, OASIS director of technical operations. "The OASIS WSCM Technical Committee aims to make those services accessible to the end user. We invite all who would be affected by this standard to participate in our work."

Initial members of the OASIS WSCM Technical Committee include Cyclone Commerce, DataChannel, Documentum, Epicentric, Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM, Logistics Management Institute, Macromedia, Sterling Commerce, U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), and other OASIS Contributors and Individual members. Participation is open to all OASIS members; interested parties will find information on joining OASIS at http://www.oasis-open.org/join.

OASIS will host an open mail list, wscm-comment@lists.oasis-open.org, for public comment on WSCM. Completed work will be freely available to the public without licensing or other fees.

Industry Support for WSCM

"DataChannel has been a leader in advancing XML-based technologies since our company's inception in 1996," said Norbert Mikula, Chief Technology Strategist of DataChannel and Vice Chairman of the Oasis Board of Directors. "In 1998 we submitted WebBroker to the W3C, followed by a co-submission of the WSDL specification. DataChannel also co-authored the technical architecture for ebXML and UDDI, just to name a few. Today's announcement underscores our commitment to providing our customers with the best technology innovations to enable wide-scale collaboration across the Interactive Enterprise™. We look forward to working with IBM and other members of the OASIS WSCM to advance this important technology specification that will have a significant impact on the Internet and the enterprise portal market."

"Web services are integral to Documentum's vision of the next generation of content management," said Una Kearns, XML architect for Documentum and member of the board of directors for OASIS. "They will enable Documentum to incorporate content management capabilities across applications and deliver them through a variety of channels - reducing the total cost and time necessary to integrate and deploy web and portal infrastructures. Standardizing the packaging and delivery of Web services is essential, and we are delighted to work with our partners and other industry leaders, under OASIS, to complete this important area of work."

"The interoperability and portability of XML-enabled software solutions is critical in customer environments," said Jack Walicki, general manager, Web services operations for HP. "HP is pleased to join with other OASIS members in creating a component model for interactive web applications that can be used by the ever-growing XML community. HP's Netaction software suite, including the HP Netaction Internet Operating Environment, will be able to provide an even more flexible interface through the WSCM specifications."

"As Web services become increasingly more relevant to the Web development community, Macromedia looks forward to contributing our knowlege in these areas to help build the most compelling and re-usable user interfaces online," said Simeon Simeonov, Chief Architect, Macromedia. "Macromedia has a long history of supporting Web standards, and that continues with our support of WSCM as an open and presentation-independent standard."

"Sabre sees XML and Web services as critical components in the future of online travel services and is committed to open interoperability standards and a services-based application architecture." said Eric Garcia, a vice president for Strategic Architecture at Sabre. "We look forward to the results of this technical committee and anticipate that their enabling and harmonization efforts will promote the rapid implementation of value added Web services."

"OASIS is well-positioned to make substantive contributions to this significant area of Web and electronic business technology. This should facilitate the development and use of standards, based on XML, that enhance interoperability," said Jerry Smith, U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA).

About OASIS
OASIS (http://www.oasis-open.org) is the XML interoperability consortium, advancing collaboration, convergence and adoption of open specifications for structured information exchange. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. OASIS is the home for web services, XML conformance, security, business transactions, electronic publishing, topic maps and other interoperability specifications development.

OASIS and the United Nations jointly sponsor ebXML, a global framework for electronic business data exchange. OASIS operates XML.org, a community clearinghouse for XML application schemas, vocabularies and related documents. OASIS hosts The XML Cover Pages, an online reference collection for interoperable markup language standards.

OASIS has more than 400 corporate and individual members in 100 countries around the world. OASIS sponsors include Accenture, Access360, Adobe Systems, Agital, Altova, Arbortext, Auto-trol, Aventail, Baltimore Technologies, BEA Systems, Bentley Systems, The Boeing Company, Bowstreet, Business Logic Corporation, Chrystal Software, Cincom Systems, Citrix Systems, Cohesia, Commerce One, Critical Path, CrossLogix, Cyclone Commerce, DataChannel, Divine, Documentum, EADS Airbus SA, EDS, election.com, empolis, Engage, Enigma, Epicentric, Excelergy, eXcelon, Extricity, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Identrus, Infoteria, Innodata, Intel, Interwoven, IONA, IPNet Solutions, ITEDO, Ivis Group, Jamcracker, Logistics Management Institute, Macromedia, Mercator, Microsoft, Neocore, Netegrity, Netscape/AOL, NextPage, NII Enterprise Promotion Association, Nimble Technology, NIST, Novell, Oblix, OpenNetwork Technologies, Oracle, Pearson Education, Popkin Software, Republica, Reuters Limited, SAA Consultants, Sabre, SAP, Securant, SeeBeyond, Silverstream, SoftQuad Software, Software AG, Sterling Commerce, StreamServe, Sun Microsystems, Sybase, Tata Consultancy Services, The Tamalpais Group, Thomas Technology Solutions, Tibco, Unisys, US Defense Information Systems Agency, Verticalnet, Virtual Access Networks, Vitria, webMethods, Whitehill Technologies, Xerox, XML Global and Xyvision Enterprise Solutions.

For more information:
Carol Geyer
Director of Communications
OASIS
carol.geyer@oasis-open.org
+1.978.667.5115 x209