WS-I Transitions to OASIS
Group Furthering Best Practices for Web Services Interoperability Continues Work as Part of International Open Standards Consortium
Wakefield, MA, USA; 22 July 2010 — Today the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I; http://www.ws-i.org) announced its decision to transition its assets, operations, and mission into a Member Section of OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards; http://www.oasis-open.org/). The transition is expected to take place over the next few months. The move comes after eight years during which WS-I championed Best Practices for Web services interoperability by developing a comprehensive set of Web services Profiles, Sample Applications and Testing Tools. Having reached its goals, WS-I recognizes the convergence in the missions of the two organizations and has selected OASIS to safeguard its accomplishments and advance its mission going forward. WS-I is an open industry organization chartered to establish and document Best Practices for Web services interoperability. OASIS is an international consortium that develops and maintains many widely adopted open standards including several that are used in WS-I Profiles, such as the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) and WS-Security. Since its founding in 2002, WS-I has worked closely with OASIS and other organizations that develop Web Services standards, integrating groups of selected standards and publishing best practices for applying them in the form of Profiles. OASIS will assume ownership and maintenance responsibility for these Profiles and will continue to make them available to the public. OASIS will also be responsible for any maintenance that the published Profiles and other materials may require in the future. “We’re proud of the work we’ve done, and our thanks go to the many, many individuals who put their skills, hard work and time at the service of WS-I,” said Steve Holbrook, Chair, WS-I Board of Directors. “WS-I and OASIS have had a long, mutually supportive relationship, during which time many WS-I member companies were also active in the development of OASIS standards. We look forward to working with OASIS – there’s no organization to which we’d rather entrust our legacy.” “The synergy and support between WS-I and OASIS has always been strong. We applaud WS-I for the key role it has played in advancing interoperability. We look forward not only to safeguarding their accomplishments but also to carrying forward their mission,” said Laurent Liscia, Executive Director of OASIS. “With WS-I’s transition to OASIS, our organization clearly becomes the one-stop shop for Web services.” An OASIS WS-I Member Section is being created to serve as a “home” for the WS-I work. OASIS Technical Committees will be formed to maintain the WS-I Basic Profile, Reliable Secure Profile, and Basic Security Profile, along with the associated Testing activity. In the future, the Member Section could grow to encompass new or existing Technical Committees that fit within its scope. The WS-I Profiles that have been adopted by the ISO will remain International Standards, subject to renewal and revision via established ISO procedures, and maintenance responsibility for them will be formally transferred from WS-I to OASIS. Current WS-I website content will be transferred to the OASIS site. About OASIS: OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of open standards for the global information society. OASIS promotes industry consensus and produces worldwide standards for the Smart Grid, security, Web services, XML conformance, business transactions, electronic publishing, and other applications. OASIS open standards offer the potential to lower cost, stimulate innovation, grow global markets, and protect the right of free choice of technology. OASIS members broadly represent the marketplace of public and private sector technology leaders, users and influencers. The consortium has more than 5,000 participants representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries: http://www.oasis-open.org About WS-I: The Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) is an open industry organization chartered to establish Best Practices for Web Services interoperability, for selected groups of Web Services standards, across platforms, operating systems and programming languages. WS-I comprises a diverse community of Web Services leaders from a wide range of companies and standards development organizations (SDOs). The WS-I committees and working groups create Profiles and supporting Testing Tools based on Best Practices for selected sets of Web Services standards. The Profiles and Testing Tools are available for use by the Web Services community to aid in developing and deploying interoperable Web Services. For more information, visit http://www.ws-i.org or send email to info@ws-i.org.