Interface Standard for Web Services (WSUI)

Epicentric and Industry Leaders to Define First User Interface Standard for Web Services

Documentum, Intraspect, Jamcracker, NewsEdge, Securant, and Yellowbrix Join Forces to Develop Web Services User Interface (WSUI) Standard

San Francisco, CA, USA. June 28, 2001.

Epicentric Inc., the leading provider of Business Portal solutions, today announced it is joining with a group of industry leaders to create the first vendor-neutral standard for delivering and displaying Web services to end users as Web applications. The Web Services User Interface Standard, or WSUI Standard, allows end users to access and interact with XML and SOAP based Web services as Web applications, regardless of the underlying Web platform or vendor-specific application format. The WSUI initiative offers vendors, customers and developers the ability to develop and dynamically share Web applications without the time and labor of creating multiple vendor-specific connectors written to different Web languages such as Java, COM/.Net, and Perl. As the first standard user interface of its kind, the WSUI specification is intended to accelerate the deployment of Web services for use in portals. By exposing their applications as WSUI components, application vendors can dynamically plug their application into any portal platform running a WSUI container, decreasing vendor lock-in and increasing customer choice.

"Since 1998, Epicentric's portal products have been responsible for powering many of the most successful business portals for the enterprise and the Internet, and we are glad to be able to contribute our expertise by leading the effort to create an industry-wide open standard for a Web service user interface," said Ed Anuff, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Epicentric. "Epicentric's customers and business partners desire the freedom to syndicate their applications across different portals and Web site platforms without the limitations of vendor lock-in. The WSUI standard offers them the ability to freely share Web services with a quicker time to market and a greater flexibility and interoperability between different software infrastructures."

The WSUI specification enables any Web application such as a package tracker, a calendar application or a stock quote to be delivered and displayed to an end user as a Web service. Until WSUI there has been no standard mechanism for packaging the display component of a Web service. WSUI leverages open standards including XML, SOAP, WSDL, XPATH, XSLT, XHTML and other standard XML-based technologies. It was constructed to be easily implemented by any programmer with XML and server-side Web skills. And because it can be implemented entirely using server-to-server-to-client using XML messaging and thin-client XHTML to the client, there are no browser dependencies and no issues with JavaScript fragility or ActiveX support.

"The Documentum platform provides a best-of-breed solution for content management," said Howard Shao, Documentum's founder and executive vice president. "Documentum is completely committed to delivering our extensive Content Management services as Web Services. A standard model for developing User Interfaces on top the Web Services platform will be important for rapid deployment of applications. Documentum is delighted to support WSUI, and work towards an open-standard that will enable customers to easily integrate our services into their Enterprise Portals."

"In the 12 years that NewsEdge has serviced the Business Week 1000, we've keyed into what corporations want from their partners. Clearly, they want powerful, simple solutions based on industry standards and cooperation," said Cliff Pollan, president and CEO of NewsEdge Corporation, Epicentric's premier syndicated content partner for its Contextual Interaction Platform initiative.

"As a major proponent of standards-based security, Securant is eager to support standards that enable interoperability such as WSUI," said Eric Olden, chief technology officer, Securant Technologies. "ClearTrust provides a best-of-breed solution for Web access control, and we hope that the WSUI effort will better enable customers to easily integrate our services into their portal and Web site platforms using industry standards."

"Jamcracker is proud to be part of this important effort to develop open standards for Web services," said Todd Johnson, Jamcracker's vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "As a leading provider of a platform and delivery model for a flexible, broad set of Web services, we believe the WSUI effort will help accelerate the range and accessibility of Web services for end-users worldwide."

"Intraspect is committed to creating a vendor-neutral standard that streamlines the syndication of applications across the Web. By describing our applications as Web services our customers and partners can easily snap our services in at runtime," said Bob Schoettle, Intraspect's vice president of Marketing. "As the leading vendor of c-business solutions we believe it is critical to provide customers with the choice to use any delivery platform including business portals and application server platforms."

"YellowBrix is committed to helping businesses make the most of technologies created by the Internet. Participating in the WSUI working group furthers this goal by accelerating rapid deployment of information solutions and product upgrades," said Andree Buckley, vice president of Product Development/Marketing for YellowBrix, a leading provider in contextual content solutions. "By creating an industry standard, this working group will make it easier for businesses who look to us for help with their expanded enterprise information portals, integrating our content infrastructure solutions and improving the services they deploy to their clients, vendors and employees."

Formed by Epicentric, the WSUI Working Group will develop the specification and expects to release the initial specification and a reference implementation for review by the Web services community in late 2001. WSUI welcomes the support of all companies and individuals interested in influencing the direction and future of Web service application standards. For more information on how to participate in WSUI and to view the technical specifications please visit www.wsui.org.

About Epicentric, Inc.

Epicentric, Inc. is the leading provider of next generation portal solutions for building networked business communities. Epicentric's portal platform enables Global 2000 companies to deliver integrated Web services, including commerce, applications and content, to their customers, partners and employees. Founded in 1998, Epicentric, Inc. has provided Internet business solutions for customers such as General Electric, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Lockheed Martin, U.S. Postal Service, Hartford Life, Autodesk, Altra Energy Technologies, Inc., ChemConnect, Motorola, Inc. and Scotiabank Group. Epicentric partners include Exodus Communications. Inc., iXL, Loudcloud, Inc. and McKessonHBOC. Epicentric, Inc. is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and Washington D.C. International operations include offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. Investors include Bowman Capital Management, LLC; Putnam Investments; Capital Research and Management Company; Chase H&Q's Access Technology Partners, L.P.; J.P. Morgan; Sandler Capital Management; US Bancorp Piper Jaffray; Autodesk; Dain Rauscher Wessels; Essex Investment Management Company, LLC; Reuters Greenhouse Fund; Motorola Ventures; e-Scotia Acquisition Inc. For more information visit the company's website at www.epicentric.com.

Contact:

Epicentric, Inc.
Colleen Nichols
+1 415/597-8374
cnichols@epicentric.com

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See the discussion and references.

SEARCH Advanced Search ABOUT Site Map CP RSS Channel Contact Us Sponsoring CP About Our Sponsors NEWS Cover Stories Articles & Papers Press Releases CORE STANDARDS XML SGML Schemas XSL/XSLT/XPath XLink XML Query CSS SVG TECHNOLOGY REPORTS XML Applications General Apps Government Apps Academic Apps EVENTS LIBRARY Introductions FAQs Bibliography Technology and Society Semantics Tech Topics Software Related Standards Historic	Interface Standard for Web Services (WSUI) Epicentric and Industry Leaders to Define First User Interface Standard for Web Services Documentum, Intraspect, Jamcracker, NewsEdge, Securant, and Yellowbrix Join Forces to Develop Web Services User Interface (WSUI) Standard San Francisco, CA, USA. June 28, 2001. Epicentric Inc., the leading provider of Business Portal solutions, today announced it is joining with a group of industry leaders to create the first vendor-neutral standard for delivering and displaying Web services to end users as Web applications. The Web Services User Interface Standard, or WSUI Standard, allows end users to access and interact with XML and SOAP based Web services as Web applications, regardless of the underlying Web platform or vendor-specific application format. The WSUI initiative offers vendors, customers and developers the ability to develop and dynamically share Web applications without the time and labor of creating multiple vendor-specific connectors written to different Web languages such as Java, COM/.Net, and Perl. As the first standard user interface of its kind, the WSUI specification is intended to accelerate the deployment of Web services for use in portals. By exposing their applications as WSUI components, application vendors can dynamically plug their application into any portal platform running a WSUI container, decreasing vendor lock-in and increasing customer choice. "Since 1998, Epicentric's portal products have been responsible for powering many of the most successful business portals for the enterprise and the Internet, and we are glad to be able to contribute our expertise by leading the effort to create an industry-wide open standard for a Web service user interface," said Ed Anuff, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Epicentric. "Epicentric's customers and business partners desire the freedom to syndicate their applications across different portals and Web site platforms without the limitations of vendor lock-in. The WSUI standard offers them the ability to freely share Web services with a quicker time to market and a greater flexibility and interoperability between different software infrastructures." The WSUI specification enables any Web application such as a package tracker, a calendar application or a stock quote to be delivered and displayed to an end user as a Web service. Until WSUI there has been no standard mechanism for packaging the display component of a Web service. WSUI leverages open standards including XML, SOAP, WSDL, XPATH, XSLT, XHTML and other standard XML-based technologies. It was constructed to be easily implemented by any programmer with XML and server-side Web skills. And because it can be implemented entirely using server-to-server-to-client using XML messaging and thin-client XHTML to the client, there are no browser dependencies and no issues with JavaScript fragility or ActiveX support. "The Documentum platform provides a best-of-breed solution for content management," said Howard Shao, Documentum's founder and executive vice president. "Documentum is completely committed to delivering our extensive Content Management services as Web Services. A standard model for developing User Interfaces on top the Web Services platform will be important for rapid deployment of applications. Documentum is delighted to support WSUI, and work towards an open-standard that will enable customers to easily integrate our services into their Enterprise Portals." "In the 12 years that NewsEdge has serviced the Business Week 1000, we've keyed into what corporations want from their partners. Clearly, they want powerful, simple solutions based on industry standards and cooperation," said Cliff Pollan, president and CEO of NewsEdge Corporation, Epicentric's premier syndicated content partner for its Contextual Interaction Platform initiative. "As a major proponent of standards-based security, Securant is eager to support standards that enable interoperability such as WSUI," said Eric Olden, chief technology officer, Securant Technologies. "ClearTrust provides a best-of-breed solution for Web access control, and we hope that the WSUI effort will better enable customers to easily integrate our services into their portal and Web site platforms using industry standards." "Jamcracker is proud to be part of this important effort to develop open standards for Web services," said Todd Johnson, Jamcracker's vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "As a leading provider of a platform and delivery model for a flexible, broad set of Web services, we believe the WSUI effort will help accelerate the range and accessibility of Web services for end-users worldwide." "Intraspect is committed to creating a vendor-neutral standard that streamlines the syndication of applications across the Web. By describing our applications as Web services our customers and partners can easily snap our services in at runtime," said Bob Schoettle, Intraspect's vice president of Marketing. "As the leading vendor of c-business solutions we believe it is critical to provide customers with the choice to use any delivery platform including business portals and application server platforms." "YellowBrix is committed to helping businesses make the most of technologies created by the Internet. Participating in the WSUI working group furthers this goal by accelerating rapid deployment of information solutions and product upgrades," said Andree Buckley, vice president of Product Development/Marketing for YellowBrix, a leading provider in contextual content solutions. "By creating an industry standard, this working group will make it easier for businesses who look to us for help with their expanded enterprise information portals, integrating our content infrastructure solutions and improving the services they deploy to their clients, vendors and employees." Formed by Epicentric, the WSUI Working Group will develop the specification and expects to release the initial specification and a reference implementation for review by the Web services community in late 2001. WSUI welcomes the support of all companies and individuals interested in influencing the direction and future of Web service application standards. For more information on how to participate in WSUI and to view the technical specifications please visit www.wsui.org. About Epicentric, Inc. Epicentric, Inc. is the leading provider of next generation portal solutions for building networked business communities. Epicentric's portal platform enables Global 2000 companies to deliver integrated Web services, including commerce, applications and content, to their customers, partners and employees. Founded in 1998, Epicentric, Inc. has provided Internet business solutions for customers such as General Electric, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Lockheed Martin, U.S. Postal Service, Hartford Life, Autodesk, Altra Energy Technologies, Inc., ChemConnect, Motorola, Inc. and Scotiabank Group. Epicentric partners include Exodus Communications. Inc., iXL, Loudcloud, Inc. and McKessonHBOC. Epicentric, Inc. is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and Washington D.C. International operations include offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. Investors include Bowman Capital Management, LLC; Putnam Investments; Capital Research and Management Company; Chase H&Q's Access Technology Partners, L.P.; J.P. Morgan; Sandler Capital Management; US Bancorp Piper Jaffray; Autodesk; Dain Rauscher Wessels; Essex Investment Management Company, LLC; Reuters Greenhouse Fund; Motorola Ventures; e-Scotia Acquisition Inc. For more information visit the company's website at www.epicentric.com. Contact: Epicentric, Inc. Colleen Nichols +1 415/597-8374 cnichols@epicentric.com Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See the discussion and references.