REDMOND, Wash., and ARMONK, N.Y., Dec. 18, 2002 — Microsoft Corp. and IBM Corp., along with BEA Systems Inc., RSA Security Inc., SAP AG and VeriSign Inc., today announced the publication of a new set of advanced Web services specifications to help businesses share information securely between applications and organizations in a standard way.
Using broadly accepted standards and specifications around Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), security, transactions and discovery, the new specifications represent the next step in delivering a comprehensive model of advanced Web services capabilities that integrate currently available technologies with the evolving requirements of emerging applications.
IBM, Microsoft and industry partners are now delivering against a previously announced road map with six new specifications. Providing a framework that is extensible and flexible and maximizes existing investments in a Web services infrastructure, these new specifications make it easier to apply business policy and implement security for a wider range of applications.
The specifications fall into two key groups. The first helps address key technical concerns in the area of security and build on the work outlined in Microsoft and IBMs co-authored road map,
“Security in a Web Services World.”
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WS-Trust describes a framework for managing, establishing and assessing trust relationships to enable Web services to securely interoperate. Authors: IBM, Microsoft, RSA Security and VeriSign
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WS-SecureConversation describes a framework to establish a secure context for parties that want to exchange multiple messages. Authors: IBM, Microsoft, RSA Security and VeriSign
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WS-SecurityPolicy describes general security policies that can be associated with a service. Authors: IBM, Microsoft, RSA Security and VeriSign
The second group focuses on streamlining the implementation of business policies in a Web services environment:
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WS-Policy outlines a way for senders and receivers of Web services to communicate their requirements and capabilities, which enables them to search for and discover the information they need to access the service. Authors: BEA, IBM, Microsoft and SAP
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WS-PolicyAttachment provides a standard mechanism for attaching the requirement and capability statements to the Web service. Authors: BEA, IBM, Microsoft and SAP
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WS-PolicyAssertions describes general policies that can be affiliated with a service. Authors: BEA, IBM, Microsoft and SAP
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