REDMOND, Wash., May 2, 2001 — The Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) project today announced that its global Business Registry is fully operational, marking the successful completion of live beta testing. Now supporting production-class operations, the UDDI public Business Registry is a cornerstone of Web services architecture because it enables businesses to register and discover Web services via the Internet. The launch is a milestone for the fast-growing UDDI project, which has expanded from an initial 36 companies in September 2000 to more than 260 community members today.
The UDDI Business Registry is a global, public, online directory that gives businesses a uniform way to describe their services, discover other companies’ services, and understand the methods necessary to conduct e-business with a particular company. A key element of the infrastructure that makes Web services a reality, the UDDI Business Registry is an implementation of the UDDI version 1 specification, which is available at http://www.uddi.org/ .
“UDDI is an important component in helping e-businesses fully exploit the advantages of Web services,”
said Chris Kurt, general program manager for UDDI.org.
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For the past several months, early adopters in the UDDI beta test have been able to experiment with this online directory for registering business services, identifying new partners and learning which technical specifications are needed to communicate with a partner’s system. With version 1 now fully operational, the UDDI’s global Business Registry is ready to help even more businesses, regardless of size, position their products and offerings as Web services. The need for universal interoperability for B2B transactions is driving the adoption of UDDI. Companies of all sizes can register themselves on UDDI to gain exposure to other e-businesses looking for specific B2B relationships.
New Registry Operator
Building on the UDDI momentum, Hewlett-Packard Co. has signed an agreement to become a UDDI Business Registry operator, along with IBM Corp. and Microsoft Corp. The existence of multiple operators helps ensure that global registry information is always available and accessible to all users everywhere. Hewlett-Packard expects to go live as an operator by the end of the year.
“By becoming a UDDI Business Registry operator, Hewlett-Packard is teaming with other industry leaders, such as Microsoft and IBM, to provide viable working implementations of specifications for an open, ubiquitous service discovery process,”
said Bill Russell, vice president, Hewlett-Packard Software Solutions Organization.
“Hewlett-Packard is serious about software innovation today so that future business processes are based on recognized industry standards that can be easily integrated with UDDI and deliver enhanced customer value using the Web.”
UDDI Futures
The UDDI Community continues to work on enhanced versions of the UDDI specification. The version 2 specification is nearing completion: It is in review by the UDDI Community and should be made public within the next 60 days. The growth of the UDDI Community benefits the scope and maturity of the UDDI specifications.
About UDDI
UDDI is a community of more than 260 business and technology leaders committed to the acceleration and broadening of business-to-business (B2B) integration and commerce through the Internet. The UDDI specification uses XML to provide businesses with a uniform way to describe their services, discover other companies’ services, and understand the methods necessary to conduct e-business with a particular company. The UDDI Community expects to turn the UDDI specification over to a standards organization after the next two versions are released. More information about the UDDI project can be obtained at http://www.uddi.org/ or from Chris Kurt, UDDI general program manager, at [email protected]/.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
For more information, press only:
Tim Breuer, IBM, (914) 766-1171, [email protected]
Shirley Quastler, HP Public Relations, (408) 447-6174, [email protected]
Michelle Hinrichs or Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom for Microsoft, (503) 443-7000, [email protected]
