REDMOND, Wash., Aug. 26, 2002 — Taking the next step to enable advanced Web services capabilities, Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of the technical preview for the Microsoft®
Web Services Development Kit (WSDK), which provides the tools developers need to build advanced Web services applications using the latest Web services specifications, such as WS-Security, WS-Routing and WS-Attachments.
Available for free* download on the MSDN® developer program Web site, the Microsoft WSDK makes it easy for developers to write and implement advanced Web services specifications by enhancing Visual Studio®
.NET and the Microsoft .NET Framework. For example, with the WSDK, a Visual Studio .NET developer can now simply add a few lines of code to an existing Web service application to add support for WS-Security-compliant digital signatures or encryption.
“With Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework, Microsoft continues to lead the industry by delivering the tools to make Web services real for millions of developers,”
said Eric Rudder, senior vice president of the Developer and Platform Evangelism Division at Microsoft.
“The Web Services Development Kit embarks on the next phase of Web services, expanding the experience of Visual Studio and .NET Framework developers, and enabling enterprises to quickly and easily connect their systems with partners, customers and suppliers using advanced Web services scenarios.”
The WSDK incorporates Microsoft’s recent work with industry customers and partners to develop Web services specifications beyond XML and SOAP, such as WS-Security, that address the core challenges of Web services in a way that is broadly interoperable across heterogeneous systems. In addition, the specifications are designed to be modular so developers using Microsoft’s WSDK can incorporate a specific specification functionality, on an as-needed basis, into the different levels of their Web services applications. The core features included in the technology preview of the Microsoft WSDK include these:
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Security. Ability to help secure XML Web services across platforms and trust domains, including digital signing and encryption of SOAP messages that are compliant with the WS-Security specification. Jointly introduced by Microsoft, IBM Corp. and VeriSign Inc. in April 2002 and submitted to OASIS in June, WS-Security is one of the first Web services standards to support, integrate and unify multiple security models, mechanisms and technologies, allowing a variety of systems to interoperate in a platform- and language-neutral manner.
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Routing. Ability to route an XML Web service through intermediaries using the WS-Routing specification, which describes how to place message addresses in the SOAP message header and enables SOAP messages to travel serially to multiple destinations along a message path. The route a SOAP message takes to an XML Web service can be transparently delegated among Web servers.
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Attachments. Communication between XML Web services can contain attachments that are not serialized into XML. The WSDK provides the ability to add attachments to SOAP messages following the WS-Attachments specification, jointly submitted with IBM to the IETF in July 2002.
The free* download and more information on the Microsoft WSDK are available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/building/wsdk/ .
System Requirements
Operating system: Microsoft Windows®
2000 Server or Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Processor: Pentium 233 MHz minimum; Pentium 300 MHz or faster recommended
RAM: 64 MB minimum; 128 MB or higher recommended
Additional software: Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0 and Microsoft .NET Framework SDK version 1.0 with Service Pack 2 or later
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
* Connect-time charges may apply.
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