A conceptual architecture for semantic web services development and deployment

Several extensions of the Web Services Framework (WSF) have been proposed. The combination with Semantic Web technologies introduces a notion of semantics, which can enhance scalability through automation. Service composition to processes is an equally important issue. Ontology technology – the core of the Semantic Web – can be the central building block of an extension endeavour. We present a conceptual architecture for ontology-based Web service development and deployment. The development of service-based software systems within the WSF is gaining increasing importance. We show how ontologies can integrate models, languages, infrastructure, and activities within this architecture to support reuse and composition of semantic Web services

Integration via Meaning: Using the Semantic Web to deliver Web Services

Presented at the CRIS2002 Conference in Kassel.-- 9 pages.-- Contains: Conference paper (PDF) + PPT presentation.The major developments of the World Wide Web (WWW) in the last two years have been Web Services and the Semantic Web. The former allows the construction of distributed systems across the WWW by providing a lightweight middleware architecture. The latter provides an infrastructure for accessing resources on the WWW via their relationships with respect to conceptual descriptions. In this paper, I shall review the progress undertaken in each of these two areas. Further, I shall argue that in order for the aims of both the Semantic Web and the Web Services activities to be successful, then the Web Service architecture needs to be augmented by concepts and tools of the Semantic Web. This infrastructure will allow resource discovery, brokering and access to be enabled in a standardised, integrated and interoperable manner. Finally, I survey the CLRC Information Technology R&D programme to show how it is contributing to the development of this future infrastructure

Knowledge infrastructures for software service architectures

Software development has become a distributed, collaborative process based on the assembly of off-the-shelf and purpose-built components or services. The selection of software services from service repositories and their integration into software system architectures, but also the development of services for these repositories requires an accessible information infrastructure that allows the description and comparison of these services. General knowledge relating to software development is equally important in this context as knowledge concerning the application domain of the software. Both form two pillars on which the structural and behavioural properties of software services can be addressed. We investigate how this information space for software services can be organized. Focal point are ontologies that, in addition to the usual static view on knowledge, also intrinsically addresses the dynamics, i.e. the behaviour of software. We relate our discussion to the Web context, looking at the Web Services Framework and the Semantic Web as the knowledge representation framework

OntoWeaver S: supporting the design of knowledge portals

This paper presents OntoWeaver-S, an ontology-based infrastructure for building knowledge portals. In particular, OntoWeaver-S is integrated with a comprehensive web service platform, IRS-II, for the publication, discovery, and execution of web services. In this way, OntoWeaver-S supports the access and provision of remote web services for knowledge portals. Moreover, it provides a set of comprehensive site ontologies to model and represent knowledge portals, and thus is able to offer high level support for the design and development process. Finally, OntoWeaver-S provides a set of powerful tools to support knowledge portals at design time as well as at run time

A Report on the “MathBroker” Project for Brokering Mathematical Web Services?

We report on the past achievements and on the current status of a project on the development of a software framework for brokering mathematical services in the Web. The World Wide Web is currently evolving from an infrastructure for delivering static Web pages coded in HTML to an infrastructure for providing dynamic Web services that use XML as the common format for object data and metadata. These services communicate with clients (and other services) using the SOAP protocol [6], their interfaces are described in the Web Service Description Language WSDL [9], their behavior is described by semantic Web technologies like OWL-S [4], interface/behavior descriptions are stored in Web registries such as the one developed by the ebXML initiative [5] that can be queried by clients for lookup of appropriate services. While most Web developers focus on the use of Web service technologies for business applications, projects like our―MathBroker‖ project or the European MONET project [7] aim to support the area of computer mathematics where services provide functionality related to eg computer algebra or automate

MicroMAIS: executing and orchestrating Web services on constrained mobile devices

Mobile devices with their more and more powerful resources allow the development of mobile information systems in which services are not only provided by traditional systems but also autonomously executed and controlled in the mobile devices themselves. Services distributed on autonomous mobile devices allow both the development of cooperative applications without a back-end infrastructure and the development of applications blending distributed and centralized services. In this paper, we propose MicroMAIS: an integrated platform for supporting the execution of Web service-based applications natively on a mobile device. The MicroMAIS platform is composed of mAS and μ-BPEL. The former allows the execution of a single Web service, whereas the latter permits the orchestration of several Web services according to the WS-BPEL standard

HepForge: A lightweight development environment for HEP software

Setting up the infrastructure to manage a software project can become a task as significant writing the software itself. A variety of useful open source tools are available, such as Web-based viewers for version control systems, "wikis" for collaborative discussions and bug-tracking systems, but their use in high-energy physics, outside large collaborations, is insubstantial. Understandably, physicists would rather do physics than configure project management tools. We introduce the CEDAR HepForge system, which provides a lightweight development environment for HEP software. Services available as part of HepForge include the above-mentioned tools as well as mailing lists, shell accounts, archiving of releases and low-maintenance Web space. HepForge also exists to promote best-practice software development methods and to provide a central repository for re-usable HEP software and phenomenology codes.Comment: 3 pages, 0 figures. To be published in proceedings of CHEP06. Refers to the HepForge facility at http://hepforge.cedar.ac.u

From service-oriented architecture to service-oriented enterprise

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) was originally motivated by enterprise demands for better business-technology alignment and higher flexibility and reuse. SOA evolved from an initial set of ideas and principles to Web services (WS) standards now widely accepted by industry. The next phase of SOA development is concerned with a scalable, reliable and secure infrastructure based on these standards, and guidelines, methods and techniques for developing and maintaining service delivery in dynamic enterprise settings. In this paper we discuss the principles and main elements of SOA. We then present an overview of WS standards. And finally we come back to the original motivation for SOA, and how these can be realized

The CIARD RING, an infrastructure for interoperability of agricultural research information services

Creating integrated information services in agriculture giving access and adding value to information residing in distributed sources remains a major challenge. In distributed architectures, value added services by definition interface several information sources / services. Therefore value added services cannot be built without an awareness of what others have done: which sources are available, how to tap into them, how to exploit their semantics. The Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD) Routemap to Information Nodes and Gateways (RING) is a portal offering an interlinked registry of existing information services in agriculture. The CIARD RING covers both information services and sources: in nowadays information architectures, the distinction between the two is very fluid. In the RING, the definition of "service" includes any form of providing information from one server instance (website, mail server, web services, XML archive...) to many clients (browsers, email clients, news readers, harvesters...) The services registered in the RING are described in details and categorized according to criteria that are relevant to the use of the service and its interoperability. The RING categorizes and interlinks the featured services according to criteria such as: standards adopted, vocabulary used, technology used, protocols implemented, level of interoperability etc. In addition, it features detailed instructions on how the registered services can be "interoperated". The vision is that the RING will become the common global technical platform for the community of agricultural information professionals for accessing, sharing and exchanging information through web services. This paper describes how the RING provides an infrastructure for enhancing interoperability of information sources and thus paves the way towards better accessibility of information through value-added and better targeted services