A broker architecture for integrating data using a web services environment

The web service protocol stack provides capabilities for loosely integrating software services but does not provide the higher level support needed for rapid evolution. An experimental system is described for integrating the data from autonomous organizations within the UK health service domain. The results of this experiment have confirmed the need for an integration layer on top of the web service stack to provide the required higher level functionality. In this paper, we summarise our progress to date, and highlight several key research issues of general concern to the web services field, which have emerged from our prototype system. These are set in a general context of providing better ways to provide a service-based model to IT users