Web Services: Theory and Practice

This is a soup-to-nuts reference guide on all aspects of Web Services - where Web Services is a fast emerging set of Internet-specific middleware technology to further promote the growth of all aspects of e-business via standardization, collaboration and "franchising." This book is best characterized as an executive brief for IT and senior management rather than a nuts-and-bolts technical guide for portal implementers. Think of it as the "Cliffs Notes on Web Services." Given this audience, the book consistently focuses on business needs, value propositions, ROI, proven solutions and actual examples of current implementations. Each chapter also ends with a 10-item "Q&A" section that consolidates and summarizes the information discussed in the chapter. The book is illustrated with detailed technical diagrams, includes lots of arresting subtitles and contains many bullet lists and tables to facilitate (and encourage) productive skimming.Decision makers - the intended readership for this book - gain increasing comfort and confidence as they get into the book that they are getting to see all facets of the issues, on a consistent basis, and that they will not be blind-sided at meetings by people asking 'difficult' questions. At the end of each chapter, Guruge summarizes and reinforces key points, allowing the reader to skim through the topics for crucial information. The book also leverages living outside resources and ensures that the readership always has ready and consistent access to any and all terms, definitions and concepts they might not be familiar with."Debate style" presentation, focusing repeatedly on pros-and-cons, e.g., .NET vs. Java, open vs. proprietary and buy vs. buildAuthor's trademark detailed architectural and network diagrams of portal implementationsQ&A section at end of each chapter

About the Author

Anura Gurugé is an independent technical consultant who specializes in all aspects of contemporary networking, corporate portals and Web services - particularly if they involve IBM host systems. He has first hand, in-depth experience in Web-to-host, SNA, Frame Relay, Token-Ring switching and ATM. He was the founder and Chairman of the SNA-Capable i·net Forum in 1997. He also teaches graduate and post-graduate computer technology and marketing at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) - Laconia/Gilford and Portsmouth campuses. He is the author of Corporate Portals Empowered with XML and Web Services (Dgtl Press, 2002). In addition, he has published over 320 articles. In a career spanning 29 years, he has held senior technical and marketing roles in IBM, ITT, Northern Telecom, Wang and BBN. His Web sites are: www.inet-guru.com and www.wownh.com.