Derivative Trading Systems Ltd is working on providing its vast database of historical financial data via web services and is currently working on the architecture to deliver this exciting new solution to its client in the near future.
This solution will be of particular interest to web developers and solution providers working in the financial services sector.
The term Web services describes a standardized way of integrating Web-based applications using the XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI open standards over an Internet protocol backbone. XML is used to tag the data, SOAP is used to transfer the data, WSDL is used for describing the services available and UDDI is used for listing what services are available. Used primarily as a means for businesses to communicate with each other and with clients, Web services allow organizations to communicate data without intimate knowledge of each other's IT systems behind the firewall.
Unlike traditional client/server models, such as a Web server/Web page system, Web services do not provide the user with a GUI. Web services instead share business logic, data and processes through a programmatic interface across a network. The applications interface, not the users. Developers can then add the Web service to a GUI (such as a Web page or an executable program) to offer specific functionality to users.
Web services allow different applications from different sources to communicate with each other without time-consuming custom coding, and because all communication is in XML, Web services are not tied to any one operating system or programming language. For example, Java can talk with Perl, Windows applications can talk with UNIX applications.
Web services do not require the use of browsers or HTML.
Web services are sometimes called application services.
Web services architecture
Over the last couple of years, Web services have expanded to become more popular with application developers — and for good reason. Web services technology represents an important way for businesses to communicate with each other and with clients as well. Unlike traditional client/server models, such as a Web server or Web page system, Web services do not provide the user with a GUI. Instead, Web services share business logic, data and processes through a programmatic interface across a network. The applications interface with each other, not with the users. Developers can then add the Web service to a GUI (such as a Web page or an executable program) to offer specific functionality to users. . In fact, some even call Web services the next evolution of the Web.
Web Services Technology
Web services are built on several technologies that work in conjunction with emerging standards to ensure security and manageability, and to make certain that Web services can be combined to work independent of a vendor. The term Web service describes a standardized way of integrating Web-based applications using the XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI open standards over an Internet protocol backbone.
Web services' distributed computing model allows application-to-application communication. For example, one purchase-and-ordering application could communicate to an inventory application that specific items need to be reordered. Because of this level of application integration, Web services have grown in popularity and are beginning to improve business processesXML
Short for Extensible Markup Language, a specification developed by the W3C. XML is a pared-down version of SGML, designed especially for Web documents. It allows designers to create their own customized tags, enabling the definition, transmission, validation, and interpretation of data between applications and between organizations.
SOAP
Short for Simple Object Access Protocol, a lightweight XML-based messaging protocol used to encode the information in Web service request and response messages before sending them over a network. SOAP messages are independent of any operating system or protocol and may be transported using a variety of Internet protocols, including SMTP, MIME, and HTTP.
WSDL
Short for Web Services Description Language, an XML-formatted language used to describe a Web service's capabilities as collections of communication endpoints capable of exchanging messages. WSDL is an integral part of UDDI, an XML-based worldwide business registry. WSDL is the language that UDDI uses. WSDL was developed jointly by Microsoft and IBM.
UDDI
Short for Universal Description, Discovery and Integration. It is a Web-based distributed directory that enables businesses to list themselves on the Internet and discover each other, similar to a traditional phone book's yellow and white pages.
XML is used to tag the data, SOAP is used to transfer the data, WSDL is used for describing the services available and UDDI is used for listing what services are available. Used primarily as a means for businesses to communicate with each other and with clients, Web services allow organizations to communicate data without intimate knowledge of each other's IT systems behind the firewall.
