In reporting a story on an early adopter of Web services, I spoke to the CTO, who noted that there really isn’t a growth path for Web services. The oft-mentioned Web services standards — SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and WSDL (Web Services Description Language) — started to stick when the platform providers, notably Microsoft and IBM, threw their weight behind them. The simplicity of these protocols and the fact they’re XML-based allows just about everyone to get on board. But what’s next? If businesses plan to build enterprise-class systems on the foundation of Web services, they need much more. In a recent InfoWorld.com poll exploring the inadequacy of Web services standards, 64 percent of respondents said security needs the most work, followed by reliability and service levels, latency, workflow, and transactions. Bolstering Web services technologies with these capabilities is only half of the equation. From an industry perspective, the real breakthrough around Web services is the level of buy-in — every enterprise software vendor will support these base-level standards in some form by the end of this year. Enter the Web Services Interoperability Organization, which was launched last week (see ” Web services initiative gains momentum “). Prior to last week, officials at IBM, Microsoft, and Sun said they will work with the respective standards bodies to marshall these standards as they mature beyond the bare-bones capabilities we have now. Obviously, these vendors betting their futures on Web services have cause for concern. Without compatibility, we’ll have a Unix-like splintering of key foundation technologies and a repeat of Java vs. .Net, or CORBA vs. COM (Component Object Model). The other remarkable thing about Web services is Microsoft’s involvement. Taking a major gamble, Microsoft is betting on XML and, at least so far, has adhered to these standards. It’s also a member of the organization. By contrast, Sun is dragging its feet and had not joined the interoperability organization as of last week. With Web services built around XML, Sun’s attachment to Java is obviously coloring its view of where the industry is heading. But with Sun’s erstwhile allies IBM and BEA pushing an interoperability consortium, the source of Sun’s strength may well be slowing it down. Are you concerned about Web services interoperability? Write to me at martin_lamonica@infoworld.com. Software Development