Web services directory spec gains SOA, digital signature boosts OASIS on Thursday announced that the organization has approved Version 3.0.2 of the UDDI Web services directory specification as an OASIS standard, the highest level of ratification.Featured in Version 3.0.2 is the ability to affiliate registries. This is in keeping with the emphasis of SOAs (service-oriented architectures) on supporting a variety of infrastructural variations and providing a means to define relationships among UDDI registries, according to OASIS. The new version offers a standardized approach to ensure interoperable communication between server peers.To make it easier for developers and architects to communicate, Version 3.0.2 allows for well-known identifiers for service descriptions to facilitate reuse of service descriptions among registries. Other features supported include digital signatures and extended discovery to combine multi-step queries into a single query. Also highlighted is the ability to nest sub-queries within a single query, for narrowing of searches.Companies such as IBM, SAP, and Computer Associates are expressing support for the new specification.“UDDI continues to serve an important role in the deployment of SOAs”, said Karla Norsworthy, vice president of software standards at IBM, in a prepared statement released by OASIS. “IBM will extend support for UDDI Version 3 in the WebSphere Application Server. The security enhancements in UDDI combined with the enterprise capabilities in WebSphere will be especially important for customers using UDDI to improve reuse and simplify discovery of Web services across their IT infrastructure.” Software Development