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Distributed, component-based software

A second dominant technology architecture trend is the apparent move away from the monolithic, hard-to-maintain masses of application software code we’ve known in the past toward smaller components that communicate with each other to complete particular tasks.

In the future, developers and end users will license software in pieces—some from traditional application and systems software vendors and others from companies specializing in particular business functions. Open-source applications will become part of the mix. Companies will also write their own modules for activities in which they already enjoy a distinct advantage and combine them with the increasing number of standard, easily available components. These changes will help to eliminate the painful and unsatisfying make-or-buy dichotomy of today’s technology environment.

In a component-based environment, information technology professionals will have the ability to manage components independently, making modifications far simpler, faster and potentially cheaper. Patrons and customers will benefit by access to information and services on more devices and at multiple, distributed points of service.

Many technologies and standards are fueling this shift from monolithic, bound-together technology solutions to distributed, component-based software. One of the dominant enabling technologies in this arena is Web services.

Web services

Web services are commonly used business processes delivered over the Web, based on industry-wide-standards. Using Web services, small software modules located anywhere on the Web are able to interact with each other using standard protocols, making it possible to quickly link together computer systems across organizations worldwide.

Web services are receiving significant attention and funding due to the potential they hold for both users and IT departments.14

The chief benefits driving the interest in and adoption of Web services include:

• Web services let organizations bridge communications gaps—between software written in different programming languages, developed by different vendors, running on different operating systems.
• Web services run over the Internet, over intranets or other Internet protocol-based networks, which are common inside companies. The infrastructure required to use Web services is stable, reliable and inexpensive.
• Major technology vendors, including Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Sun, have agreed to support a set of standard Web services software technologies that spell out how different computer systems should interact with each other—offering an uncommon level of cross-industry cooperation.
• Web services technologies let organizations leverage prior investments in technology. Web services are not used to build new systems from scratch but rather as tools to dynamically integrate existing computer systems to create efficiencies or deliver new capabilities.

Web services are enabling the rapid connection of information that was simply structurally impossible just a few years ago. Standards acceptance will be a critical determinant of Web services successes. The most important of these standards, XML or extensible markup language, has gained industry-wide support and acceptance.

The initial use of Web services technologies has been inside organizations. But as organizations gain experience and standards are adopted, Web services and other component-based software tools will become mainstream in the technology landscape in the next two to five years.Leading search information provider Google is extending the reach and increasing the connectivity of its search application using Web services. It launched the Google Web APIs developer’s kit in the spring of 2002. The kit, which can be downloaded over the Web, includes programming examples and a Web Services Description Language File (WSDL) for writing programs on any platform that supports Web services.

Hardware advances are also likely to reinforce Web services adoption. “Web services enable the linking of intelligence to each individual item in commerce. The Auto-ID Center at MIT estimates that about a trillion new Internet-friendly devices will be added to the network in the next 10 years. Integrating technology devices like chips and radio transmitters will simply become part of a product’s basic packaging.”16

As these technologies reach mainstream adoption, librarians and information providers must think about how to deploy Web services for their users. Many current commercial applications of Web services, from providing real-time stock quotes to information about local traffic patterns,17 have direct corollaries to library information services.

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