OASIS Members Approve WS-DD Standards to Enable Secure Web Service Discovery and Control of Networked Devices

Microsoft, CA, Novell, Progress Software, Red Hat, Ricoh, Software AG, and
Others Advance WS Standards for Mobile Computing, Smart Buildings, Consumer
Electronics, and Office Applications

BOSTON--(Business Wire)--
OASIS, the international open standards consortium, today announced that its
members have approved three related Web services protocol standards that make it
easier to find, share, and control devices on a network. Advanced by the OASIS
Web Services Discovery and Web Services Devices Profile (WS-DD) Technical
Committee, these new standards include Web Services Dynamic Discovery
(WS-Discovery), SOAP Over User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and Devices Profile for
Web Services (DPWS). Together, the three standards enable printers, storage
devices, sensors, building security devices, entertainment systems, energy
management equipment, hand-held computers, cell phones, remote controls, and
many other devices to be identified, communicated with, and controlled using Web
services.

"These standards make it possible for a new generation of enterprise-enabled
resources to be developed which will automatically be discovered and function
seamlessly together," said Alain Regnier of Ricoh, co-chair of the OASIS WS-DD
Technical Committee.

"WS-DD expands the scope of the WS-* stack to encompass an exciting range of
devices used by both consumers and professionals. Together, WS-Discovery,
SOAP-over-UDP, and DPWS define a lightweight footprint that offers the potential
to broaden the reach of Web services," added Toby Nixon of Microsoft, who also
co-chairs the WS-DD Committee at OASIS.

The WS-DD standards prescribe how to use elements of core Web services
specifications to dynamically discover and describe a Web service. They also
enable the secure exchange of messages and allow devices to subscribe and
receive events from a Web service.

"We congratulate the WS-DD Committee on this accomplishment," noted Laurent
Liscia, executive director of OASIS. "These new standards directly address the
movement we're seeing in the industry towards more autonomous infrastructures."

The WS-DD standards are offered for implementation on a royalty-free basis.
Participation in the OASIS WS-DD Technical Committee is open to all companies,
non-profit groups, governments, academic institutions, and individuals. As with
all OASIS projects, archives of the Committee's work are accessible to both
members and non-members, and OASIS hosts an open mail list for public comment.

Support for WS-DD:

"The OASIS standardization of DPWS 1.1, WS-Discovery 1.1, and SOAP-over-UDP 1.1
is an exciting step forward for the WS-* suite of protocols," said Scott
Rosemund, Principal Product Unit Manager, Messaging Platform and Services,
Microsoft Corporation. "These specifications define a lightweight interoperable
protocol and profile enabling discovery of Web services and resource constrained
devices. This simplifies the management of both large and small scale composite
applications consisting of such heterogeneous resources."

"We are pleased to see Device Profile for Web Services, WS-Discovery, and SOAP
over UDP become approved standards, as we believe they will considerably improve
the user experience with connected devices and enable a whole new world of
enterprise scenarios," said Yoshikazu Sugimoto, Senior Vice President, Advanced
Imaging and Network Technologies, Ricoh Americas Corporation.

"A lightweight protocol for locating and identifying Web services instances
dynamically within an ad-hoc environment will be very valuable for
enterprise-wide SOA Landscape monitoring solutions," said Prasad Yendluri, Vice
President & Deputy CTO for Software AG. "By building upon WS-Discovery
specification, organizations can address such requirements in a pragmatic and
interoperable manner. As the co-author of the original specification, we`re
delighted to see the WS-Discovery suite of specifications pass through the
normalization process of OASIS and attain the status of standard."

Additional information:

OASIS WS-DD Technical Committee

http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ws-dd/

About OASIS:

OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards)
drives the development, convergence, and adoption of open standards for the
global information society. A not-for-profit consortium, OASIS advances
standards for SOA, security, Web services, documents, e-commerce, government and
law, localisation, supply chains, XML processing, and other areas of need
identified by its members. OASIS open standards offer the potential to lower
cost, stimulate innovation, grow global markets, and protect the right of free
choice of technology. The consortium has more than 5,000 participants
representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries.
http://www.oasis-open.org

OASIS
Carol Geyer, 978-667-5115 x209
OASIS Director of Communications
carol.geyer@oasis-open.org

Copyright Business Wire 2009