SOA & WS :    The top SOA/Web services stories of 2006  (Part 2)

There are numerous misconceptions about the Semantic Web, largely caused by a misunderstanding of its aims and technologies. In this simple FAQ the author helps dispel some of the myths.

SW:    The Semantic Web: Everything you wanted to know but were too afraid to ask

There are numerous misconceptions about the Semantic Web, largely caused by a misunderstanding of its aims and technologies. In this simple FAQ the author helps dispel some of the myths.

SOA & WS :    The top SOA/Web services stories of 2006  (Part 1)

There's always hype around a hot technology, or in this case a hot methodology for deploying technology. Yet the sheer weight of new SOA-themed products, of new SOA standards, of changes in the industry caused by SOA and, most importantly, of users actually embracing SOA is massive.

SW forecast :    Coming Soon - The Semantic Web

Will 2007 usher in a new era for the Web? That's what a few stealth-mode software entrepreneurs are aiming for. San Francisco-based Radar Networks says it is working on several "semantic Web" applications. One big benefit they may bring is much-more-targeted Web searching.

SW search :    European search engine project in trouble

Germany pulls out of the European Quaero search engine project and sets up its own. The German language newspaper Deutsche Welle reports that Germany is leaving the project. “We will still seek cooperation, but in another form, such as work groups,” a spokesman for Germany’s economics ministry says. “The consortium between the German and French governments is over.”

Web search :    IBM enters free search tools market

With the launch on 13 December 2006 of OmniFind Yahoo!, IBM has made a highly public move against rivals like Google and Microsoft. The new product stems from a partnership between IBM and Yahoo!. IBM supplies the search engine, based on the open-source Apache Lucene software, and Yahoo! lends its user interface and Web search services.

WS future :    Sun Announces Revolutionary Version of Java Technology -Java SE 6

Major Java release provides significant enhancements for Web Services and Web 2.0development and support for dynamic languages, Windows Vista and NetBeans Tools, says Sun.

SW & WS future :    Where's i-Technology Headed in 2007?

SW Wiki :    Semantic Wikis and Disaster Relief Operations

Over the last years social-networking web systems, such as wikis, have become more and more sophisticated and can also be applied fruitfully in humanitarian information management. However, a major drawback of the Web currently is that its content is not machine-readable, a shortcoming that is addressed by the Semantic Web approach.

WS network :    Denmark builds XML-based Web services commerce network

The Danish government plans on instituting a massive service-oriented e-commerce network by late 2007 that will generate Universal Business Language (UBL) 2.0 business documents such as purchase orders and invoices for both public and private sector transactions.

Semantic TV?:    "BT invents semantic television"

Accidental Lovers, which is to be broadcast on Finnish television on 27 December, is a romantic comedy with a difference — the ability of  its viewers to influence the storyline as the programme goes out. What this shape-shifted TV amounts to is somewhat analogous to the "Semantic Web", in that objects within it need to be categorised through "semi-automatic description techniques" to allow the finished product to be quickly assembled as user preferences are inputted.

SOA standards :   WS-I moves forward on interoperability, SOA

SOA architects have been awaiting these deliverables, which provide guidance on interoperability for core Web services and business processes in enterprises. WS-I focuses on helping vendors and users implement Web services rather than having users labor with the multitude of specifications. WS-I includes members such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and Sun Microsystems.

WS apps :    Search engine aids rights workers

Human rights groups around the world are creating a search engine to help co-ordinate campaigns against abuse. The database behind the search system pools data about dissidents, the abuse they have suffered, and campaigns that highlight when freedoms are restricted. More than 3,000 groups around the world are contributing information to the database.

SW future apps :   Doctor Google will see you now...

A group of physicians from Australia used Google to make a diagnosis of illnesses of 26 real-life cases. Before being told what diagnoses had been made in the case notes, they logged into the internet, tapped in a few details and got it right in 58 per cent of the cases they used. The British Medical journal extrapolates and talks about "web enabled medical ontologies" and the development of the "semantic web" as the next steps forward in computer-aided diagnosis.

SW apps :    UK's Financial regulator says it's too soon for semantic web technology

A technology that allows for automated processing of financial information has been rejected by the UK's financial regulator. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has said that there is not enough expertise in the UK to use the XBRL language (eXtensible Business Reporting Language).

SOA tools :    IBM extends SOA tools for desktop

The 7.0 desktop tools, which are based on the Eclipse platform, complement previously released server-side products such as IBM Rational ClearQuest 7.0. Among the tools being upgraded include: Application Developer for WebSphere Software, Software Modeler, Systems Developer and others.

SOA:    Redrawing the Business Processes

Ask anyone in charge of constructing an SOA (service-oriented architecture), and they'll tell you that the hardest part isn't the technology; it's redrawing the business processes that provide the basis for the architecture -- and the often contentious reshuffling of roles and responsibilities that ensues.

SOA:    A Buzzword is Born: "Blurring"

"Blurring" is the notion of blurring the line between your enterprise applications, and services and information found on the Internet. Or, blurring the lines between your SOA and the emerging Web 2.0.

WS sandbox:   Microsoft Seeks Partners To Combine Web Services, Telecom

Microsoft has launched a program to attract partners in developing and testing communication services that combine Web services with traditional telecommunications offerings.  The Connected Services Sandbox supports the creation of "managed network mash-ups" that combine Web services with telecommunications offerings, such as voice, video, and data services.

SOA & WS :   Web Services ''Reuse'' is Number One Driver for SOA

According to new research from market analyst firm Hurwitz & Associates, a report titled “Executive Survey: SOA Implementation Satisfaction ” confirms that the top drivers for SOA adoption include the expectation of greater reuse in existing and newly-built Web services, business flexibility, ease of integration and speed of integration – with nearly 90% of respondents pointing to service reuse as their number one concern .

Web 2.0 + :     What Comes After Web 2.0?

Today's primitive prototypes show that a more intelligent Internet is still a long way off. ... concludes this MIT Technology Review article.

WS standards :    The good, the bad, and the ugly -WS-splat standards rated

How have the bewildering array of WS-* specs been faring as of late? Does anyonSteve care? Stevee Jonesdoes not mince any words in his latest critique of the WS-splats, separating the good from the bad and ugly.

WS evolution :    Ballmer outlines Microsoft's vision for web services evolution

The software giant's chief executive says that services will form the company's fourth 'core', after the desktop, server and entertainment divisions. MS's vision of WSs differs from those of other players in the field. Microsoft believes web services will work in tandem with PC-installed software, rather than as a 'software as a service' concept subscribed to by most other advocates.

SW vision :    Applying Semantic Web Ideals

"... too much of the Semantic Web relies on data being valid - that is, valid XML, XHTML, RDF, etc. - and too many of us will never publish valid data.…If the Semantic Web hopes to exist, it's going to have to deal with invalid HTML, badly-formed XML, and RSS with vague entity escaping. The Semantic Web may happen, but if it does, it's going to be a helluva lot messier than the architects would like."

EU R&D :    Distributed information system to improve crisis management

Terrorist attacks, natural catastrophes and industrial disasters have proven the need for efficient crisis management solutions, to share information and improve coordination between the various actors involved in managing large-scale emergencies. The MEDSI project, which ended in October 2005, resulted in the creation of a prototype crisis management system, which uses web services to automatically obtain and exchange information from numerous sources, to support decision-making at crisis management centres.

WS & RDF :    Web Syndication and the RDF

Although RDF has been around from some time (since the mid-1990s) it only became a W3C Recommendation in February of 2004.   RDF is also part of the W3C's Semantic Web activity, which is designed to provide "a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise and community boundaries."  RDF actually has a fairly simple mission: it provides a well-documented way to represent metadata about Web resources

SW apps :    Music and Metadata

The Semantic Web: an idea that data used to describe information on the Web should be structured in such a way so it can be easily reused by different people in different ways. For music lovers or musicians, a down-to-earth, practical view of the Semantic Web is dearly needed... The article looks at how the solutions compare for the Web and the Semantic Web by using Semantic Web tools produced by W3C, HP, and MIT under the SIMILE project.

Web 3.0 & SW :    www.thenewrevolutionaries

It's boom time again in Silicon Valley and there is opportunity around every corner. Each month $180m (£94m) is invested in technology companies aspiring to change the lives of every person on the planet. A whole new world wide web is on the horizon. An interesting generalist article from the Guardian (UK) newspaper.

Semantics apps :      Storing the semantics embedded in digital shapes

AIM@SHAPE, an EU funded RTD project which started in January 2004, is about to come to an end. The project has sought to develop a theoretical model to illustrate how a shape can be described, not only in terms of a shape's quantitative geometric properties but also in semantic context, including software tools. This approach has allowed the project team to develop integrated ontologies, semantic descriptions, as machine-readable code, both for the shapes and for the research software using these figures.

Web 2.0 :     Mashups make services flow

One of the keys to making web services more accessible is using web addresses URIs (uniform resource identifiers) to identify data. Many organisations have begun using standards such as XML, but so many are still relying on proprietary identifiers, which make it impossible to hook into their web services without first learning what the identifiers mean, says Nick Gall, Gartner Research vice-president.

SW & Standards :    Rebooting HTML for the semantic web

[Tim Berners-Lee's] current project, the semantic web, is an attempt to carry web standards to a level beyond anything we’ve known so far. Its goal is to transform today’s web into a semi-intelligent network of information resources, where machines will be able to analyse and understand the meaning of information, similar to the way humans do today. If successful, it will absolutely revolutionise information retrieval. And the key to its success is the rigorous application of standards.

EU R&D :     Metadata labelling for multimedia content

Identifying and retrieving the right multimedia content in your PC or company server can be like panning for gold – the nuggets are few and far between. The EU funded IST project aceMedia is developing a solution. aceMedia uses advances in knowledge, semantics and multimedia processing technologies to support self-analysing, self-annotating and self-adapting content.

Grid & WS :    Grid services via Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA)

With XML serving as a catalyst, Web services have allowed many organizations to expose as well as access many resources that in years past might have been considered difficult to share. 

SW Conference :    SEMANTICS 2006- From Visions to Applications - The new Paradigm Shift in IT

The annual international technology conference SEMANTICS 2006 will be held at TechGate Vienna, Austria from the 28th to 30th November, 2006. SEMANTICS 2006 is the first dedicated event in Europe focusing on emerging semantic web 2.0 technologies for the next generation internet. It aims to bring together researchers from academia and high level representatives of industry to create a dynamic forum for exchanging ideas.

SOA vs apps :    Will SOA kill the idea of applications?

As SOA begins to gather momentum in the market, there has been a great deal of speculation about whether we will see the concept of an application disappear. Not if MS has anything to do with it (see below)

SOA apps :     Microsoft CEO touts company "bet" on Web services

Microsoft believes Web services will work in tandem with PC-installed software, a vision that differs from that of "software as a service" advocates, such as Salesforce.com and Google, who expect services delivered over the Web to replace traditional software.

SW apps :     Local, Global and Semantic Maps

Just as Google Earth layered images to make an informative world map, many analysts are scheming over a semantic map that would "create a universal medium for information exchange." Read/Write Web has a terrific post discussing the gritty details of the semantic "web 3.0".

Web 3.0 :   A Web guided by common sense?

An article in the Herald Tribune, which is a repeat of the basic article appearing in The New York Times a few days earlier Entrepreneurs See a Web Guided by Common Sense.

EU R&D :   Putting the smarts into your mobile life

The EU project CASCOM is developing a new platform for delivering flexible services on your chosen communications device. And the technologies employed read like a hit-parade of what’s hot in hi-tech – the semantic web, intelligent agents, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and more.

SW standards :    Managing SOA Semantics Using Ontologies and Supporting W3C Standards (Part I)

A 2 part blog article with the theme "semantics and ontologies are making a comeback, and SOA is driving the push forward. "

SW Conference :    SEMANTICS 2006- From Visions to Applications - The new Paradigm Shift in IT

The annual international technology conference SEMANTICS 2006 will be held at TechGate Vienna, Austria from the 28th to 30th November, 2006. SEMANTICS 2006 is the first dedicated event in Europe focusing on emerging semantic web 2.0 technologies for the next generation internet. It aims to bring together researchers from academia and high level representatives of industry to create a dynamic forum for exchanging ideas.

SW = Web 3.0 ? :    Entrepreneurs See a Web Guided by Common Sense

"Their goal is to add a layer of meaning on top of the existing Web that would make it less of a catalog and more of a guide — and even provide the foundation for systems that can reason in a human fashion. Referred to as Web 3.0 [...] the very idea has given rise to skeptics who have called it an unobtainable vision. But the underlying technologies are rapidly gaining adherents, at big companies like I.B.M. and Google as well as small ones. Their projects often center on simple, practical uses, from producing vacation recommendations to predicting the next hit song. "

SW app :    Northrop Grumman Showcases Suite of Geospatial Intelligence Solutions

Amongst the many offerings Northrop Grumman promises to demonstrate its GeoShield(tm) and Geospatial Semantic Web solutions. "GeoShield develops and integrates network-centric architecture for future command, control, communication, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. The solution provides situational awareness, terrain analysis, tactical decision aids and terrain reasoning for the armed services across common platforms and interfaces."

SW app :   Consumers protect data with Garlik (Interview)

In an interviw with Tom Ilube of privacy firm Garlik, one of the questions asked is:"You use so-called semantic web technology, designed to make it easier for computers to process information. How will this develop?" Answer...

Web 2.0 :    Analysis: - Web 2.0 Technologies

Web 2.0 and RIA (Rich Internet Applications) will dramatically change your infrastructure in terms of monitoring, management, deployment and availability. The load on both network and back-end servers could become crushing. Security is too often an afterthought, and two of IT's safety nets--standards and interoperability testing--are sorely lacking.

SW & SOA apps :   BT Unveils Survey of Investment Banks' Views on Trends in Technology Innovation

The survey says that technology innovation will enable investment banks to achieve their goal of becoming less product-driven and more customer-centric. This includes the benefits and uses of technologies such as VoIP, video conferencing, Semantic Web and service-orientated architectures from the front to back-offices of investment banks.

SWS in e-Government:   Workshop - Usage of Semantic Web Services in e-Government

A half-day workshop is being organised on 21 Nov 2006 in Berlin, Germany, by project DIP with an introduction to Semantic Web Services, their generic benefits and business cases, tools and execution environments and standardization processes.  The workshop is intended for IT practitioners and strategic decision makers in central and local government (e-government). More ...

SW search? :   See And Find With Quintura

Quintura takes a search term, runs a search and then translates the results into a tag cloud effect on the screen. Users can then simply look at the results (powered by Yahoo) listed under the tag cloud and click on the link as per normal, or they can explore words displayed in the semantic map to focus the query more closely.

WWW science:    A Science of the Web Begins

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Southampton in England have announced they would jointly start a new branch of science: the science of the Web. Article from the Scientific American.com.

Next gen Web:   MIT and U. of Southampton launch World Wide Web research collaboration

MIT and the University of Southampton have announced the launch of  the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI) - which aims to generate a research agenda for understanding the scientific, technical and social challenges underlying the growth of the web.   Also, a related story in the International Herald Tribune  'Next step' in science studies: The Web

SOA security :   Six Basic Rules for Securing SOA Based Projects

Web Services Security specifications and standards have become clearer over the past few years, due to vendor agreement and some diligent work in standards organizations such as OASIS and the W3C. As a result, many standards-based Web service security toolkits and implementations have been shipped that allow developers to build solutions quickly.

SW vision:   The semantic web is a long time coming

Martin Merry, leader of semantic web research at HP labs, says that it is still early days for the semantic web and that RDF is still being used "more in a specialised form inside enterprises". And the lesson of Google is that clever algorithms to improve simple text search have more impact than attempts to introduce semantic mark-up.

EU R&D :  Semantic Web Technologies, SEKT

Project SEKT aims to develop three core technologies that underpin next-generation knowledge management : ontology and metadata technology, knowledge discovery and human language technology. The 12 partners in the SEKT project - academic institutions and industrial partners from eight member states –are seeking to create ‘knowledge workplaces’ where the boundaries between document, content and knowledge management disappear.

EU R&D :    IST project seeks to improve online news delivery

The 'News Engine Web Services' (NEWS) project platform comprises a classification and ontology-based annotation system which allows computers to 'read' web news content across many languages and analyse the content, coming up with a set of results which best matches a user's needs.

WS standards :   W3C Web Services Policy Primer: Working Draft

The W3C Web Services Policy Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of "Web Services Policy 1.5 - Primer."

WS vs dinosaurs :   SOA vs. mainframe-- Oracle, HP and Intel target legacy

Hewlett-Packard, Oracle Corp. and Intel Corp. have announced a joint initiative to convince CIOs to transition from COBOL programs running on mainframes to a service-oriented architecture environment.

SW app :    Mozilla Selects the BlueOrganizer for Firefox 2.0 Launch Showcase

The BlueOrganizer is a smart browsing extension for Firefox that redefines how people collect, manage, discover and share information. Unlike plain bookmarks, BlueOrganizer determines and preserves the semantics of real-world things like movies, wine or electronic gadgets. It is able to create a context-sensitive, personalized Web experience for every user.

SW standards :   W3C Consortium Releases First Version of GRDDL Specification

The World Wide Web Consortium has forged an important link between Semantic Web and microformats communities. With GRDDL (pronounced "griddle"), software can automatically extract information from structured Web pages to make it part of the Semantic Web. W3C is inviting members of the community to review this First Public Working Draft, published by the GRDDL Working Group.

WS standards :   Gartner: Web services standardization process has ‘lost momentum’

Gartner's Roy Schulte and Daniel Sholler posted an advisory that states that the "ratification of WS-Notification advances publish-and-subscribe standards, but falls short of gaining industry consensus. Differences with competing specifications still must be resolved."

EU R&D eGov:   Many EU citizens experience problems using e-government resources

A survey conducted by the IST project  eUSER shows that 55% of users are happy with online governmental services, whereas as many as 33% experience at least one significant obstacle when using or trying to use such services.

WS standards :    Why You Should Care About Web Standards

4 reasons you should care about Web standards.: 1- Search engine optimization ; 2- Accessibility ; 3- Lower total cost of ownership ; 4- Cross-browser, cross-platform, cross-device compatibility. Now read on...

SOA tools :   Mindreef Announces Support for IBM Information Server with SOA

Mindreef is working with IBM to provide its  SOAPscope and SOAPscope ServerTM solutions for Web services testing and SOA quality, both of which support IBM Information Server. .

WS apps :    Verizon Business plans web services integration with customers

The business services division of Verizon Communications Inc has said it will shortly roll out the ability for customers to integrate their web services infrastructure with its own, enabling them to subscribe to specific services and streamline interactions.

SOA & WS standards :    SAP Drives Open Standards to Simplify Enterprise SOA

Building on its recent announcement of Java EE 5 compatibility, SAP continues to drive Open Standards to ease Enterprise SOA adoption.

SOA meets Web 2.0:   Where the Java EE standards fall short

The article examines the state of Java presentation technologies in an effort to understand where the standards must go to facilitate the marriage of SOA and Web 2.0 concepts.

M2M = SW? :   NASA and M2Mi Corp. to Develop 'Automated M2M Intelligence'

To help enable machines to make choices and efficiently communicate with one another without human intervention, NASA and M2Mi Corp. are working together to develop automated 'machine-to-machine (M2M) intelligence. A satellite that would repair itself in low orbit is given as an example of how the new, automated M2M intelligence could be used in the very near future.

Towards SWS :   Best-kept secret agent revealed

Agent-based computing has already transformed processes such as automated financial markets trading, logistics, and industrial robotics. Now it is moving into the mainstream commercial sector as more complex systems with many different components are used by a wider range of businesses.

SWS vision :   Finally, Intelligent Businesses

Business intelligence as we know it will change dramatically over the next five years. Can search, semantics, and master data management take analytics to the next level?

WS vs PC :    Ballmer sees PC future in web services world

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has delivered a defense of PC-based computing in the face of a growing trend to deliver software as a service over the internet. He says the market is changing to a point where applications will run as easily as websites, but software will continue to rely on local processing power.

SOA club :    IBM builds out SOA partner programs

As part of its Web 2.0 push, IBM and SOA Business Partners are building Wikis for SOAs in both vertical industries and specialized focus areas. Also, podcasts will be available to educate business partners and customers on the business value of SOA, IBM said.

Web 2.0 vs Web 1.0 :    Why Ajax is Conceptually Better

"The potential of the Semantic Web is just unimaginably huge"

SOA survey :   SOA is the future - but what exactly is it?

Research carried out by Quocirca (on behalf of Oracle) earlier this year shows that, in a sample size of 1,500 respondents representing a mixture of technical and business people, more than 30 per cent said they have absolutely no knowledge what SOA or service-oriented architecture means. More than 25 per cent more said they have minimal knowledge of it, and only 20 per cent stated they have a fair understanding or a good working knowledge of what SOA is all about.

SOA tools :   New Tools Will Help SOA Soar In Businesses

IBM and BEA Systems are rolling out tools that address shortcomings in SOA product offerings that force companies to do a lot of custom integration, one reason many customers have come away disappointed. Twenty-four percent of 273 business technology professionals surveyed by InformationWeek Research in August said their SOA and Web services efforts fell short of expectations.

SW standards :   Last Call- Semantic Annotations for WSDL

The Semantic Annotations for Web Services Description Language (SAWSDL) Working Group released a Last Call Working Draft of Semantic Annotations for WSDL Semantic annotations can be added to Web Services Description Language (WSDL) components for use in classifying, discovering, matching, composing, and invoking Web services.

WS tools :   IBM demonstrates Ajax mashup tool for the rest of us

" ...the cool thing about Ajax is that it lets you quickly mix and match web pages and services with relatively simple scripting, using technologies that are pretty off the shelf. But if you're the kind of power user who can handle Excel macros, but doesn't deal with scripting, until now you've been a spectator to the Ajax revolution. "

WS standards :   Liberty Alliance Releases Final Version of ID-WSF 2.0 Web Services Standards

The final release of ID-WSF 2.0 now includes additional support for open industry standards to allow developers, enterprises and system integrators to build successful Web services faster based on the widely deployed and proven interoperable Liberty Web Services standards.

SOA & WS :    Amazon.com, Danish government tout SOA approach

"We have a lot of SOA ecosystems, but we don't have an effective interchange between these organizations," said Mikkel Hippe Brun, XML architect with the National and IT Telecom agency of Denmark. Hippe Brun was presenting a session titled "Bringing SOA to life: A New Danish Infrastructure," at the JAOO conference.

SOA & WS :     Microsoft Advocates Real-World Approach to SOA for Increased Business Value

At a Microsoft hosted annual SOA and Business Processes Conference in Redmond, customers and industry partners met to discuss a "real-world" approach to SOA, and how it can be used to solve troubling business challenges.

WS standards :    OASIS SOA Reference Model Goes to Vote

The The OASIS Reference Model for Service Oriented Architecture v1.0 has been submitted for standardization by OASIS. The full committee draft of the specification is downloadable here (31 page PDF file).

Web 2.0 :     Gartner's High-Tech Hype Radar

In this annual look at the stuff coming down the enterprise pike and how far it is from becoming reality, Gartner's hype cycle is divided into three major themes: the "real-world Web," or objects with the capability to interact with their surroundings; Web 2.0; and application architecture, including "disciplines and technologies" to enable business applications to "continue to mirror business requirements more directly."  More...

WS apps :   Bezos offers a look at 'hidden Amazon'

About 200,000 developers have registered to use the 10 different Web services Amazon.com is providing so far, including three that Bezos highlighted in his talk , during a keynote address at the Emerging Technologies Conference on MIT's campus: Mechanical Turk; Simple Storage Service (S3); and Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).

WS apps :   Onaro announces web services API

Onaro Inc. has announced the availability of Service Connect, a web services application program interface (API) which enables independent software vendors (ISVs), application providers, and internal development teams to access the service-related data in Onaro SANscreen, Onaro’s storage-as-a-service management products .

WS security:   Web apps and services prove high risk according to Symantec

Symantec, the sodtware security company, has warned that the wave of enthusiasm for web applications such as blogs and other services will be shared equally among innocent users and virus writers.

EU R&D :    European research performs as well as US research

According to a recent study by researchers at UNU-MERIT in the Netherlands - a research and training centre of United Nations University – Europe does better compared to the US than assumed, at least as far as formal technology transfer goes. The survey shows that Europe performs better than the United States on two of the three indicators for the actual commercial use of public research (licenses executed and start-ups) and comes a close second on a third indicator (licence revenue as a share of research expenditure).

WS & IBM :    The First Services of IBM alphaWorks Debut

IBM is rolling out a trio of new Web-based development services, as the first from the newly launched alphaWorks Services site.  See also a related article IBM alphaWorks says ADIEU to complex Web services code.

SW search :   Open source search technology goes beyond keywords

All the source code of the Semantic Indexing Project is available for download, published under the terms of the GNU General Public License. The project's core technology is the Semantic Engine, which is distributed with its C++ code, Perl bindings, and all the necessary code for building the GUI. .

SW vision :   Berners-Lee, Co-operation key to intelligent Web

Speaking at Ordnance Survey's Terra Future conference in Southampton last weeky, Sir Tim Berners-Lee explained that the power of the Semantic Web comes not from a single source of data, but from when multiple data sources are combined. "It's the serendipitous reuse that's exciting" .