As a result of the deal, BT will be able to source new web services applications from BEA software partners to include in its library of reusable components that are being marketed as building blocks for accelerated web services deployments.
BT has developed an application component library or directory of reusable components known as WSACL (Web Services Application Component Library), which it will start to populate ahead of commercial availability of a managed web services offering slated for January 2003.
The telco company sees itself as a taking on the role of a trusted broker for web services and so is keen to be seen as offering prospective customers the choice of J2EE applications based on the BEA WebLogic platform and the option of Microsoft Corp’s .NET alternative.
To underpin the web services offering, BT has licensed a web services management system from Alpharetta, Georgia-based web services networking software vendor, Flamenco Networks. Its software will handle all aspects of web services security, control and performance. A deployment layer could be based around either .NET or J2EE, using BT’s managed, hosted service first to pilot and then to run proposed web services.
The company claims it has more than 300 people skilled in web services developments. The managed service will be launched first in the UK, with roll-out across continental Europe planned to meet emerging demand.
Source: Computerwire
