Microsoft .NET today

Most of us see an online world where groups and communities of servers, PCs, smart devices and Internet-based services join together. Businesses are open to share data, integrate processes, and join forces to offer personalised, comprehensive solutions to customers. The information you or your business need is available wherever you are whatever computing device, platform or application you are using.

Two programs which help achieve this are extensible Markup Language and XML. XML enables developers to describe data being exchanged between PCs, smart devices, applications and Web sites. Because XML separates the underlying data from how that data is displayed, the data itself is “unlocked” so that it can easily be organized, programmed, edited and exchanged between any Web sites, applications and devices. XML is a lingua franca for the Internet age. Just as the Web revolutionized how users talk to applications, XML transforms how applications talk to each other.

As developers are now more familiar with XML, they are moving beyond solely using it for data. XML-based technologies such as SOAP (enabling applications to inter-operate using standard Internet protocols) and UDDI (giving businesses a standard way to describe their services and connect automatically), a new type of software is created, using XML to provide Web-based services. XML Web services are programmable and reusable, in a way that component software is, the exception being that XML sites are accessible anywhere via the Internet. Programs using this model run across multiple Web sites, retrieving information and services from each of them, combining and delivering them in customized form to many devices.

XML Web services break down distinctions between the Internet, standalone applications and computing devices of every kind, enabling businesses to collaborate; offering unprecedented ranges of integrated and customized solutions. In turn, these solutions enable their customers to act on information any time, any place and on any device.

The power of the XML Web service is amazing. A company offering an online electronic-payment service can expose its service to partners,
allowing them to deliver it as part of their own offering regardless of what platform they are using. For example, an airline is able to link its online reservation system to that of a hotel-booking partner, so travellers can book a hotel reservation the same time they book a flight. An online auction company can notify bidders when they are outbid, have won an auction, or alert them if there is a 'second chance offer' to buy the same product via another seller. It could also partner with other firms to offer alternative shipping, fulfilment or payment options. XML Web services help your business break free of its unnecessary boundaries.

XML Web services are gaining constant momentum amongst developers as the next generation of Internet-based computing. In order to improve the efficiency of the XML, it is important to build a platform alongside it, making it simpler to build solutions, thus providing a reliable framework for integration and inter-operability. Such a platform must be based on open standards, allowing it to work across all operating systems, programming languages and applications, combining the power of PCs and smart devices with the richness of the Internet.

Microsoft’s program which is used for building, deploying, operating and integrating XML Web services is .NET. The .NET link in the left hand column will explain .NET and will set out a roadmap which you can use to transform your business and take advantage of everything it has to offer.