How to Choose a Web Services Management Solution

This paper outlines a straightforward evaluation and selection process based on the lessons Hurwitz & Associates has learned in advising countless companies in the selection critical software tools. It presents selection criteria for the tactical deployment of Web services and an extended set of criteria for companies pursuing enterprise SOA strategies. Finally, it introduces Actional’s Web services management suite.

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Abstract: How Are You Managing Web Services?

More and more organizations are adopting Web services and service-oriented architectures (SOA) as the most pragmatic and cost effective path forward in managing their technology assets. Many companies already have turned to SOA as an essential approach for integrating applications and data.

As these applications roll out and Web services-based messages fly across the enterprise network and between networks, organizations will quickly realize that the only way to ensure successful implementations of an SOA is through the implementation and adoption of Web services management technology. If organizations are going to successfully bring together technology components to create new business value, they need to be able to proactively manage the network of components, which includes specific capabilities such as:

knowing the relationship between the various services;
understanding service performance characteristics;
understanding and actively controlling the flow and content of message traffic across the network.

In fact, as service networks mature, these systems need to dynamically discover the 'application topology', record all message flows for root-cause analysis and provide solutions for managing change within mission-critical SOA environment.

It is therefore imperative for organizations to evaluate offerings available on the market in context with the business problem they are intended to solve. A number of vendors have introduced Web services management tools while others are quickly adding Web services management to their existing management capabilities. Companies need a process to evaluate and select a Web services management tool and a clear set of criteria on which to base their choice.