Quite a few products are available that you can use to implement Web services. This appendix provides a list of many of these products. For brevity's sake, I am constraining this list to only the basic SOAP platforms and UDDI registry servers. I am aware of more than 90 SOAP implementations, although many of them are research projects, and some are no longer available. For the most part I have listed only platforms that are “product quality”—meaning that a version 1.0 or later is available. The products are organized by supported language or platform and are listed in alphabetical order.
Microsoft is the only provider of a .NET platform. The .NET platform is available for Windows CE, Windows XP Embedded, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. Ximian and GNU are developing open source implementations of the .NET platform for Linux and UNIX operating systems, although these implementations are not yet product quality.
Vendor | Microsoft Corporation |
Product | .NET Framework |
OS Support | Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Server 2003 Requires IIS and ASP.NET for deployment |
Languages | Visual Basic .NET, Visual C++ .NET, Visual C# .NET, Visual J# .NET, Visual FoxPro, other .NET languages |
Licensing | Free and redistributable (not open source) |
Vendor | Microsoft Corporation |
Platform | .NET Compact Framework |
OS Support | Windows CE / CE .NET |
Languages | Visual Basic .NET, Visual C# .NET |
Licensing | Commercial |
A COM platform is a Windows platform that predates or does not use the .NET platform. Applications developed using Visual Studio 6.0 execute in a COM platform.
Vendor | Microsoft Corporation |
Product | SOAP Toolkit |
OS Support | Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Server 2003 |
Languages | Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual J#, other COM languages |
Licensing | Free and redistributable (not open source) |
Provider | Simon Fell |
Products | PocketSOAP (client) |
OS Support | PocketPC, Windows 95, 98, ME. NT4, 2000, XP |
Languages | VBScript, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual C#, eMbedded Visual Basic, eMbedded Visual C++, other COM languages |
Licensing | Open Source (Mozilla Public License) |
Provider | Simon Fell |
Product | 4s4c (server) |
OS Support | Windows NT4, 2000 |
Languages | Any COM component (uses OLE Automation) |
Licensing | Open Source (Mozilla Public License) |
Vendor | SQLData Systems |
Product | C++ Library for SOAP Client |
OS Support | Windows 95, 98, NT4, 2000 |
Languages | Visual C++ 6.0 |
Licensing | Commercial and OEM |
Vendor | SQLData Systems |
Product | SOAP Server |
OS Support | Windows 95, 98, NT4, 2000 |
Languages | Visual C++ 6.0, COM |
Licensing | Commercial and OEM |
Vendor | White Mesa Software |
Product | White Mesa SOAP Services |
OS Support | Windows NT4 |
Languages | Visual C++ 6.0 |
Licensing | Open Source (modified MIT license) |
A few Web services platforms are designed to support C and C++ applications on Windows, Linux, UNIX, and other operating systems. These platforms deliver the best performance of all SOAP implementations.
Vendor | EXOR International Consortium |
Product | eSOAP (designed for embedded systems) |
OS Support | RTEMS, eCos, QNX, Linux, Solaris, Windows |
Languages | C++ |
Licensing | Commercial |
Provider | Florida State University |
Product | gSOAP |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, UNIX |
Languages | C and C++ |
Licensing | Open Source (gSOAP Public License, based on MPL) |
Vendor | Rogue Wave |
Product | Lightweight Enterprise Integration Framework (LEIF) |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | C++ |
Web Server | LEIF application server (included) |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Systinet |
Product | WASP Server for C++ |
OS Support | Windows (Win 32 and CE), Linux, UNIX |
Web Servers | Apache Server, Microsoft IIS, Sun ONE Web Server Supports stand-alone and embedded configurations |
Languages | C, C++ |
Licensing | Commercial, OEM, and Source |
There are more than two dozen SOAP implementations for the Java platform. Some implementations are packaged with a J2EE application server; other implementations can be deployed in a J2SE environment or in a third-party J2EE application server; still other implementations can be deployed in a J2ME environment.
Most J2EE application servers now include integrated support for Web services. Management and security for these systems are integrated with the application server environment. BEA, IONA, Novell, Oracle, and Sybase have developed their own SOAP implementations. Borland, IBM, JBoss, Macromedia, and Pramati use the Apache Axis platform. Sun uses the Java APIs for XML (JAX) reference implementations, collectively known as the Java Web Services Development Pack (JWSDP). You can also get the Axis, IONA, Novell, and Sun JWSDP platforms separately. Although these application servers include a SOAP implementation, you can also install a third-party platform in these systems.
Vendor | BEA Systems |
Product | WebLogic Server, WebLogic Workshop |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX, Mid-range, and Mainframe |
Languages | Java 1.3.1 or later |
UDDI | Includes Acumen AUDDI |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Borland Software Corporation |
Product | Enterprise Server (Apache Axis) |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | Java 1.3.1 or later |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | IBM Corporation |
Product | WebSphere Application Server (Apache Axis) |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX, iSeries, zSeries (Linux) |
Languages | Java 1.3.1 or later |
UDDI | Network edition includes WebSphere UDDI |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | IONA |
Product | Orbix E2A Application Server Platform (IONA XMLBus) |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX, OpenVMS, OS/390, z/OS |
Languages | Java 1.3.1, CORBA (C++ and Java) |
UDDI | Included |
Licensing | Commercial |
Provider | JBoss Group |
Product | JBoss.net (Apache Axis) |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | Java 1.3.1 or later |
Licensing | Open source (GNU Lesser General Public License) |
Vendor | Macromedia |
Product | JRun (Apache Axis) |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | Java 1.3.1 or later |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Novell |
Product | exteNd Application Server (jBroker Web) |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | Java 1.3.1 |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Oracle |
Product | Oracle 9i Application Server |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | Java 1.3.1 or later, PL/SQL |
UDDI | Included |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Pramati |
Product | Pramati Server (Apache Axis) |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | Java 1.3.1 or later |
UDDI | Includes Acumen AUDDI |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | SAP |
Product | Web Application Server |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX, Mid-range, and Mainframe |
Languages | Java, ABAP |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Sun Microsystems |
Product | Sun ONE Application Server (Sun JWSDP) |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | Java 1.4.0_02 or later |
UDDI | Includes JWSDP UDDI (noncommercial) |
Licensing | Platform Edition is free (not open source) Commercial licensing for Standard/Enterprise Editions OEM licensing required for redistribution |
Vendor | Sybase |
Product | EAServer |
OS Support | Windows, Solaris |
Languages | Java 1.3.1 Connectors for Stored Procedures, CICS, ERP adapters PowerBuilder (client only) |
Licensing | Commercial |
A number of Web services platforms for Java do not require a complete J2EE application server environment. These platforms can be deployed in a stand-alone fashion on J2SE or as a plug-in to a Web server or an application server. The commercial products offer excellent performance.
Provider | Apache Software Foundation |
Product | Axis |
OS Support | Any J2SE platform |
App Servers | Any Servlet 2.2 or later servlet engine |
Languages | Java 1.3 or later |
Licensing | Open Source (Apache Software License) |
Provider | Apache Software Foundation |
Product | SOAP (superceded by Axis) |
OS Support | Any J2SE 1.2 or later platform |
App Servers | Any Servlet 2.2 engine |
Languages | Java 1.2 or later |
Licensing | Open Source (Apache Software License) |
Vendor | Cape Clear |
Product | Cape Clear Server |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, Solaris |
App Servers | WebLogic, WebSphere, JBoss, others on request Supports stand-alone configuration |
Languages | Java 1.3.1 or later |
UDDI | Included with Enterprise edition |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | IONA |
Product | XMLBus |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
App Servers | WebLogic, WebSphere, Orbix Supports stand-alone configuration |
Languages | Java 1.3.1, J2ME (client only) |
UDDI | Included |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Killdara |
Product | Vitiris |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, and Solaris |
App Servers | Embedded configurations only |
Languages | Java 1.4 |
Licensing | OEM |
Vendor | Novell |
Product | exteNd jBroker Web |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, Solaris |
App Servers | Any Servlet 2.1 or later servlet engine Supports stand-alone configuration |
Languages | Java 1.2 or later |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Sun Microsystems |
Product | Java Web Services Developer Pack (JWSDP) |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, Solaris |
App Servers | Any Servlet 2.1 or later servlet engine |
Languages | Java 1.3.1 or later |
UDDI | Included (noncommercial) |
Licensing | Free (not open source) and redistributable Restricted license for JWSDP Registry |
Vendor | Systinet |
Product | WASP Server for Java |
OS Support | Most operating systems with Java 1.3.1 or higher |
App Servers | Any Servlet 2.1 or later servlet engine Supports stand-alone and embedded configurations |
Languages | Java 1.3.1 or later |
Licensing | Commercial and OEM; free single CPU license |
Vendor | The Mind Electric |
Product | GLUE |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
App Servers | Any Servlet 2.1 or later servlet engine Supports stand-alone and embedded configurations |
Languages | Java 1.1.8 or later |
UDDI | Included with Professional edition |
Licensing | Standard edition: Free (not open source) Professional edition: Commercial and OEM |
Vendor | Wingfoot |
Product | Parvus |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
App Servers | Any Servlet 2.2 or later servlet engine |
Languages | Java 1.2 or later |
Licensing | Free and redistributable (not open source) |
Provider | Indiana University Extreme! Computing Lab |
Product | XSOAP |
OS Support | Any system running J2SE 1.3 or later |
App Servers | Any Servlet 2.2 or later servlet engine |
Languages | Java 1.3 or later |
Licensing | Open Source (IU Extreme! Lab Software License) |
Some Web services platforms are designed for consumer devices, embedded systems, and smart cards. These tiny-footprint systems can run on the J2ME and KVM platforms. The KVM is an extremely small Java Virtual Machine that requires as little as 128K of memory.
Vendor | EXOR International/Embedding.net |
Product | eSOAP |
OS Support | RTEMS, eCos, QNX, Linux, Windows |
Languages | J2ME, C++ |
Licensing | Commercial |
Provider | Enhydra |
Product | kSOAP (subset of SOAP1.1 features) |
OS Support | Any platform with J2ME CLDC |
Languages | Java 1.4 |
Licensing | Open Source (Enhydra Public License) |
Vendor | Wingfoot |
Product | SOAP Client |
Platforms | J2ME, J2SE, J2EE |
Languages | Java 1.2 or later |
Licensing | Free and redistributable (not open source) |
Web services platforms are available for many other languages, including scripting languages (such as AppleScript, Perl, and Python) and programming languages (such as COBOL, Delphi, and Smalltalk). Many of these platforms are not product quality, although quite a few people manage to use them in production mode, so I have included a few pre-version 1.0 products in this section.
Vendor | Apple Computer |
Product | AppleScript Studio (client) |
OS Support | Mac OS X |
Languages | AppleScript |
Licensing | Free with Mac OS X |
Vendor | Macromedia |
Product | ColdFusion SOAP (part of ColdFusion MX) |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, Solaris |
Languages | ColdFusion ActiveScript |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Userland |
Product | Frontier |
OS Support | Windows, Mac OS 7.5.5 or later, Mac OS X |
Languages | Frontier |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Active State |
Product | ActivePerl |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, Solaris |
Languages | Perl 5.8.0.804 |
Licensing | Free and redistributable (partially open source) |
Provider | Paul Kulchenko |
Product | SOAP::Lite for Perl |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | Perl 5.004 or later |
Licensing | Open Source (Artistic License) |
Provider | Dietrich Ayala |
Product | NuSOAP |
OS Support | Windows, Linux |
Languages | PHP |
Licensing | Open Source (GNU Lesser General Public License) |
Vendor | eZ Systems |
Product | eZ SOAP (part of eZ publish SDK) |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | PHP |
Licensing | Open Source (GNU General Public License) OEM source license for closed source applications |
Providers | Cayce Ullman and Brian Matthews |
Product | SOAP.py |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | Python |
Licensing | Open Source (CNRI Python License) |
Provider | Rich Salz |
Product | ZSI–Zolara SOAP Infrastructure |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | Python 2.0 or later |
Licensing | Open Source (CNRI Python License) |
Provider | Hiroshi Nakamura |
Product | SOAP4R |
OS Support | DOS, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, Amiga, Acorn, OS/2, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | Ruby 1.6 or later |
Licensing | Open Source (GNU General Public License) |
Provider | Pat Thoyts |
Product | TclSOAP |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | Tcl |
Licensing | Open Source (MIT License) |
Vendor | IBM Corporation |
Product | Enterprise COBOL for z/OS and OS/390 v3.2 |
OS Support | z/OS and OS/390 |
Languages | COBOL |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Microfocus |
Product | EnterpriseLink |
OS Support | Access from Windows, Solaris, AIX Access to OS/390, z/OS |
Languages | COBOL |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Software AG |
Product | EntireX Communicator |
OS Support | Windows, UNIX, Linux, OS/400, OpenVMS, OS/390, VSE, BS2000 |
Languages | COBOL, Natural, RPG, C, C++, Java, COM, etc. |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Borland |
Products | DataSnap, BizSnap, WebSnap (part of Delphi/Kylix) |
OS Support | Windows, Linux |
Languages | Delphi |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Cincom |
Product | VisualWorks Opentalk SOAP (part of VisualWorks) |
OS Support | Windows, Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | Smalltalk |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | IBM |
Product | VisualAge Smalltalk Web Services (part of VisualAge) |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, UNIX |
Languages | Smalltalk |
Licensing | Commercial |
Some Web services platforms include a UDDI registry server, although most do not. I've broken this list into two groups: those that are embedded in a Web services platform, and those that are available as separate commercial products. A UDDI registry is a Web service, so it must run in a specific Web services platform. The commercial products include a stand-alone Web services environment. A UDDI registry also requires some type of data store to house the registry information. Most implementations use a relational database, although some use an XML database, an object repository, or an LDAP directory.
Cape Clear, IONA, Oracle, Sun, and The Mind Electric provide an embedded UDDI registry server with their Web services platform. (BEA and Pramati include the Acumen AUDDI registry, which is listed with the commercial implementations.) You can get these embedded UDDI registries only with their associated Web services platform. For the most part, these registries are basic UDDI implementations without a lot of extra features. Sun's implementation is not intended for commercial use. IONA's implementation offers some extended security features. Oracle's implementation provides extended security, synchronization, and taxonomy management features.
Vendor | Cape Clear |
WS Platform | Cape Clear Enterprise |
Data Store | Lutris InstantDB (included), Oracle 8i, any JDBC DB |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | IONA |
WS Platform | XMLBus and Orbix E2A ASP |
Data Store | Cloudscape (included) or LDAP |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Oracle |
WS Platform | Oracle 9iAS |
Data Store | Oracle 9i |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Sun Microsystems |
WS Platform | Sun Java WSDP |
Data Store | Xindice (included) |
Licensing | Free; restricted use: noncommercial |
Vendor | The Mind Electric |
WS Platform | The Mind Electric GLUE Professional |
Data Store | GLUE XML storage engine (included) |
Licensing | Commercial |
Acumen, IBM, Microsoft, Novell, Select, and Systinet provide stand-alone UDDI registry implementations. Although the registry service is built using a specific Web service platform, the administration of the platform is mostly hidden. These registries can be used with any Web services platform. For the most part, these registries are commercial-grade systems with advanced features. Microsoft's UDDI registry is included as part of Windows Server 2003. It is not available for other operating systems. Select's UDDI registry runs on all Windows platforms. The other implementations are cross-platform solutions.
Vendor | Acumen Technologies |
Product | AUDDI-SE |
OS Support | Most operating systems with Java 1.3.1 or higher |
WS Platform | AUDDI Engine (included) Runs stand-alone or in your choice of app server |
Data Store | iPlanet Directory Server, other JNDI-compliant LDAP servers |
Features | User management, access control (publish), usability |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | IBM Corporation |
Product | WebSphere UDDI Registry |
OS Support | Windows, Linux, Solaris |
WS Platform | IBM WebSphere Application Server |
Data Store | IBM DB2 v7.2 or later |
Features | Usability |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Microsoft |
Product | Enterprise UDDI Services (part of Windows Server 2003) |
OS Support | Windows Server 2003 |
WS Platform | .NET |
Data Store | Microsoft Data Engine (default) or SQL Server 2000 |
Features | Integration with MCC and Active Directory |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Novell |
Product | Nsure UDDI Server |
OS Support | Windows, NetWare, Linux, UNIX |
WS Platform | Apache Tomcat application (included) |
Data Store | Novell eDirectory (LDAP) |
Features | Access control (inquiry and publish) |
Licensing | Open Source (BSD License) |
Vendor | Select Business Solutions |
Product | Select UDDIServer |
OS Support | Windows |
WS Platform | ISAPI module (included) |
Data Store | Fujitsu Enabled (included) |
Features | Access control (publish), usability |
Licensing | Commercial |
Vendor | Systinet |
Product | WASP UDDI |
OS Support | Most operating systems with Java 1.3.1 or higher |
WS Platform | Systinet WASP Server for Java (included) Runs stand-alone or in your choice of app server |
Data Store | Oracle 8i, Microsoft SQL Server 2000, IBM DB2, IBM Cloudscape, Sybase ASE, Pointbase, PostgreSQL, or Hypersonic SQL (included) |
Features | User management, access control (inquiry and publish), usability, taxonomy management, V3 subscription API |
Licensing | Commercial and OEM |