Michael A. Sick

It can be difficult for developers, architects, and managers to keep up with new software packages and releases. This can be especially true with fast moving technologies like Web services. This article provides an overview of the main technologies that comprise the Java Web Services Developer Pack (Java WSDP). For more in-depth knowledge of the WSDP, simply download it and walk through the examples or complete the Java Web Services Tutorial. In an effort to standardize XML and Web services-related technologies, Sun Microsystems has developed implementations of popular standards and published them under the umbrella title of the WSDP. The toolkit's stated purpose is to simplify the development, testing, and deployment of secure and interoperable Web services. Version 1.5 is the latest release of the WSDP and contains many updates to existing technologies, new feature... (more)

Dice Check

I recently completed my first WebSphere Portal v5 install/implementation for a moderately sized healthcare company. Typically, when I consider new assignments and new technologies, I perform the "Dice Check". The Dice Check consists of some quick and dirty research using dice.com's job posting database to determine the vitality of the software stack with which I might be working. After completing this portal work, I shared some of my experiences with one of Sun's principal engineers, who suggested I take a look at the Sun ONE Portal Server. After reviewing Sun's portal server, I ... (more)

Service Discovery: Perspectives on the Past, Present, & Future

Service discovery and identification is a critical piece of the overall Web services puzzle. Existing service architectures, such as CORBA, JINI, and ebXML, have all devoted significant effort towards making service discovery available and comprehensive. If Web services is to become a ubiquitous platform for service oriented computing, then the industry will need to create standards and products that enable sophisticated discovery, identification, and composition of Web services. This month, Radovan Janecek and Peter Alesso join Web Services Journal in exploring the state of ser... (more)

How Does the DoD Use Metadata to Make its Massive Data Stores More Visible?

The Department of Defense (DoD) Discovery Metadata Specification (DDMS) describes the DOD's preferred approach for decorating data assets with metadata. By providing a common convention for metadata, the DoD is building a common system for asset discovery, search, description, consumption, and security. This article provides a summary of the DDMS's purpose, structure, and capability. Upon completion the reader should have a basic understanding of the DDMS and should know where to go to get more detail and related materials. All questions regarding this article should be directed ... (more)

The Java Image Management Interface

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what words do you use when the picture is in the wrong format? Not exactly a Zen koan, but a valid question whose answer is JIMI, the Java Image Management Interface from Activated Intelligence. JIMI is a toolkit for reading, writing, viewing and manipulating images in multiple-graphics file formats. JIMI supports an impressive number of image formats, but if your target format is not supported, JIMI's open design allows you to add your format while taking advantage of key JIMI features. As you'd hope and expect, JIMI is platform-neutral 10... (more)