Web Services architectures from Microsoft

Microsoft
On May 24, 2000, Microsoft announced it had posted three additional specifications on its XML Web Service Web site:
XLANG, SOAP-Routing, and Direct Internet Message Encapsulation (DIME) protocol, a method of packaging up attachments
in SOAP messages. SOAP-Routing along with DIME, however, were not included in .NET My Services (formerly
codenamed "HailStorm"). This was because the Global XML Web Services Architecture (GXA) replaced SOAP-Routing
with WS-Routing which supports one- and two-way messaging, including peer-to-peer conversation and long-running dialogues.
The global architecture builds upon the foundation of baseline specifications - SOAP, UDDI, and WSDL among others. In
April 2001, Microsoft and IBM co-presented their vision of this architecture to the W3C Workshop on Web Services. Both
vendors contributed to the development and implementation of the W3C Web Services Architecture Stack - more complex
than their own versions.

Layer	Type
WS-Inspection, WS-License, WS-Referral, WS-Routing, WS-Security	Global Architecture
UDDI, WSDL, XML, SOAP	Baseline Architecture

The GXA is modular, meaning that you can use one specification with another to address a set of specific requirements.

For example, WS-Referral does not explicitly specify security, but rather relies on other specifications in the architecture
to enable the routing strategies used by the SOAP nodes in a message path.
Other specifications for the global architecture are:
WS-Inspection assisting in the inspection of a site for available services. Due to the decentralized nature of Web
Services, this specification doesn't work well if the communication partner is unknown. In such cases, you would be
better off with UDDI. This specification (also known as WSIL) was announced by both IBM and Microsoft to the W3C
in November 2001. It is another service discovery mechanism
(http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/ws-wsilover/index.html) and is complementary to UDDI
(http://www.webservicesarchitect.com/content/articles/modi01.asp).
WS-License describing a set of commonly used-license types and how they can be placed within the WS-Security
"credential" tags, such as X.509 certificates and Kerberos tickets.
WS-Routing referring to a simple, stateless, SOAP-based protocol for controlling the route of SOAP messages in an
asynchronous manner over a variety of transports such as TCP, UDP, and HTTP.
WS-Security describing enhancements to SOAP-messaging to provide three capabilities: credential exchange, message
integrity, and message confidentiality, each of which you could use by itself or in combination with another as a way of
contributing to a security model.
Additional specifications will become available as Microsoft releases them for public review.
To accommodate the architecture, Microsoft offers the .NET Framework as a platform for building, deploying, and running
XML Web Services and applications. It allows a Web Service consumer send and receive information in a loosely coupled
manner, including a description of the Web Services that it and other consumers offer. SOAP is supported by XML Schema
Datatypes (XSD), WSDL, XML, and HTTP.
As part of the Microsoft .NET initiative, Microsoft provides a user-centric architecture and a set of XML Web Services, collectively
called Microsoft .NET My Services. Using .NET Passport as the basic user credential, the .NET My Services architecture
defines identity, security, and data models that are common to all services and can help orchestrate a wide variety
of applications, devices, and services - all in one basket.
The initial set of .NET My Services includes:
.NET Profile. Name, nickname, special dates, picture, address.
.NET Contacts. Electronic relationships/address book.
.NET Locations. Electronic and geographical location and rendezvous.
.NET Alerts. Alert subscription, management, and routing.
.NET Presence. Online, offline, busy, free, which device(s) to send alerts to.
.NET Inbox. Inbox for items like e-mail and voice mail, including existing mail systems.
.NET Calendar. Time and task management.
.NET Documents. Raw document storage.
.NET ApplicationSettings. Application settings.
.NET FavoriteWebSites. Favorite URLs and other Web identifiers.
.NET Wallet. Receipts, payment instruments, coupons, and other transaction records.
.NET Devices. Device settings, capabilities.
.NET Services. Services provided for an identity.
.NET Lists. General purpose lists.
.NET Categories. A way to group lists.